This needs to be addressed–NOW. On March 3rd, Caitlin Clark passed Pete Maravich for the all time NCAA scoring record with 3,668 points. She sank two technical foul free throws with 0.3 seconds left in the first half. However,that’s not what we’re focusing on here. We are focusing on the hate, slander, and criticism.
All these Joe Schmoes on their talk radio shows dismiss her achievement. They argue that it should have an asterisk because Pistol Pete didn’t have a 3-point line, or that it doesn’t count because she stayed an extra year.
But good lord people. She is one of the greatest things to happen to basketball since Steph Curry and LeBron James.
Clark is the first Division I player to top 3,000 points, 1,000 assists and 800 rebounds. She’s also the first Division I player to record 3,000 points and 1,000 assists in a career. She has 59 career games with at least 25 points, five assists and five rebounds — an NCAA record. If those didn’t convince you to shut your yap, then how about this:
- Before the 2023-24 season officially started, Iowa broke the women’s basketball all-time attendance record for a single game with 55,646 on hand for an exhibition game against DePaul in Kinnick Stadium, home to Iowa’s football team.
- Seventeen of Iowa women’s basketball’s 19 all-time sellout crowds inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena have occurred during the past three seasons, with the other two coming in 1985 and 1988.
- Away from Iowa City, the Hawkeyes have helped sell out or break an attendance record in 30 of 32 games this season. The lone exceptions were the first round and the championship game of the Gulf Coast Showcase on a neutral court in November.
- On average, schools that have hosted Iowa have seen a 150% attendance increase compared to their other home games, as reported by the AP.
- This season, Iowa faced sold-out road crowds at Northern Iowa (first time in school history), Iowa State, Wisconsin (program attendance record), Rutgers (first since 2006), Purdue (fourth sellout in program history), Ohio State, Northwestern (first time in program history), Maryland (first since 2016) and Nebraska (first in program history).
- Vivid Seats released data showing that the top five most in-demand NCAA women’s games this year featured Iowa. The average price of tickets for the Hawkeyes since Clark joined the team in 2020 is up 224%, and the average distance traveled by a fan to watch Iowa play is up 34% from last season
So, I will say this again, you are not special, important, or relevant if your opinion on Caitlin Clark is anything but WOW.