Logo 3s, precision passing, superstar: Caitlin Clark is The Athletic’s women’s basketball player of the year
It is our honor to appoint Caitlin Clark The Athletics‘s Player of the Year is no surprise to anyone.
Any media outlet or organization that does not crown her national player of the year would be committing basketball’s version of heresy. From little kids to grandparents and the generations in between, they know about Clark’s record-setting season and her penchant for photos that sometimes look like they were launched from the moon.
Caitlin Clark’s mythology is growing – and will become even more legendary if she takes Iowa to the national championship game again. Her wow-factor recordings have turned casual viewers into not only Iowa diehards, but women’s basketball fans as well. Clark was impossible to ignore, but somehow the greater her stardom and seemingly underappreciated, the nuances in her performance became beyond the razzle-dazzle.
Clark leads the nation with 32.7 points per game (a category she has led in three of her four seasons), while she also ranks first with 8.7 assists per game (a category she has led in recent led nationally for three seasons). She makes the most three-pointers per game with 5.4 (a category she also led last season), but her seven defensive rebounds per game puts her in the 95th percentile of players. Her win shares and player efficiency score top the charts according to HerHoopsStats.
Why Clark is the best player in the country is undoubtedly based on her phenomenal skills that we have rarely seen in the sport. She does it so well that she floods fans’ memories with highlights.
But when we voted for our Player of the Year — admittedly, an easy vote with no debate this season — we asked our women’s basketball experts a tougher question. What stood out most about Clark’s memorable season?
Precision passing
As much fun as I had watching Clark launch 3s from the logo, I need an assist for this. I’ve had the chance to see her in person three times this season and each time I walk away saying, ‘Television may give people an idea of Clark as a shooter, but it doesn’t even tell you how good she is as a passer.’ To truly understand her vision and her ability to find these wire windows, you need to be able to see the entire field, not the sections selected by a camera operator. It looks easy to watch Clark make 18-yard passes in transition, or watch her send an absolute rocket through four defenders, it will never get old. This particular assist is the one that made Clark the Big Ten leader in assists, so it feels fitting to have a pass that fully showcases her vision, precision and execution here. Plus, nice finish, Hannah Stuelke. I’m going to miss that connection next year. Watch the pass after 51 seconds here:
– Chantel Jennings
The dazzling star
Even after watching Clark lead the Hawkeyes to the national title game, I don’t think I understood the magnitude of what she would mean for college basketball until early this season, when Iowa faced Virginia Tech in Charlotte. Witnessing more than 15,000 fans at a neutral site, living and dying at every turn of a non-conference game, was all the necessary proof that Clark would be a phenomenon wherever she went this year. And of course, she delivered a masterpiece on national television, with 44 points, eight rebounds and six assists. The list of power conference players who scored 44 points in a game this year? JuJu Watkins, Hannah Stuelke and Caitlin Clark, who’ve done it three times…and counting. By the way, the other two together provided three assists in their matches.
On a night when Virginia Tech superstar Georgia Amoore scored 31 points of his own, Hokies coach Kenny Brooks was realistic about what it meant to face Clark. “I love my girls,” he said, “but sometimes you play checkers and she plays chess. She is that good.” Since then, she has dazzled audiences – and opposing coaches.
– Sabreena Trader
The logo3s
Clark said it herself: How else could she cement her place in history and set the all-time NCAA women’s record than with a logo 3? Her triple, during Iowa’s fifth possession against Michigan on Feb. 15, gave Clark the all-time record and drew raucous ovations in a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It was the most fitting way for her to make history, and it was made all the more impressive by the fact that it took her just 2:22 to score 8 points and pass former Washington star Kelsey Plum. That evening, Clark would record a career-high and program record 49 points in the Hawkeyes’ 106-89 win, putting on a masterful showcase that punctuated the evening’s occasion. “What she has done to improve our program and women’s basketball nationally is spectacular,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said afterward. Clark’s passing is undeniably superb – in terms of flair and accuracy – but Clark will primarily go down as one of the very best scorers (and shooters) in the history of college basketball, men’s or women’s. Perhaps the very best. I could then have picked any number of moments when she put the ball in the basket: her game-winning 3-pointer against Michigan State, her 3-pointer against Minnesota to pass Lynette Woodard, her free throws to put Pete Maravich over, etc. .—but perhaps no series embodies her greatness and drive as well as the way she passed over Plum.
You’re kidding 😂@caitlinclark22 X #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/afOSOY70Ku
— Iowa women’s basketball (@IowaWBB) February 16, 2024
– Ben Pickman
POY vote count
Player | Team | Points |
---|---|---|
Caitlin Clark |
30 |
|
Cameron Brink |
27 |
|
JuJu Watkins |
21 |
(Photo by Caitlin Clark: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)