Caitlin Clark is the first TRUE star in the history of woman’s basketball.

[NBA4Lyfe]

Has SHE done it or was it media push?

SHE gets credit but this is absolutely about how much the media covers her as they now MAKE the stories. Hell, Angel Reese is absolutely nothing special as far as front court players go historically but she is comparable with hype.

Add to it, the lack of a marketable male college player and here we are. The males havent had a marketable college player in a few years now.

Become a mass media star is always dependent on the mass media deciding to pay attention to you. The trick of course is that they never do it randomly because their goal is to get people to read/listen/watch. It's a confluence of factors leading to Clark's crossover breakout right now, some of which is about the time being ripe for a women's basketball star, and some of which is about Clark standing out in ways on the court that are not that common.

Re: Males haven't had a marketable college player. Well yeah, but it's not because males aren't marketable, it's just that males going pro early has killed the relevance of men's college basketball. The same thing will happen to the women's game if a pro league gets popular enough. This then to say that it's not so much that Clark is beating out men's players for the "college star" category, but that there's still room for true college stars in women's basketball in a way there isn't in men's.

Dudes in this forum swore the mens tourney was the greatest thing in sports but i think thats just the office pools/ brackets. Many havent watched 10 total games.

Clark final four games reminded me so much of curry. She was 13-29 with 5 turnovers and was deemed unstoppable. This, while my social media timesline bytched and moaned about the whistle Iowa was getting. I didnt watch so i cant agree or disagree.

As I said before, the announcers treat the game so much differently and people buy in. Put the average NBA announcer on a women's game and folks are turning the channel 2 minutes in.

curry was never as heliocentric as caitlin clark

[inquisitive]

i might actually watch the wnba again because of her.

[NBA4Lyfe]

Why would that be stupid? They get the best deals for everyone they sign.

clark is breaking tv ratings and has her own following, attaching herself to a toxic figure like lebron would be stupid

clark has iowa beating the nba finals and world series in tv ratings. she doesnt need him

You have no clue about the real world, do you?

isnt lebron on camera saying " aint no party like diddy party."

why would clark want anything to do with lebron

[NBA4Lyfe]

Clark averaged 31.7 points, 9 assists, 7.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game during her senior season. She did average 4.8 turnovers, which matched her highs from her freshman and sophomore seasons, but such comes with posting a usage rate of 40%, the highest in women's college basketball since 2009-10, according to Her Hoop Stats.

Due to her elite passing skills, New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu is an interesting WNBA comp for Clark. Clark's numbers compare favorably to former Oregon star and 2020 WNBA Draft No. 1 overall pick Ionescu. Ionescu averaged 17.5 points, 9.1 assists, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game. Ionescu is the NCAA all-time leader in triple-doubles, while Clark is the all-time leading scorer. But both were elite at passing in college.




------------------------------------------------------------------------------
clark is a heliocentric player in the mold on harden/luka

[Kurtz]

Nope. Candace Parker was a star. Maya Moore was a star.

The difference is Clark is playing in the prime of social media. Put any any of the past greats in today's era they would have been just as popular.

That's cool and all, but Caitlin is still the biggest star they've ever had. She wasn't the first, and there is certainly context to why, but it's a fact. She's the biggest female basketball star ever.

Yeah I agree on her star power.

I'm just not ready to say she's the best. She got those numbers because she was at a lesser program. Everyone else went to big time programs and had better players around them.

Here's where I'm at with Clark. If she proves to do this at the next level she will go down as the GOAT of women's basketball. I'm on record saying Juju will be a better pro. Clark I believe the hype, but I'm just curious to see if her game translates to the next level vs the best of the best.


Im in wait and see mode on Clark as the GOAT women's basketball player.

I'm not going to pretend that I watch WNBA but watching Clark at the tourney I think she'll be even more effective in the pros. There are multiple open looks she creates for her teammates every game, including many layup opportunities, that they completely blow. I imagine that WNBA players will have no trouble finishing those looks.

Players like Cordoso and Angel Reese may be less effective as their size and physicality advantage is diminished in the pros, but Clark's shooting and playmaking shouldn't be effected.

