Caitlin Clark Needs No Comparison To Validate Her Excellence, No Matter What Jay Williams Says

A stunning 40-footer from the logo, made with an amazing amount of balls, solidified Iowa standout Caitlin Clark’s historic status two weeks ago.

Caitlin Clark Needs No Comparison To Validate Her Excellence, No Matter What Jay Williams Says

With a swish, the shooter, who is sometimes likened to Steph Curry, shattered Kelsey Plum’s previous record for the most points scored by a woman in history. And she’s about to break the record for most points scored by a woman and a man, which was previously held by the late Pistol Pete Maravich.

She does not own a national title, according to ESPN’s Jay Williams. Earlier this week, he increased his take.

Less than a week had passed since ESPN commentator Jay Williams said that Clark did not meet the criteria for this category since she had not won an NCAA title during an ESPN College Gameday program. Though that was an odd claim, he decided to stand by it as the game analyst for Wednesday’s men’s match between Kentucky and LSU.

In an 86-69 defeat at Indiana, Clark, chasing even more records and massive, round numbers, showed less of her usual level of brilliance. Even though she was just one assist away from recording her 16th career triple-double, it was still clear that this was not her greatest work. She made 8 of 26 field goals and 3 of 16 three-pointers. When you can fall one digit short of a triple-double and leave viewers well aware things could have been better, the issue isn’t whether you’re great, but how great you are.

“We were talking about greatest. I hear people talking about GOATs, right? For me, I’m kinda like, ‘OK, you wanna be a GOAT.’ Fine. There’s levels of greatness. You gotta win championships to be GOATs,” Williams said.

Fantastic? I apologize, Mr. Williams. Clark is simply too preoccupied with transcending.

Whether or not the 22-year-old has a ring, she has already ascended above Williams’s arbitrary perch, as evidenced by the fact that she is even the subject of these disputes.

I have never witnessed a female player enter into the superficial mainstream discussions that have hitherto been limited to guys who are really good at things.

“So, when people want to don her as the greatest of (all time), I’m like, ‘Let’s slow down.’ I’ve seen Diana Taurasi. I’ve seen Breanna Stewart. And you can sit there and tell me all day long, ‘Well, she’s played with other great players.’ OK, great. Championships — that’s how we measure greatness overall.”

Much of the criticism has come with people pointing out that Williams is Black and Clark is White. But that has nothing to do with his opinion, Williams says.

“Please stop with all this race baiting s—,” Williams said in a video he posted to X, formerly Twitter. “Please. Ain’t nobody out here trying to do that. It’s just hoopers. Now, the comment of great, [Angel Reese and Clark]. Are both great, OK? We were talking about levels of greatness and immortality. And, in the pantheon of greatness, there are levels to greatness with [championships]. That’s how I think about it.

“You think about it differently? Fine. But the only thing I’m gonna say is to all you keyboard courageous people that wanna call me a bum or try to make fun of my career, none of y’all could hold me. None of y’all. Ninety percent of y’all didn’t even pick up a basketball. You can’t even dribble the rock. You can’t even shoot. So, let’s stop being tough guys on the keyboard. Just because you disagree with somebody doesn’t mean you need to call their game a bum when you know that’s not the case.”

No matter what, if we concentrate on Clark catching up to Woodard’s stats and the expiring regular-season calendar reminding us that the Hawkeyes will soon begin their efforts at straight Big Ten Tournament crowns and Final Four berths, we will be doing things better. For any of it to happen, every player for Iowa must perform better than they did against Indiana.

Her group is filling venues; most recently, they sold out the Big Ten women’s tournament for the first time ever. In addition to setting records both on and off the court, she is obtaining NIL deals with organizations that typically sign elite male athletes.

Not to mention the remarkable number of attention she’s attracting. 1.93 million people saw the team play Ohio State on January 21st in a regular-season game. In contrast, the Sunday afternoon game of the NHL’s highly anticipated Stadium Series last week drew 1.57 million spectators.

A massive 9.9 million people watched the NCAA championship game between LSU and Iowa last year, which featured Clark versus fellow sensation Angel Reese. In the meantime, 9.11 million people watched the Rangers vs. Diamondbacks World Series on average during the most recent series.

Clark surpassed all other collegiate athletes in Fanatics’ sales this week throughout the NIL era. Her NIL worth is $919,000, according to on3.com, because of her partnerships with Gatorade, Nike, Bose, and Buick. In addition, Clark signed as the first collegiate athlete for State Farm, whose pitchmen include Chris Paul and Patrick Mahomes.

Clark made the decision four years ago to play for the Hawkeyes and stay close to home, unlike several other athletes who did the same. Under Lisa Bluder, they have consistently participated in the NCAA Tournament, but the team’s run to the Final Four last year was their first in thirty years. Iowa didn’t only show up ceremonially; they upset undefeated South Carolina in the national semifinals to reach the championship game.

 

 

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