Iowa Basketball: BREAKING! Caitlin Clark to have her Jersey Retired

Caitlin Clark will return to Iowa for the February 2nd home game against USC. It is the first time the star has returned to her home since being the first overall pick in the WNBA draft. Clark is returning for a good reason as the University of Iowa just announced they are going to retire her jersey. It means a lot to the sport of Basketball and it means a lot to many young women throughout the country.

Caitlin Clark is the greatest player of her generation, and for my money, she is the greatest women’s basketball player of all time. Her accomplishments speak for themselves. She has scored the most points of any college player ever, men or woman. She has the most three-point made of any player, man or woman; she is the first women’s player ever to score 1,000 or more points in a single season twice. On top of that, she has the most points in a single season, passing Kelsey Plum. Clark also holds the record for the single-season points per game average of 28.42 per game.

After he last game at Iowa the guard left with 3,951 points and 548 three pointers. We have already established that is the most ever. She also has 17 triple doubles which is the second most in history and 1,144 assists for the third most ever. That all earned her multiple player of the year awards, All America nods, and she became the first overall pick of the WNBA draft. What else could she possibly accomplish?

The short answer is a lot, but I am not here to discuss her stats or discuss her potential ability to be the greatest women’s player of all time. That will come in due time. There is one more accomplishment that she has just achieved, and it might be here greatest yet. Jersey retirement is a big deal that not many people can say has ever happened to them. In fact Clark will join only two other Hawkeye women’s players to have their numbers retired.

Megan Gustafson and Michelle Edwards are the other two women’s players to have their jerseys retired by Iowa, but none of them had the impact that Clark has had on the game. We already went through the laundry list of accomplishments on the court by Clark, but it is the potential legacy she has left on the game that she will be remembered for long after she dribbles her last basketball. Clark has made people interested in women’s basketball and is starting to attract a new group of younger fans.

All the evidence you need of this is to look at the ratings the WNBA has pulled since she got into the league. The league averaged 1.2 million viewers, which is a 155% increase in viewership from 2023. Remember in 2023 Clark was still in college. I experienced Clark-mania firsthand last season while she was still at Iowa.

I live in Lincoln, NE, I am a huge Husker fan and was not going to pass up my opportunity to watch Clark play in person. My daughter and my wife were also very excited to go with me. As I was purchasing the tickets, I could tell that something was different. The tickets were in very high demand and were far more expensive than the other Women’s games were. When we arrived at the Pinnacle Bank Arena the line to get into the Arena winded down two city blocks of downtown Lincoln.

That is something no one here had seen for a non football event. It was the loudest I have ever heard the arena, which gets loud and is a tough place to play when packed. The Huskers did win the game, but the crowd was very pro Clark. Even the non Iowa fans wanted to see her succeed and the little girls in attendance were wide eyed and were speechless getting to see their hero on the floor.

That is a lot to put on someone’s shoulders, but Clark is a hero to a lot of young women, and she has embraced that role. She carries herself well on and off the basketball court. As a father, she is everything I would look for in a role model for my young daughter. Congratulations to Clark and her family. It is much deserved, and I can’t wait to continue following her career.