All season long, fans nationally have been willing to fork over big bucks and wait through standing room only lines just to catch a glimpse of Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark.
It makes perfect sense. Clark is worth the price of admission. The 6-foot senior guard always puts on a show.
Clark leads the nation in points and assists per game, averaging and eye-popping 31.8 points and 8.8 assists per game. The West Des Moines product also averages 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per night.
Clark’s electricity has inspired a whole new generation of fans and earned her an avalanche of NIL deals that only a select, rarified few college athletes get to enjoy.
Clark has been great for the University of Iowa. But, she’s been greater for women’s sports in general.
As Clark’s stardom has grown, so too has her influence. With all eyes on her, Clark was quick to share a few other women’s college basketball players that she felt were under the radar.
At Iowa’s press conference to preview its Sweet 16 date versus Colorado, Clark was asked which fellow women’s college basketball players she would pay to go see.
“There would be so many I would pay to go see. I would say JuJu (Watkins) right now probably. That is who I would pay and go see. But also Hannah Hidalgo at Notre Dame. I think she’s been tremendous. I think Hannah has kind of flown under the radar a little bit.
“There’s so many good players. Madison Booker. There’s just so much young talent, and I think that’s the coolest part of the game is where the game is going, how much young talent there is, but also they can’t be one-and-dones. They get to stay and play this game for four years,” Clark said.
Clark said there’s great players all over the place in women’s college basketball now. She expects that parity to help the TV viewership numbers now and into the future.
“How exciting is that for women’s basketball fans, to know our game is in really great hands and the talent level across the board for maybe even teams that maybe haven’t consistently been in the Final Four. The parity is amazing, and I think that’s what’s going to help viewership numbers grow, too.
“I love women’s basketball. I’ll pay any price to get in the door and watch talent across the board. That’s what makes the game so fun, and that’s what people do for our team. I would totally repay the favor,” Clark said.
Iowa (31-4, 15-3 Big Ten) continues its tournament run on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC from inside MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y., versus fifth-seeded Colorado (24-9, 11-7 Pac-12).
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