Luka Doncic is more enjoyable than ever in the NBA, to the point of seeing his name come back strong in the race for the MVP trophy. However, the American media wanted to question her on Tuesday, after training in Dallas, about women’s university basketball. And especially on Caitlin Clark, the 22-year-old American fullback from Iowa, still unknown in the eyes of the general European public but already a real phenomenon across the Atlantic. And the Slovenian genius willingly dive into the hype : “She’s incredible, she’s a female Steph Curry, she shoots so much better than me. »
The 1.83 player made an impression on me a month ago, in breaking a landmark record dating from 1970, that of the points recorded in a university basketball career, men and women included. Gone is the legendary Pete Maravich and his 3,667 points, now Caitlin Clark. This is growing on average for her fourth and final NCAA season with the Hawkeyes at 32 points, 9 assists and 7.3 rebounds on average. Yes, yes, just that. Enough to get a tribute tweet from Joe Biden himself.
Nine three-pointers scored in the quarterfinals
During the most anticipated college game of the year on Monday, a quarterfinal against LSU in Albany (New York) in the form of a revenge of the previous final, the shooter was nastily we fire. 41 points, 12 assists, 9/20 three-pointers (!!!) and a daunting qualification (94-87) for the Final Four in Cleveland. “Seeing a player capable of drawing from the central circle is unheard of in history,” marvels Shaï Mamou, journalist for the French site Swish Swish devoted to women’s basketball, and glued to his screen until the end of the night these days for Hawkeyes games. Compared to the NBA, the WNBA has kept a more traditional game, but Caitlin Clark will be able to revolutionize the League with her long-distance shots, like Stephen Curry was able to do. »
Less flashy than the Warriors superstar, Caitlin Clark is no less diabolical in her propensity to shoot her opponents from the parking lot, while multiplying the caviars. Before challenging UConn and its talented leader Paige Bueckers on the night of Friday to Saturday (at 3 a.m. on beIN SPORTS 1), she seems to be as feared as Michael Jordan in his best years. His latest victim, LSU coach Kim Mulkey, said this after her recital: “With her, there is no strategy to have: no one is capable of stopping her. She is a generational player who makes all her teammates better. I’m glad she’s leaving college basketball to join the WNBA this summer. »
Travis Scott traveled to Iowa City to greet Clark
Certainly number 1 in the next draft, she is thus promised to the Indiana Fever. In the meantime, the one who should not yet be part of the American “Dream Team” at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, despite her recent summons to an internship with the national team, aims to offer Iowa the first coronation in its history in NCAA. UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who hasn’t finished cursing her in a few hours, laughed on the subject in a pre-match press conference: “I know that Caitlin Clark had a dispute with LSU. But there’s nothing personal between her and me. I don’t want to see her give us 50 points. I love her, who said I consider Paige Bueckers to be the best player in the country? I think Cailtin is the best player of all time. »
Even before launching his professional career, the Iowa City idol is fascinating the basketball world, including with a simple video of a solo pre-season workout. We see her multiplying the sprints and chaining three series of 100 shots in different positions, for a total of 233/300. “That’s a day at work,” as someone else would say. So goes “Caitlinsanity” in the United States, where all of its matches are obviously sold out this season, with tickets sold for up to $3,500 on the black market in the boiling Iowa City venue (15,400 seats). Reporter for KGAN television station in Iowa, Owen Siebring recounts the insane fervor in this Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“ With each of his impossible shots, it’s as if all the spectators are holding their breath. And a second later, the crowd explodes indescribably. Even I, who am not initially a big basketball fan, I often hold on to my colleagues in the middle of a match and we yell: “Waaaah, did you see that?” I never thought that our little state would be the center of all attention in the United States. Caitlin is now more famous than the governor of Iowa and people come from halfway across the country specifically to see her perform. Moreover, we are no longer even surprised to discover that celebrities like rapper Travis Scott attend a Hawkeyes game. »
An audience higher than most NBA Finals
The Caitlin Clark effect is even more telling on the small screen. The quarter-finals on Monday marked one of the most successful nights in the history of American women’s sport: 6.7 million viewers on ESPN for USC-UConn, and especially 12.3 million for this famous LSU-Iowa. Monstrous figures, even on the scale of the competitive US professional sport: the average audiences for the NBA finals since 2015 have never reached the peak of this LSU-Iowa, excluding the presence of Stephen Curry’s Warriors. Likewise, no match in the previous season of Major League Baseball (MLB), although an institution across the Atlantic, did as well.
“In the eyes of young girls today, female athletes are stars as important, if not more, than men,” notes Lindsey Darvin, professor of sports management at Syracuse University and very attentive to the Caitlin Clark phenomenon. . They will never know those times when it was not possible to constantly watch women’s sports on television. » This is exactly what the jacket worn Monday by Jason Sudeikis (yes, the immense Ted Lasso), also a big fan of Caitlin Clark, and therefore present at the side of the field for LSU-Iowa said: “Everyone is watching of women’s sport. »
“Barriers are falling”
Professor of sports management and economics in Canada, Michael Naraine notes that “this LSU-Iowa match led to the largest number of sports bets in the history of women’s sports in the United States and that the impact of this meeting on social networks was mind-blowing”. So much so that he sees in this NCAA Final Four in Cleveland (in the Cavs’ 20,500-seat arena) “an unprecedented boost for women’s basketball”.
“This is the first time that there has been much more public enthusiasm around the women’s NCAA than the men’s,” continues Michael Naraine. No player is identified as a potential star for the next draft, while Caitlin Clark but also Angel Reese (LSU), JuJu Watkins (USC) and Paige Bueckers (UConn) are all already impressive. They can open a new era of sport. » A turning point which could go beyond American borders for this Final Four, commented on live on French television for the first time.
” With this hype, Caitlin Clark can help to further democratize women’s basketball around the world, appreciates Marie-Fatou Gueye, basketball journalist for beIN SPORTS and N3 player at Stade Français. On an American scale, barriers are falling when we see the excitement surrounding the three-point duel between Steph Curry and Sabrina Ionescu at the last All Star Game and the fact that the WNBA is followed and praised by big NBA stars. It’s important that young female basketball players as well as male basketball players can have female role models. I happen to see boys in France today wearing Sabrina Ionescu’s sneakers. » We can count on Nike, already Caitlin Clark’s main sponsor since 2022, to continue the vein in the coming years with the young icon from all over Iowa.