The real test of Kaitlin Clark's real star power is if she will have a meaningful positive impact on the BBLL {black basketball lesbian league} and their TV and game day drawing power.
If you have watched any of the BBLL TV talking heads over the past couple of months, you been able to see the HUGE and double HUGH CHIP on their collective shoulders.
The league can't draw flies and so it must be my fault, an old white guy that doesn't want to watch basketball, men or women.
I may watch a few replays of tonight's final and catch a few nba playoff games, but I and most TV watching Americans, have no real interest.
Well, Caitlin's already had some effect on their acolytes at top NCAA levels. Kim Mulkey shows up to this year's game with Caitlin dressed like a normal coach, her team behaved well during and after the game. And Mulkey deflected criticism of skipping the Anthem rather than defending her season long practice of skipping it. While Clark's team were portrayed as exemplars for participating in the Anthem. Geno strenuously walked back his brief claim that his UCONN star guard was a better player than Clark. And Dawn Staley went out of her way to say nice things about Clark and the Iowa team in general after her win. Although I'd like to give them a little bit of benefit of the doubt, there clearly was pressure on them because attacking Clark and the Iowa team was NOT good for the Woman's basketball brand. Basketball, Iowa women's style, sells big, bigger than NCAA men or either sex's pro leagues.
Final NCAA woman's rankings are out. Unsurprisingly SC was unanimous #1. But if you look at the point totals, Iowa ended not only ranked #2, but also unanimously #2. I've not seen the latter reported anywhere. And in addition to breaking Seth Curry's season 3 point record - by forty, and breaking the career 3 point record, previously set over 5 years, in just four years, Clark set the career and single season scoring records and the career PPG average record. While also becoming 3rd on the career assist totals and falling just short of 1000 career rebounds.
Moreover, this 2024 woman's Iowa graduating class is a great example of history, if not repeating, then rhyming, with Iowa men's 1956 class. Both classes made the final four their last two seasons and the championship game their final season. Both lost their final game to historically great undefeated teams with great centers. As good as SC's run has been and Kamilla Cardoso is, Bill Russell and his SF Don's were even better, winning 51 straight and consecutive NCAA championships 1955-56. Both Iowa teams jumped to notable early leads against their juggernauts and both were worn down and ended up losing by precisely 12 points to them. Caitlin's number will doubtless be retired, the entire 1956 men's graduating class, "The Fabulous Five" had theirs retired. One of the Fab Five, Carl Cain, played in the '56 Olympics, perhaps Caitlin will play in the '24 ones. Caitlin's class's run was preceded by Iowa having the consensus NCAA All American center (and POY) in Megan Gustafson, 5 years earlier. The Fab Five's run was preceded, 4 years earlier, by Iowa having the consensus NCAA All American center (and also NBA first round draft choice and '56 Olympian) in Chuck Darling.