On February 15, 2024, Caitlin Clark shattered the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record with a career-high 49-point performance against Michigan. The Iowa Hawkeyes guard surpassed the WNBA star Kelsey Plum’s 7-year record with a 35-foot-three-point shot early in the first quarter of the game. Not only did she break the women’s NCAA scoring record this year but, on March 3rd, she also beat Pete Maravich’s 54-year men’s NCAA scoring record by hitting two free throws before the end of the half against Ohio State, the 2nd best-ranked team in the nation at the time.
In her 4-year college career, she has scored over 3770 total points, with room to score more in this year’s March Madness Tournament. Over four years at Iowa, Clark has averaged 28.4 points per game in over 133 games, shooting almost 38% from the three-point line. To put that into perspective, Stephen Curry, the NBA’s all-time 3-point leader, averaged 41% in college with one fewer three-point shot attempted per game.
Even with one year left of eligibility for college basketball, Caitlin Clark announced via social media on February 29th that she would declare for the 2024 WNBA draft, where she will likely be drafted by the Indiana Fever, who hold the first pick in the draft for the second year in a row.
While Caitlin Clark has yet to win a national championship at Iowa, she has won many awards, including 2022-2023 AP Player of the Year, 3-time Big 10 Player of the Year, 4-time All-American, and more. After becoming the all-time NCAA point holder, Belmont Hill student, Charlie Maws, says, “I wonder if people will talk about her in all-time goat conversations,” raising a question that many people are wondering. Belmont Hill 4th former Jack O’brian says, “I would think she needs to win a championship.” With Clark going to the NBA after this season’s March Madness, many would say there is a lot of pressure riding on her to win the tournament and be remembered as the greatest college basketball player.
