All the attention in the college basketball world is on Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark, who’s amongst the best to ever don a college uniform.
Clark has been balling out since her elementary school days in Des Moines, Iowa, but this season has undoubtedly been her best. Not only did she break Kelsey Plum’s NCAA Division-I women’s scoring record, but she now holds the NCAA Division-I all-time scoring record after later passing Pistol Pete Maravich,
As a result of her All-Star level play this year, which includes a college-leading 31.7 points per game, Clark’s Hawkeyes are in the Final Four for the second-straight season. Iowa will be playing for its first national title on Sunday, April 7, holding off a late charge from UConn Friday to advance.
Though Clark is an Iowa basketball legend, did you know she actually grew up a UNC fan?
We can credit this to two Tar Heel legends: Mia Hamm, arguably the greatest women’s soccer player our National Team has ever seen and Harrison Barnes, who grew up approximately 40 minutes north of Clark in Ames.
“I was a big Harrison Barnes fan growing up, but I was also big Mia Hamm fan, too,” Clark said in a Tar Heel Tribune article. “Harrison Barnes was like ‘it’ in the state of Iowa.”
This sentence for the Tar Heel tribune article shows you how much Clark truly loved North Carolina: She had her mom repaint her entire room Carolina blue and navy blue. She had Carolina stuff all over her room.
As much as she loves UNC, was there ever a shot she’d don the Tar Heel Blue herself?
“I didn’t really want to go there and play women’s basketball, but I loved their men’s basketball and their soccer because I grew up playing soccer,” Clark said. “So, yeah, I was a big North Carolina basketball fan growing up.”
Just imagine if Clark chose UNC. Can you imagine how much more of a basketball school it’d be?
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