One of the most legendary college basketball careers — men's or women's — has come to an end on Sunday, with Iowa women's basketball star Caitlin Clark never getting a taste of the ultimate indication of success in the amateur ranks. With the Hawkeyes falling prey to Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks in the NCAA women's national championship game, Clark was denied the perfect ending to her college career.
Nevertheless, it doesn't seem that Clark will have many sleepless nights over the fact that she never led Iowa women's basketball to the top of the college world.
Caitlin Clark reacts to failure to win national title with Iowa women's basketball
Following the Hawkeyes' 87-75 loss to the Gamecocks, Clark said that she would just be fine even without a national title under her belt.
“I'll be able to sleep every night even though I never won a national championship,” Clark said (h/t Nancy Armour of USA TODAY).
Clark gave it her all for the Hawkeyes, who wouldn't have come close to a national title game appearance without her in the fold. Against the Gamecocks, Clark led Iowa women's basketball with 30 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in 40 minutes.
It wasn't the most efficient shooting performance from Clark, as South Carolina gave her so much defensive attention. She ended up going just 10/28 from the field and 5/13 from the 3-point area, but there shouldn't be any regret on the part of Iowa in terms of their heavy reliance on Clark.
As a team, the Hawkeyes shot just 39.7 percent from the field, with South Carolina holding Iowa to only 29 rebounds to the Gamecocks' 51 boards. Winning the possession battle and greatly limiting Iowa's chances with the ball were major reasons behind South Carolina's win that capped the Gameocks' unblemished campaign — and successfully avenged their loss to Clark and the Hawkeyes in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
It can be recalled that the Gamecocks lost to Iowa women's basketball in the Final Four of the 2023 March Madness to the tune of a 77-73 score, with Clark going off for 41 points on 15/31 shooting from the floor with five 3-pointers in 39 minutes.
The Hawkeyes would always go as far as where Clark would take them. It was just unfortunate that Clark was not able to do enough to pull Iowa past South Carolina, which concluded the 2023-24 college basketball season with an immaculate 38-0 record. Iowa, on the other hand, finished with a 34-5 slate. South Carolina had the perfect game plan and the immense talent to combat Clark's greatness.
What's ahead of Caitlin Clark after the end of her college career?
Just because Clark will no longer be playing college ball, it doesn't mean hoops fans have seen the last of her on the court. After such a spectacular career with the Hawkeyes, Clark's future is shining brighter than the lights of March Madness. The most obvious destination for Clark is the WNBA. She is widely projected to go No. 1 overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft, which would mean that she's going to be playing with the Indiana Fever, who own the top pick. The draft is scheduled to be held on Apr. 14. That's an interesting scenario because Indiana has Aliyah Boston, who was still with the Gamecocks when Clark and the Hawkeyes defeated South Carolina in the aforementioned Final Four game.
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