(New York) She panics the counters and electrifies the rooms with her long-distance shots and a unique game: the super-star of university basketball Caitlin Clark took “March Madness” to another dimension, before tackling the WNBA.
The final university tournament and its knockout matches arouse phenomenal enthusiasm in the United States, “March Madness”, and millions of people follow the tradition of predicting the results of the matches.
Caitlin Clark, leader of the Iowa Hawkeyes, the team from the rural Midwestern state, took the event to another dimension: Monday, during their victory against the players of Louisiana (LSU), who had beaten them in the final last year, number 22, recognizable by her long brown ponytail, once again dazzled on the floor with phenomenal statistics (41 points, including 9 three-point baskets, 12 assists), in a supercharged arena north of New York.
“My daughter, you are apart. I’ve never seen that,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said.
Unprecedented notoriety
This quarterfinal was watched by an average of 12.3 million people on the ESPN channel, surpassing a record set in 1983 for women’s college basketball, and one of the best sports audiences of the year, far ahead of the matches NBA regular season.
Friday, Clark and his partners begin the 4-a-side final with a decisive match against the University of Connecticut.
“She became the face of college basketball […], the name that everyone recognizes,” summarizes Meredith Geisler, visiting professor of sports management at the School of Business at George Washington University. “Until a few years ago, the women’s (college basketball) tournament was largely neglected.”
For the expert, Caitlin Clark’s notoriety goes “far beyond” basketball fans and her contribution to “increasing interest in women’s basketball or women’s sport in general” is unprecedented, comparable to that of Serena Williams or the American women’s soccer team when it won its first World Cup in 1991.
PHOTO GREGORY FISHER, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Caitlin Clark
The phenomenon is such that legions of fans, the “Clarkies” have crossed the United States throughout the season to roar at each of his three-point baskets, which have earned him comparisons to Stephen Curry, and his unpredictable and luminous passes which transcend his partners.
“It’s really great to be able to be a role model for all these girls, but also these boys,” said the 1.83 m player, who this season became the record holder for the number of points scored in the NCAA, the most prestigious university sports league, women and men combined.
Even at the sponsorship level, Caitlin Clark, born into a family of athletes, plays in the big leagues: taking advantage of the historic opening of university sport to athlete remuneration, she has already signed contracts with major brands like Nike or Gatorade.
Soon in the WNBA
At 22, she is playing her last “March Madness” this year, and will move on to the professional level next season. She should be selected first in the WNBA draft on April 15, presumably by the Indiana Fever, where ticket prices are already soaring for certain games.
Its presence within the professional league will undoubtedly, according to Meredith Geisler, increase the exposure of a championship which lives in the media and economic shadow of the NBA, but whose interest has grown in recent seasons, thanks to players who have star status in the United States like Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty) or A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces).
“The WNBA will take inspiration from other sports and learn to benefit from the presence of a superstar” with the support of the NBA with which it is associated, she believes. “You are going to have more corporate partners, sponsors, spectators. And when the broadcast rights are renegotiated, when Caitlin (Clark) has helped them grow, the numbers will go up even more.”
Former pillar of the junior national team, the young star could by then light up the Paris Olympic Games (July 26-August 11). Clark had been called up by Team USA for an internship in April, which she will miss, for having managed to stretch out her crazy NCAA adventure.