(SB) – Iowa can be thankful for our youth.
Caitlin Clark, the University of Iowa senior who has broken every basketball record on the women’s side and recently surpassed legendary LSU guard Pete Maravich (1968-70), surpassing his 3,667 points that stood since 1970, with a free-throw toward the end of the first half in the game versus #2 Ohio State. Prior to that, Clark also She also surpassed AIAW large-college record-holder Lynette Woodard (3,649 points) on Feb. 28.
Entering the postseason, Clark's 1,058 career assists rank sixth all-time among Division I women's players. Suzie McConnell's record of 1,307 assists is likely out of reach for Clark, but she's 30 assists away from entering the top five, 60 assists away from entering the top three and 107 assists away from moving into second.
1 - Clark is the first player ever in either men's or women's college basketball to post 3,000 points and 1,000 assists in their career.
2 - Second player in women's basketball history to have 10 or more triple-doubles in her career (17), trailing only Sabrina Ionescu (26).
4 - Clark has had four games with 40 or more points against AP Top-10 teams since 2020-21; no other player in D1 men's or women's has done so once.
5 - Clark has had five games with 40 points, five assists and five rebounds in her career. Since 2009-10, no player in either men's or women's college basketball has had more than two such games. Only Trae Young and Odyssey Sims have two such games (two each).
6 - She is the sixth player to reach 1,000 career assists.
11 - Clark's 11 games with 40 or more points are the most by any player, men's or women's, since at least 2010-11. No other player has double-digits. If one combined scoring phenoms Doug McDermott, Jimmer Fredette and Trae Young, they together would only tie Clark with 11 such games.
14 - Since her career began in 2020-21, her 14 games with seven or more 3-point field goals made are the most in either men's or women's basketball. No other woman has more than seven such games and only three men Antoine Davis (Detroit, 14), Darius McGhee (Liberty, 12) and Ja'Monta Black (Austin Peay, Missouri State, Northwestern State, 10) have 10 such games. No man or woman has 10 or more such games while playing for a Power Conference team over that span.
17 - She has compiled 17 career games with 30 points and 10 assists. Over the past two seasons, no other player in women's college basketball has more than two such games.
25 - Clark has won Big Ten Player of the Week 25 times, a record for the achievement.
40 - She is the only player in men's or women's college basketball since 2009-10 to have a 40-point triple-double and she did it against Louisville and the Elite Eight of last year's tournament.
52 - Clark's 52 games with 30 or more points are the most in men's or women's basketball over the last 25 seasons.
103 - She became Iowa's all-time leading scorer in just 103 games.
120 - It took just 120 games for Clark to reach 450 made 3-pointers in her career, tied for the fewest in women's college basketball since 1987-88 (start of 3-point line for women's college basketball) for anyone with 450+ made 3-pointers.
750 - This year, Clark is the only player in the country (men or women) with more than 750 points, 175 assists and 150 rebounds.
2009 - Her four games of 20-plus points and 15-plus assists are the most in the NCAA (men's or women's) since 2009-10. Only two other players – Pierre Jackson (2, Baylor) and Courtney Vandersloot (2, Gonzaga) – even have two such games.
2020 - Clark's 11 games with 40 or more points since 2020-21 are more than every other player in the Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 combined (10).
3300 - She's the first Division-I player to record 3,300+ points, 1,000+ assists, and 850+ rebounds in a career.
The record is one thing, Caitlin Clark is another.
This young Iowa woman has done more to redefine women’s basketball and women’s sports than any other living human being.
From beginning to end in her college career, she has displayed an unselfishness which should be a model for every athlete in every sport. Undoubtedly she is the cement of a team cohesion that has catapulted the Iowa Hawkeye women’s basketball program to incredible wins throughout her career and has seen Hawkeye basketball soar nationwide.
The attendance numbers speak for themselves.
Before the 2023-24 season even officially started, Iowa broke the women’s basketball all-time attendance record for a single game with 55,646 on hand for its 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? The first round and the championship game of the Gulf Coast Showcase on a neutral court in Florida in November.
On average, schools that have hosted Iowa have seen an attendance increase over 150% compared with their other home games, the AP reported.
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 recently showing that the top five most in-demand NCAA women’s games this year have 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.
Much more can be said… much more.
The point is, however, that Caitlin Clark stands as a shining example of Iowa. She has proven to be the top of all the best anywhere, and she did it with a culture of Iowa values and Iowa class.
Thank you, Caitlin. Thank you.
