Caitlin Clark's green light made her the gold standard in women's basketball

IOWA CITY, Iowa – It's impossible to pinpoint the exact moment when it was determined in Iowa that every shot that left Caitlin Clark's hands was not only a fair shot, but a good shot. Because there are green lights, and there are vegetable lights. And Clark has actually spent much of her career operating in the latter sector.

But there is a solid argument that it was February 6, 2022.

It was Clark's second season, and even though she had put up big numbers, she wasn't yet considered the one-woman wrecking crew she has become. To reach that level of knowledge, a player must not only throw the stones, but also defeat Goliath. And while she was a huge goal scorer, at the time she was on a team that had yet to beat its best opponents. The Hawkeyes were 1-9 against top-25 teams in her career and they faced No. 6 Michigan on the road.

She started the game by stepping back from the free throw line and followed with a pull-up triple. She threw in some drives and more mid-ranges, but the real treat came when she started hitting logo 3s during the fourth quarter as the Hawkeyes (read: Clark) tried to pull off the upset. In a span of 92 seconds, she hit three transition 3s, the final one while being swarmed by Michigan defenders who put Clark on skates. She finished with 46 points. Although Iowa still lost, something changed that night.

Oh dear. @CaitlinClark22 #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/GWkkay66hc

— Iowa women's basketball (@IowaWBB) February 7, 2022

As the broadcasters shouted into their microphones after yet another logo trip: 'What has she done? What did she just do?” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder walked calmly along the sideline, not even surprised or excited enough to cross her arms. Without context, she simply looks like a coach saying “same old, same old” as she turned to her bench.

“In the beginning, when you're coaching her, in practice it's quite entertaining when she takes some and makes some of those shots. But in games as a coach you think, 'Phew, that's not recommended,'” Bluder said. “But there's a point where you realize, 'She's different from everyone else and she can make these at a pretty alarming rate.'

“There was a change in my mind,” she added. “At that point I thought, 'Okay, we're going with this.'”

“This” as in: For Clark, anything goes.

And as of February 6, 2022, this has worked quite well for both Clark and Iowa. The senior is now 39 points behind the NCAA women's basketball record, and the Hawkeyes, who defeated South Carolina — the Goliath of women's basketball — in last season's Final Four, are now nationally recognized as a powerhouse and standing strong in second place in second place. behind the Gamecocks this season.

Clark is a household name outside the women's basketball world, a player shadowed by security guards before and after games and at public events. She has NIL partnerships with Nike, State Farm and Gatorade. She's the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft if she declares, and the biggest headache for opposing coaches in women's college hoops if she chooses to return for her fifth year.

Ask any coaches who have dealt with her (or who worry they might later), and they'll all explain the same thing: You're not holding her back. You could slow her down, you could make her more inefficient, but there's no stopping Clark. When Clark dropped those 46 points on Michigan in 2022, Wolverine coach Kim Barnes Arico said after the game, “I didn't even know what was going on.”

That may be the most impressive part of her quest for the scoring record: Clark's unwavering consistency. She has never missed a game. In 124 appearances at Iowa, she failed to score in double figures just once. As she has expanded her range over the past four seasons, her field goal percentages have steadily increased. “Her consistency is extraordinary,” Bluder said Thursday night after Clark scored 27 points in a win against Penn State. “For her to do this day after day, night after night, in sold-out arenas, chasing records, for her to be so consistent, it's incredible. Everyone has a bad night. We all have bad nights. Caitlin doesn't have bad nights.'

As teams cast new and different defensive looks at her, she continued to outpace whatever opponents could create. Double her and she finds the corner. If you crowd her, she'll come up and shoot. Throw the sink at her and discover she can press logo 3s and wash the dishes at the same time.

Caitlin Clark's shot charts/heatmaps from the past four seasons. Just wild. pic.twitter.com/60BBbWVOXy

— Chantel Jennings (@ChantelJennings) February 8, 2024

Of the top-10 scorers in Division I history, only two averaged more than 25 points during their entire college careers (current record holder Kelsey Plum: 25.4; Elena Delle Donne: 26.7).

Clark has achieved an average of 28.1.

This season, fans from all over the Big Ten have spent hundreds of dollars getting their asses kicked in conference arenas, hoping that their “home team” would take a 46-point beating from the 6-foot-1 guard so that they, too the Caitlin Clark Experience can take place.

Under the microscope, Clark had no doubts either. Her worst game this season — a 24-point, six-rebound, three-assist night against Kansas State — would still be a career night for 99 percent of college basketball players.

Clark said after the game, “I think it shows that you have to come every day and be ready to play basketball because no matter who it is, you can beat anyone, you can lose. [to] someone. That's the beauty of women's basketball. That's what makes it so fun. “I'm just disappointed that we didn't really put on a great performance for our fans, who have supported us very well.”

Because when you watch Clark, it's not just basketball, it's a real performance that she puts on for the fans who show up and are amazed not only with the hope but also with the expectation. They don't want 3s, they want logo 3s. They don't want no-look passes, they want to see something they've never seen before. They want the show that Clark's coaches and teammates have gotten in practice over the past four seasons. Not only do they want Bluder's green light for Clark, they want her to stay on the Autobahn for 40 minutes.

Despite all that attention, Clark has not only delivered, she's always been great, consistently leaving viewers asking the question, “What has she done?” What did she just do?”

Now she may be a few quarters away from solidifying herself at the top of the NCAA women's scoring record, a feat that for Clark — with that green light — seems like it could be just one or two really good quarters away from to become the scorer. master.

(Photo by Caitlin Clark: G Fiume/Getty Images)