Did Caitlin Clark say she was a product of white privilege? What exactly is this league that she and all of her fans she brought with her get into?  How well known was Caitlin Clark all four of her years when playing college ball at Iowa? What is Caitlin Clark’s basketball game skills?

First, how do I know of Caitlin Clark, Iowa Women’s basketball, and the WNBA?

I took a job up the road from Iowa City the home of University of Iowa Hawkeyes.  Radio Station WMT AM 600 is the flagship station for University of Iowa sports.  Football, Men’s basketball, and yes Women’s basketball.  As I got ready for work in the morning I would have AM 600 on the radio and heard the sports reports.  I confess, I had only watch a few quarters of the early Illinois High School Women’s state playoffs in the early years and as a young child I saw a small amount of the old six on six Women’s high school basketball.

We weathered the virus years of 2020 then the reports start coming on WMT.  The Women’s Basketball team was winning.  Many players would be mentioned in the highlights.  Eventually the reports started mentioning how many points  Clark had been scoring a how a Iowa career scoring record by Megan Gustafson was eventually going to fall.  The team was doing quite well. I had then listed to some of the games on the radio broadcast.

Up to this point I had not seen the team play.  I had no knowledge of racial makeup.  It was not until the 2023 NCAA playoffs that I finally caught a game on television. It was basketball as I had played it but way better, faster, and shots from distances that put players of my era on the bench.  It was the first time I had seen the players.

After falling to LSU in the NCAA final game,  Iowa had a minimum of losses the next year to senior graduation.  Those playoff games hooked me. These women could play.  Fast breaks, passing, and yes shooting from all distances.  Layups using the back board.  Fast breaks. Defense. And yes, blocked shots.  Not like George Miken who was able to block shots both on the way up and down, but right as the shot left the hands of the shooter.

Clark is the ultimate floor leader.  Open player near the basket, pass on the hands.  Driving in and the basket is covered, kick back to the player on the three point line.  Fast break passes end to end. Things blocked up in the middle, Clark just lets it rip from long distance.  These are distances where we used to practice in the driveway counting down three two one as if it were the end of the game.  Clark just put them up at any time of the game.

The 2022-2023 team was very popular selling many tickets including sellout crowds.  To give the Hawkeye fans the opportunity to see the 2023-2024 Women’s Basketball Team they did the first game the football stadium. The Crossover at Kinnick. That’s right, the same place where during the football games the players wave to the patients in the Children’s hospital above the stands. Attendance of 55,652 which made it the most attended women’s basketball game in history. Watching the game on television I saw players from both teams experience this special event.  Television was limited as it was on the Big Ten Network which may have limited its reach as compared to being on one of the free networks, but it was watched.

Again, Iowa fell in the NCAA final game, but this time it was much closer. That game had an attendance of 18,300 in the stadium with an average of 18.7 million viewers and a peak of 24 million.  This after the Elite Eight game that year between Iowa and LSU drew a then record 12.3 million viewers with a peak audience of 16.1 million viewers.

Yes, there were many college women players of excellence that year, but the largest crowds seemed to included Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.  

Then something unprecedented happened.  The WNBA Draft which all predictions had The Iowa Star Caitlin Clark going in the first pick. The ESPN event had a record 2.45 million viewers watching.  The second most watched draft was 2004 with 601,000 viewers when Dana Taurasi was drafted.

That draft night we watch something else that I have been told had never happened in a WNBA Draft.  At the event a few of Clark’s teammates were the with her for support.  Leading up tho the eighteenth pick the ushers came by there Clark and her guests were sitting.  They were asked to make extra space. Not sure what was happening the call of the eighteenth pick was teammate Kate Martin.  It is said that Caitlin Clark elevates her teammates.  Martin earned this, but the extra visibility of the Iowa team brought her and her fan base to the WNBA. It also gave Iowa fans two WNBA teasm to watch.  It just so happened that former Iowa start Megan Gustafson was on the same team, the Las Vegas Aces that chose Martin.

We now have two of the biggest names in the most recent Iowa Women’s basketball drafted to the ranks of the WNBA.  How big a following? It is said that Jersey sales is an indication of fan popularity. Three of the top 5 selling jerseys in 2024 were rookies.  Number one, Caitlin Clark of the Indianapolis Fever.  Two, Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky, a great rebounder and with some work, could be a Magic Johnson type player. Third, five year veteran Sabrina Ionescu with the New Your Liberty a very good player.  Fourth, and how does this happen that the eighteenth draft pick in any sports draft is the fourth largest sold Jersey.  She has her fans following her to her new team and she is that type of player that if there was any lack of skills makes it up in hard work, determination and is a sponge of the sport. Number five, seven year veteran A’Ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces.

All of this background is very positive.  But the 2024 WNBA season had a strange welcome for Caitlin Clark.

So what has the WNBA as a league been. I looked back over the years looking at video and I see a fair amount of fan support for the final championship games (crowds for other games are unknown as video was hard to find the further I go back in history), a league that has been somewhat inconsistent in how games are officiated,  players with heart, and a game of contact that is dictated by the size or skill level of the opposing players.