[Cavsfansince84]

That's cool and all, but Caitlin is still the biggest star they've ever had. She wasn't the first, and there is certainly context to why, but it's a fact. She's the biggest female basketball star ever.

She probably is but that is almost entirely due to how little attention the wnba has had the last 25 years mainly because people just don't really care about it. I mean shouldn't someone like Cynthia Cooper who completely dominated the top women's pro league and not just college for 3-4 years have been a bigger star if we are trying to equate stardom to actual ability? That's the point here. She is a great college player and the first women's player to shoot 3's sort of like Steph does in the nba. Just looks at the games she had in the tourney though. She didn't really set anything on fire outside of one game against lsu. The others she was just out there putting up a ton of shots and was more like Trae than Steph. The media just sort of jumped on her bandwagon though because they wanted to. Much like they did with Zion who had people actually saying he was one of the best college players of all time based on his per and it had zero to do with actual tournament success despite him also playing with another top 3 pick.

[NBA4Lyfe]

That's cool and all, but Caitlin is still the biggest star they've ever had. She wasn't the first, and there is certainly context to why, but it's a fact. She's the biggest female basketball star ever.

She probably is but that is almost entirely due to how little attention the wnba has had the last 25 years mainly because people just don't really care about it. I mean shouldn't someone like Cynthia Cooper who completely dominated the top women's pro league and not just college for 3-4 years have been a bigger star if we are trying to equate stardom to actual ability? That's the point here. She is a great college player and the first women's player to shoot 3's sort of like Steph does in the nba. Just looks at the games she had in the tourney though. She didn't really set anything on fire outside of one game against lsu. The others she was just out there putting up a ton of shots and was more like Trae than Steph. The media just sort of jumped on her bandwagon though because they wanted to. Much like they did with Zion who had people actually saying he was one of the best college players of all time based on his per and it had zero to do with actual tournament success despite him also playing with another top 3 pick.

its quite simple, no player in womens college basketball has ever really played like clark with a usage rate hovering around 42% her entire career. Womens basketball HISTORICALLY has always been about fundamentals and teamwork. So when caitlin clark starts basically bringing moreyball to womens basketball people want to see that and are gravifitated to that style. Averaging 30/8/8 and winning every year with limited talent around her is whats incredible. Clark is really the only 5 star player on iowa in comparison to the other teams like lsu/south carolina who are stacked with talent. also if you are looking for a steph curry comp for womens basketball look no further than paige bueckers of uconn

i agree with the sabrina ionescu comp for clark. I remmeber when sabrina beat team usa by herself.. clark and ionescu are prodigies

Watch on YouTube

[Kurtz]

That's cool and all, but Caitlin is still the biggest star they've ever had. She wasn't the first, and there is certainly context to why, but it's a fact. She's the biggest female basketball star ever.

She probably is but that is almost entirely due to how little attention the wnba has had the last 25 years mainly because people just don't really care about it. I mean shouldn't someone like Cynthia Cooper who completely dominated the top women's pro league and not just college for 3-4 years have been a bigger star if we are trying to equate stardom to actual ability? That's the point here. She is a great college player and the first women's player to shoot 3's sort of like Steph does in the nba. Just looks at the games she had in the tourney though. She didn't really set anything on fire outside of one game against lsu. The others she was just out there putting up a ton of shots and was more like Trae than Steph. The media just sort of jumped on her bandwagon though because they wanted to. Much like they did with Zion who had people actually saying he was one of the best college players of all time based on his per and it had zero to do with actual tournament success despite him also playing with another top 3 pick.

It's not just her shooting though, she has that effortless dribble and her head is always up as she delivers great passes including those full-court stretch passes in stride that her team-mates seemed to blow a lot during the tourney. She's got a lot of Curry in her but a little bit of Luka too.

Her teammates also couldn't really dribble effectively and she was face-guarded even off ball, so she got virtually no catch and shoot opportunities which are typically much higher % than off the dribble shots. If women's ball is anything like men's, she'll get a lot more of those opportunities in the pros compared to college.

[JustBuzzin]

Nope. Candace Parker was a star. Maya Moore was a star.

The difference is Clark is playing in the prime of social media. Put any any of the past greats in today's era they would have been just as popular.

social media did not just pop up and get real popular with people in the last two years. thats silly talk. And if it were the case then there would be other female players that were as big of a draw as her. Fact is she moved the needle more then any other female basketball player ever has. No adjectives needed.

