I would like to give a little love to Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. She is fantastic to watch — incredible player. Unbelievable scoring guard. I will go out of my way to tune in. She is that good. Caitlin became the ALL-TIME LEADING scorer in Women’s NCAA history here recently. Clark is only 99 points shy of Pistol Pete Maravich’s mark. I believe she will top that soon. And she will go down as SCORING QUEEN.
The Hawkeyes are one of the nation’s top teams, and Caitlin is the star. She is the face of College Basketball. Men or Women. Clark constantly produces absurd numbers while drawing so much attention from the other squads. Some folks will double or even triple-team her. Others try to deny Clark the ball. No one has found an answer. Caitlin continues to dazzle and score.
Clark is the topic of conversation. Many celebs and politicians have chimed in. Caitlin handles it extremely well. Her impact on the game is insane. The attendance numbers and views are off the charts. Iowa hosted a preseason game against DePaul in Kinnick Stadium. Yes. It was outdoors. There were 55,646 fans. That shattered the previous tallies. Seventeen of Iowa’s 19 total sellouts have occurred during Caitlin’s time. Away from Iowa City, Clark and the Hawkeyes have helped sell out or break attendance records in 30 of their 32 contests. According to reports, schools that host Iowa have seen an increase in fans by 150% compared to other home games. Iowa has seen many sellouts in 2023-24. Northern Iowa, their first ever, Iowa State, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Purdue, Ohio State, Northwestern, Maryland, Lycoming and Nebraska. No, Caitlin didn’t play against the Warriors. Sorry.
Clark has also amplified the interest in Division 1 Women’s Basketball. A new overall attendance record was established in 2022-23 at 8,784,401 in-person fans. The NCAA Tournament was packed. They also set a new record with 357,542 in the stands. This was capped by a sellout crowd of 19,482 at the Championship game between Iowa and LSU. The TV ratings are rather impressive. That 2023 Championship drew over 10 million views, a 103% increase from 2022. That title game also shattered the previous record of 5.7 million viewers for UCONN and Oklahoma set in 2002. Crazy.
Kudos to Caitlin. She has changed the entire landscape. Clark is now the face of college basketball. Men and Women. And now you even see her on a few commercials with STATE FARM. I will congratulate her when she sets the record. I will continue to tune in for every game. Caitlin is a very special player. Once in a lifetime. Cheers.