League officiating is a combination of referee skills and decisions by the league to define various calls especially fouls.  Referee skills is a personnel decision. If officials are not performing adequately and another official is waiting in the wings, the official can be switched.

Defining fouls is a function of the league officials. As I go over videos from years past I notice that some years there looks to be a decision to let players hit each other two or three times before a foul is called.  It has been said that in the last minute of an NHL hockey game that the referee is suppose to swallow their whistle and let the players decide the game. Not logical.  A foul or penalty is a foul or penalty the whole duration of the game.  It also seems that the with occasional exception the game seemed slower and more post oriented. There also were a number of non-black players who were quite good.

Some games that I saw had some moderate crowds.  As I analyze the crowds I get the impression that there is a degree of local interest but do see a fair amount of empty seats and rarely if there was an upper deck there is no camera pans.  

The question I ask is what type of fan outreach had been done?

As I mentioned when talking about the Bulls promotions were made with local restaurants to get people to the games.  There event double headers, the Globe Trotters in game one and the Bulls in game two. What type of promotions were run?  I once got a basketball when going to a Bulls game.

Clark has said that hear basketball idol was Maya Moore.  Interesting.  As a young basketball player the color of Moore’s skin seemed to have no affect on the choice of Clark’s idol.  I can relate to that.  As a baseball fan, Ernie Banks, Dick Allen, Billy Williams, Walter No Neck Williams, were all ones who inspired me to play.  Yes, there was Bill Melton, Ron Santo, and others, the point is, when kids picked their sports idols where I grew up, skin color was ignored.

Back to Clark.  She did something that does not happen much in the Midwest. She brought a whole fan base from Iowa to Indiana.  Just as Martin brought her fan base from Iowa to Las Vegas and now to Golden State. Wives turned the Hallmark Channel off to now watch the WNBA!  

Aside from an NCAA trophy, Clark’s fan base grew because of her accomplishments.  They followed her to her next location.  They love her up tempo game.  They realize that in most situations she passes first and the shot is used to open up the pass.  Her shooting and passing skill opens up shots for her teammates.  Her aggressiveness for winning on the court is in my opinion less than her off court persona. Here relationship with the fans, her ability to talk with the media, her positiveness, her desire to raise the league and raise all of her fellow players, on her team or on the opponents.

Her fans with the base in Iowa, are nationwide.  This is evident by how some teams booked larger venues for their games against the Fever. Iowa television stations have made a place for Indiana Fever games. I have not heard of this in any other league.  This would be comparable to the Yankees having local games booked in Chicago, Detroit, or even Boston.

Regardless of who you want to give credit to the surge in interest in the WNBA, you need to make this statement: Many for the first time have seen the WNBA, for good or bad.  In my eyes, with the exception of how fouls are defined for being called, I see many talented players. These women can play.  

For this next statement I will say that since I had not seen an NBA game for years, I forced myself to watch a few NBA games.  In my life time I grew up with two expansion teams as a fan, the Bulls back in the sixties and seventies, and the Timberwolves in the from its inception in 1989 where I saw a game in the old Metrodome, their home during the first season. The game has drastically changed from those days and in some ways is a bit boring.

But having found the WNBA, I became enthralled and a fan.  But not just of Clark.  I fell in love with game  (minus the lack of foul calling) and became enamored with the other players on the team.  One was Kelsey Mitchell.  

In the struggles of the early season which we now know that due to scheduling the Fever lacked practices to get to know each other not only as players but also as teammates.  I saw Mitchell trying to make every play on her own, drive try to shoot, sometimes forcing shots and missing more that I thought she should.  Then while watching one game there was this play where she took a pass from Clark and was so open that I saw her crack a smile making the layup.  Not too long after there was a kick out pass from Clark.  Mitchell had an eternity that she could shoot and got nothing but net.

Prior to the Olympic Break there was the all star game between those who made the Olympic team and those who did not.  Cheryl Miller, one of the best players in her time was the coach of those who didn’t make the Olympic team. Her positiveness was like an umbrella over that team.  Angel Reese was looking forward to getting a pass from Clark and scoring.   Clark did not come back into the game when Miller suggested as Arike Ogunbowale was on fire shooting and Clark wanted Ogunbowale to keep it going.  Selfless play!

As the season went on and the team got to practicing during the Olympic break the timing was happening.  The started winning.  Finishing at .500 and going to the playoffs.

Caitlin Clark brought a whole new viewership to the league.  The viewership needed to get used to the league and the league needs to understand the new viewers and what their basketball product will be going forward.  There will be some changes. It happens.

But did Caitlin Clark bend a knee?  Did she sell out?  Absolutely not.  In fact she did quite the opposite.  She celebrated those who came before her. She pointed out that her basketball idol Moore did not have the viewership that Clark had in her first year.  In fact, Moore may never had that type of crowd support for that may games.  Add to that Clark’s constant requests to make things better for all of the players regardless of race and background while acknowledging the past shows me a player who knows the history of her sport and how she want the WNBA to become the premier women’s basketball league in the world while reminding people of the players form the past!