Caitlin Clark ready to ‘play free’ with Hawkeyes after announcing WNBA Draft decision
Caitlin Clark doesn’t have to stress about the future anymore.
The Hawkeyes star announced Thursday that she will enter the WNBA Draft later this year instead of returning for a fifth season in Iowa City next fall. While she didn’t have to make that information public this week — the Hawkeyes’ regular-season finale is Sunday and both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments are still ahead of her — the decision is one that Clark wanted to get out of the way going into March.
After all, she’s known this was the right thing for her to do “for a little while” now.
"Getting the weight of the world off my shoulders and being able to enjoy this last month with my teammates is the biggest thing," Clark said Friday, via ESPN’s Michael Voepel. "I kind of knew in my heart. I've gone back and forth a little bit, especially early in the year.
"As the season played out, it became clearer to me. I kind of knew what was going to be the right step for me, and obviously I had a lot of support systems around me, and my family and friends. I think everybody supported my decision, and that's reassuring."
Clark, who won consensus National Player of the Year honors last season, is an overwhelming favorite to repeat this season. She already passed Kelsey Plum as the NCAA women’s all-time leading scorer last month, and she is just 18 points away from passing Pete Maravich and becoming the all-time leading scorer in NCAA basketball history.
Clark is averaging a career-high 32.2 points, 8.7 assists and 7.4 rebounds this season while shooting nearly 47% from the field and almost 40% from behind the arc. No. 6 Iowa will close out the regular season Sunday against No. 2 Ohio State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
"She's a tremendous player, and we would have loved to have her come back," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said, via ESPN. "But also, our job is to have them for four years and support them as best we can and try to prepare them for the next chapter in their lives. Her four years is up, even though she could have come back for another year. She's ready for a new challenge."
Clark is the likely choice to go No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft, which would send her to the Indiana Fever. Though there’s plenty to be excited about in her professional career, Clark insisted that — especially after falling to LSU in last year’s national title game — her focus is on finishing her college career strong.
“Anytime you make a big decision and you’re confident in it, that’s just kind of what happens,” Clark said when asked if she felt better now with the decision out of the way. “And I think that’s my biggest focus going into the rest of the year: Just smile, have fun, play free.
“That’s really when I play my best basketball, so I’m excited.”
After putting up a second consecutive triple-double Wednesday night in a nearly 50-point rout over Minnesota, it seems as if that’s already happening.
“I think you probably saw it last night,” Iowa assistant Jan Jensen said Thursday, via KCRG’s Chelsie Brown. “I think she probably played with a little more of that loose freedom at Minnesota. Now we’re going to make the rest of this journey. We don’t know how it’s going to end, but, wow, it’s been a heck of a ride.”
