Caitlin Clark has change into one of the polarizing figures in all of sports activities over the past year-plus.
Her reputation reached a peak almost two years in the past when she and Angel Reese duked it out within the nationwide championship – after which, she grew to become a family title.
Clark set quite a few data in her senior 12 months, together with changing into the NCAA’s all-time main scorer, and parlayed all of it into changing into the No. 1 general decide.
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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark performs in opposition to the Dallas Wings in Indianapolis, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photograph/Michael Conroy, File)
However then got here the tradition wars that she discovered herself in the midst of, with many, together with WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, saying that her race performed a task in her reputation.
Clark was the sufferer of some laborious fouls and trash speak all through her rookie season, nevertheless it did not appear to faze her, as she set loads of data in 12 months One.
Clark returned to Iowa on Sunday to see her No. 22 go into the rafters, and he or she was requested concerning the criticism she’s obtained not too long ago.
“I believe it’s simply life. All people goes via among the issues that I’ve gone via, lots of people undergo lots worse. I simply attempt to remind myself each single day how grateful I’m to be within the place I’m, I need to deal with everybody the identical means that I’d need to be handled. It speaks to the best way I used to be raised and my dad and mom raised me. There’s gonna be good days, there’s gonna be dangerous days. Nevertheless it’s simply, you waft. I believe having a very good circle round me, a small circle round me of people who I actually belief that I can at all times depend on and lean on is what’s been so essential for me over this previous 12 months,” Clark advised reporters on Sunday.
Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes celebrates after drawing a foul within the sport in opposition to the West Virginia Mountaineers in the course of the NCAA Division 1 Ladies’s Basketball Championship at Carver-Hawkeye Area on March 25, 2024, in Iowa Metropolis. (Matthew Holst/Getty Photos)
“But additionally, I’ve stated this earlier than, I really feel like one in every of my best expertise is I actually don’t care. Like, I don’t. I don’t care. I imagine in myself, I’m assured in myself, I’m assured in my teammates, I attempt to instill that in them, I’m assured within the teaching workers of no matter crew I used to be on, whether or not that was [at Iowa], whether or not that’s on the Fever now. You simply depend on these individuals. No one will get to step inside your locker room… All people thinks they know every thing and have a solution, however that’s simply not actuality. That goes for all {of professional} sports activities, that goes for all of you as nicely and folks in life.”
As Clark’s rookie season progressed, there have been allegations of racism from each Fever and Iowa followers, a declare made by the aforementioned Reese.
However Clark’s appearances in video games introduced historic viewership to each the school and professional ranges. The ultimate three video games of her faculty profession had been the most-watched girls’s faculty basketball video games ever. She additionally had a number of of her regular-season video games draw extra viewers than WNBA playoff video games, and her WNBA matchups with Reese had been among the most-viewed WNBA video games ever.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark works to the basket in opposition to Dallas Wings guard Sevgi Uzun, Sept. 1, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photograph/Tony Gutierrez)
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WNBA groups even needed to transfer to bigger arenas merely due to the ticket demand Clark drew; the Fever offered 90 instances extra tickets this previous 12 months than in 2023.
Clark was named the Rookie of the 12 months for her historic marketing campaign throughout which she set the report for essentially the most assists in a single season in league historical past. She carried the Fever to a playoff look after a gradual begin, and he or she shortly grew to become a double-double machine. She even set a single-game report with 19 assists. She additionally grew to become the primary rookie to report a triple-double, registering two of them.
She obtained essentially the most votes for the All-Star Sport and was simply the fifth rookie in league historical past to make the All-WNBA first-team.
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