Social media is the main reason LeBron has become a Billionaire while still playing.

MJ didn't become a billionaire until well after his playing days. There is simply more money to be made in today's era and social media plays a big factor in athlete money generation. LeBron and JJ just started a podcast and it's already one of the biggest sports podcasts on YT.

Clark would not be what she is now back in the early 2000's.

[JustBuzzin]

That's cool and all, but Caitlin is still the biggest star they've ever had. She wasn't the first, and there is certainly context to why, but it's a fact. She's the biggest female basketball star ever.

Yeah I agree on her star power.

I'm just not ready to say she's the best. She got those numbers because she was at a lesser program. Everyone else went to big time programs and had better players around them.

Here's where I'm at with Clark. If she proves to do this at the next level she will go down as the GOAT of women's basketball. I'm on record saying Juju will be a better pro. Clark I believe the hype, but I'm just curious to see if her game translates to the next level vs the best of the best.


Im in wait and see mode on Clark as the GOAT women's basketball player.

I'm not going to pretend that I watch WNBA but watching Clark at the tourney I think she'll be even more effective in the pros. There are multiple open looks she creates for her teammates every game, including many layup opportunities, that they completely blow. I imagine that WNBA players will have no trouble finishing those looks.

Players like Cordoso and Angel Reese may be less effective as their size and physicality advantage is diminished in the pros, but Clark's shooting and playmaking shouldn't be effected.

The good thing is we get to see it all play out.

Even Taurasi said she is skeptical about her at the next level simply because everyone is much more physical and they are waiting to see if the hype is real. Like it or not she has a target on her back and players will be giving her their best game. Hope she lives up to the hype because that's what comes with being great.

[OfficialRef]

I watched the NCAA final four because of her and the first time I've ever watched a full game of women's basketball. She is incredible. Once she gets drafted I am going to continue watching the WNBA cause of her too.

[TinmanZBoy]

Become a mass media star is always dependent on the mass media deciding to pay attention to you. The trick of course is that they never do it randomly because their goal is to get people to read/listen/watch. It's a confluence of factors leading to Clark's crossover breakout right now, some of which is about the time being ripe for a women's basketball star, and some of which is about Clark standing out in ways on the court that are not that common.

Re: Males haven't had a marketable college player. Well yeah, but it's not because males aren't marketable, it's just that males going pro early has killed the relevance of men's college basketball. The same thing will happen to the women's game if a pro league gets popular enough. This then to say that it's not so much that Clark is beating out men's players for the "college star" category, but that there's still room for true college stars in women's basketball in a way there isn't in men's.

Dudes in this forum swore the mens tourney was the greatest thing in sports but i think thats just the office pools/ brackets. Many havent watched 10 total games.

Clark final four games reminded me so much of curry. She was 13-29 with 5 turnovers and was deemed unstoppable. This, while my social media timesline bytched and moaned about the whistle Iowa was getting. I didnt watch so i cant agree or disagree.

As I said before, the announcers treat the game so much differently and people buy in. Put the average NBA announcer on a women's game and folks are turning the channel 2 minutes in.

curry was never as heliocentric as caitlin clark

Well… a women college team probably could not develop a advanced motion offense like NBA teams
I am sure if they can get her good off ball looks, they’d have done that

[Jabroni Lames]

Yeah I agree on her star power.

I'm just not ready to say she's the best. She got those numbers because she was at a lesser program. Everyone else went to big time programs and had better players around them.

Here's where I'm at with Clark. If she proves to do this at the next level she will go down as the GOAT of women's basketball. I'm on record saying Juju will be a better pro. Clark I believe the hype, but I'm just curious to see if her game translates to the next level vs the best of the best.


Im in wait and see mode on Clark as the GOAT women's basketball player.

I'm not going to pretend that I watch WNBA but watching Clark at the tourney I think she'll be even more effective in the pros. There are multiple open looks she creates for her teammates every game, including many layup opportunities, that they completely blow. I imagine that WNBA players will have no trouble finishing those looks.

