Caitlin Clark is a phenomenon. She is a senior at the University of Iowa. This year she broke too many records to list here. But the biggest thing is that she became the leading scorer in the history of men's and women's college basketball. She currently has 3,685 points. In her career, she averaged 32.8 points per game. She also has more assists than anyone else this year, which says a lot about her game. She also has more three pointers than any other player this year. Simply put, she has a lot of great components to her own game.
Joe's perspective: Before Magic Johnson and Larry Bird entered the NBA (1979), playoff games were televised on tape delay. The NBA wasn't that big of a deal. But Magic and Larry brought excitement and energy to the game. Game attendance and TV coverage soon followed. I believe Caitlin has done the same in women's college basketball and will soon have a dramatic impact on the WNBA. Caitlin is probably the second most well-known woman in America (after Taylor Swift). She brought women's basketball to the mainstream. Even people who have never seen a women's game are tuning in to watch this show. Everywhere she plays, the arenas are sold out, including this weekend's Big 10 tournament. The TV ratings for her games were off the charts. Caitlin changed the culture.
Before Tiger Woods joined the PGA Tour, the prize money for each tournament was much smaller than it is today. Since he joined the tour he has made golf great. Tournament attendance grew exponentially and TV revenue exploded. I predict Caitlin will do the same in the WNBA. Current salaries for WNBA players are relatively low ($147,000). Especially when compared to the average salary of an NBA player ($9.7 million). The discrepancies relate to ticket sales, TV contracts and merchandise. I predict that the âCaitlyn Effectâ will begin to close that gap in the next few years. Every female athlete would benefit from her stardom.
For now, we should all be thankful for her greatness. She is scheduled to play in the NCAA Tournament in the coming weeks. I don't think her team will win it all, but it would be fun to watch Caitlin and Iowa try to win a national championship.
It's your turn: What do you think of Caitlin Clark and her success this year?