Caitlin Clark is the best offensive player we've seen in women's college basketball in at least the last three decades. Her point total, while enormous and now unparalleled, only tells part of the story. While we've seen incredible goal scorers (Lynette Woodard, Kelsey Plum, Maya Moore, Jackie Stiles, Brittney Griner), we've NEVER seen a woman play like that.
The Iowa senior's consistent shooting range and willingness to regularly get up from deep set her apart. This season, she has taken 88 shots from 25 feet or longer. Over the past five years, the next highest single-season total by anyone other than Clark is 51 (Indiana guard Sara Scalia in 2021-22), according to CBB Analytics. Defenders have to pick her up as soon as she crosses half court, or else she will be in range of her.
Steph Curry and Damian Lillard are the only other half-court threats that come to mind. Clark's mere presence on the court manipulates individual and team defenses and creates better space for each of his teammates.
But it is his death that elevates her above other great scorers in women's football. Her passing makes her not only the best scorer but also the best all-around offensive player.
clark is him best passer to “get ahead” from Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi.
Clark sees his teammates running down the court and often throws a lead pass before they have even turned their heads to know he was coming. She is elite two-man game and elite read defenses and know how to take a pass through the smallest window.
While we celebrate Clark as the leading scorer in NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball history after she surpassed Pete Maravich's mark on Sunday, we can't ignore that she is also sixth all-time in assists in the women's game. No other player is in the top 28 of both. (The career assists data, interestingly, only includes the top 28 players. There's a chance that no one else is in the top 65, where Sabrina Ionescu finishes in scoring and fourth in assists.)
Clark is also the only basketball player in a major conference to lead the conference in scoring and assists in four consecutive seasons.
Now everyone knows that @IowaWBB 's @CaitlinClark22 tops the NCAA career scoring list. Not many know that she also ranks sixth in career assists. (For context, no other player is in the top 25 of either.) We look at some of her elite passes from her record-setting game. pic.twitter.com/7iQsFIyRJh
—Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) February 19, 2024
In short, she is a great teammate. While she attempts the second-most field goals in the country (her 22.6 attempts per game trail USC freshman JuJu Watkins' 22.8 attempts), she rarely forces shots. . I haven't seen her shoot a deep 3-pointer when a teammate is open to get a better look. I have never seen a teammate go down on her shoulders because Clark didn't pass her the ball when she was open. Does Clark sometimes seem frustrated when a pass is mishandled? Yes, but you always get the feeling that she is frustrated with the play and not the player. And it is evident that her classmates love playing with her.
One of my favorite Clark moments of the season occurred during Iowa's game against Michigan. It wasn't Clark's eight points in the first two minutes that gave her the NCAA women's scoring record. And it wasn't any of her 33 points or 13 assists later.
It was a decision he made just before leaving the game. With one minute left and Clark with 49 points, she received the ball in transition, and instead of going down and trying to get 50 points, she sent a pass to get ahead of her teammate Hannah Stuelke, who was fouled. Passing the ball was the right decision at the time and Clark made the right decision, not the selfish one.
It's rare that someone comes in and changes the way a sport is played. Clark has done that. Her scoring, along with her passing, make her the best offensive player I have seen in my 35 years playing and covering women's college soccer.