Players like Cordoso and Angel Reese may be less effective as their size and physicality advantage is diminished in the pros, but Clark's shooting and playmaking shouldn't be effected.

The good thing is we get to see it all play out.

Even Taurasi said she is skeptical about her at the next level simply because everyone is much more physical and they are waiting to see if the hype is real. Like it or not she has a target on her back and players will be giving her their best game. Hope she lives up to the hype because that's what comes with being great.

I'm half-kidding, but If the WNBA women are smart, they should just relax and let Clark dominate. And then rake in all the extra money that rains on the league because they now have their cash-cow.

[NBA4Lyfe]

Dudes in this forum swore the mens tourney was the greatest thing in sports but i think thats just the office pools/ brackets. Many havent watched 10 total games.

Clark final four games reminded me so much of curry. She was 13-29 with 5 turnovers and was deemed unstoppable. This, while my social media timesline bytched and moaned about the whistle Iowa was getting. I didnt watch so i cant agree or disagree.

As I said before, the announcers treat the game so much differently and people buy in. Put the average NBA announcer on a women's game and folks are turning the channel 2 minutes in.

curry was never as heliocentric as caitlin clark

Well… a women college team probably could not develop a advanced motion offense like NBA teams
I am sure if they can get her good off ball looks, they’d have done that

95% of all of womens teams in college basketball and the wnba use motion based offenses. Clark having a 40% usage rate is the actual outlier

[jkvonny]

Nope. Candace Parker was a star. Maya Moore was a star.

The difference is Clark is playing in the prime of social media. Put any any of the past greats in today's era they would have been just as popular.

social media did not just pop up and get real popular with people in the last two years. thats silly talk. And if it were the case then there would be other female players that were as big of a draw as her. Fact is she moved the needle more then any other female basketball player ever has. No adjectives needed.

Social media is the main reason LeBron has become a Billionaire while still playing.

MJ didn't become a billionaire until well after his playing days. There is simply more money to be made in today's era and social media plays a big factor in athlete money generation. LeBron and JJ just started a podcast and it's already one of the biggest sports podcasts on YT.

Clark would not be what she is now back in the early 2000's.

/
ESPN, FOXSports, CNN, etc Sports talk radio. Message boards, forums. Primitive social media. Etc were around back then '90s and early '00s.

We didn't exactly live in the stone ages back then.

But, yes. Social media has balloon huge since then.

[jkvonny]

I don't know what happened but I don't know how they weren't able to recruit Audi Crooks. That girl was born n bred right in Iowa and is a absolute unit but somehow ended up a Cyclone instead.

With her Nobody on SC would've been able to boss her around like what happened to that Charmin soft Hawkeye frontcourt and Caitlin would likely have been on a winning title team.

It's not that surprising, the two universities are approximately the same size and Audi grew up in a part of the state where you're more likely to be a Clones fan.

Yup. She was also recruited by Iowa.

Decided to attend Iowa State.

ISU is no slouch either. They are just as good as Iowa, historically good womens hoops. Multiple NCAA tournament bids and runs.
Cyclones coach (Bill Fennelly) is very good too and been there forever/decades, he's a very good recruiter. Just like the Iowa coach.

[Sweet Meat Lew]

Fair point...the hype machine is out of control though.

So, props for acknowledging the counter to your argument.
.

Naw, it was a stupid argument to begin with. No props need to be given.

Thanks for adding something extremely thought provoking and relevant to the conversation. You really gave me something to think about. This makes me want to seek out the other 40+ posts you've made in two years to see the other jewels that you've dropped on posts.

[boogiezen]

18.7m watched South Carolina-Iowa finals. Huge numbers. Now, can it translate to WNBA? And it will be interesting to see if this trend will continue next year.

[Tony Franciosa]

I love when people just start paying attention to something, then declare the first true thing of that thing that's been around for a longass time because it made THEM notice.

[D.Brasco]

I watched the NCAA final four because of her and the first time I've ever watched a full game of women's basketball. She is incredible. Once she gets drafted I am going to continue watching the WNBA cause of her too.

There are probably a few million echoing your sentiments right now. Everything has been teed up for the WNBA, they can't afford to drop the ball here. Don't know when they'll get another opportunity like this to draw in masses of potential new fans.