Caitlin Changed the Game

[omshanti]

She brought new fans and more media attention to the game.
That is all.
She didn't change the way the game is played or officiated.

Maybe the way it was officiated. CC had so many offensive fouls that just weren’t called. She stiff armed defenders, flopped with drama and drew the fouls. She is a master at jumping into defenders to draw the foul.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

But one fact is beyond debate: Caitlin Clark has been a singular force who has grown the women's game in ways no college player ever has before.
We've never seen a player sell tickets like Clark, both at home and on the road. We've never seen a player drive ratings like she has. We've never had a player bring this many eyeballs to women's college basketball.
Caitlin Clark has captivated the broader sports fan. The casual sports fan. Even the non-sports fan.
People simply love watching her play.

-- Rebecca Lobo (ESPN)

 

[GamecockFam]

I think she mildly changed the game. I don't remember too many deep threes before Clark unless there were dire circumstances requiring one (last second shots, etc.). I feel like I see more young players trying to throw bombs from deep as a regular option in their bag. I expect it to grow over the next few years too as young Caitlin Clark fans enter the college ranks.

 

[JonathanXIV]

210 career steals and 74 blocks. She must've had her hands up occasionally.

Have you watched her play? Show me an extended clip of her playing any kind of defense.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Quick, someone hire JonathanXIV to their coaching staff! The most potent offense in the country for 3 consecutive seasons wasn't optimized, according to this savant.

That's exactly the opposite of what I'm saying. I noted that the offense is designed to maximize her skills. And I understand a team philosophically deciding to maximizing 3's and layups. That is a different matter altogether as to whether Caitlin has a midrange game. Please comment on the post written, not the one you wish was written.

 

[Smp7598]

How has she changed the game? She has brought much more needed attention to the game but, other than her logo threes, what has changed in the game? It is not played any faster or slower or above the rim. There have been many players who can see the floor like she does and make pinpoint passes, UConn has one. She is a very exciting player to watch and set many scoring records and almost single handedly made the WBB game very popular, but the game is the same.

The media made CK the star she is And that’s why as many people who like her there is just as many people who don’t and unless they come up with a new poster child the women’s game go Back to being what it was before CK. The womans product has not changed!

 

[bballnut90]

How has she changed the game? She has brought much more needed attention to the game but, other than her logo threes, what has changed in the game? It is not played any faster or slower or above the rim. There have been many players who can see the floor like she does and make pinpoint passes, UConn has one. She is a very exciting player to watch and set many scoring records and almost single handedly made the WBB game very popular, but the game is the same.

Shooting-no one has made 25-30 foot 3s part of their offensive arsenal like she has and hit them with great regularity. We've never had a women's player create off the dribble for so many 3 pointers, or take (and make) so many contested 3 pointers with defenses specifically designed to prevent her from scoring.

Passing-specifically transition passing. We've never had anyone consistently make such gorgeous lead passes, threading through defenses, at the volume and consistency she has. Other players can make a pass like that here and there, Clark has 4-5 of those every single game where it looks like a quarterback hitting a receiver in perfect stride. No one is making those passes nearly as frequently as Clark is, and it's a major reason why so many people enjoy watching her.

There's never been a player in women's basketball who has carried such a massive load for an elite team. For context, people talked about the crazy load Sabrina carried in 2019-20, and this year Clark almost doubled Sabrina's point per game average while matching her assists. Kelsey Plum carried an insane load for Washington her senior season, and Clark matched her scoring and doubled Plum's assists this year.

While running the entire offense through her, Iowa was unstoppable and had one of the best offenses of all time, and that's due to Caitlin. Almost every possession down the court, Clark was expect to create and facilitate for others, or score herself. If you don't close out on her, she'll nail a 25-30 foot 3. If you do, she'll beat you off the dribble for a layup, or the defense collapses and she finds the open player for a great look. She was the magician and playmaker for the most high octane offense in women's basketball the last several years.

All of that isn't even taking in any of her statistical achievements, where she's broken every conceivable scoring record, 3pt record and finished #3 all time in assists. She has done things differently than anyone has ever seen before.

From a cultural perspective, Clark not only brought in a ton of new fans, but she also made women's basketball cool. You go onto any social media page where women's basketball is brought up, and you'd constantly see comments of "go back in the kitchen," "women's basketball is a joke," and now a large number of those same haters are invested in the sport and enjoy watching her games. She's become a household name and has catapulted the sport into the limelight.

Next year she'll go to the pros, and college basketball will look similar next year on the court (though Iowa wont be as good), but the real growth and change will show up 4-5 years from now when all of the younger players who idolize Clark hit the college ranks and we'll see a lot of great scorers and floor generals talk about how Clark was their hero and they modeled their game after her. Not too dissimilar to how Clark talked about she idolized Maya Moore as a child.

 

[fulcortpres]

I think she mildly changed the game. I don't remember too many deep threes before Clark unless there were dire circumstances requiring one (last second shots, etc.). I feel like I see more young players trying to throw bombs from deep as a regular option in their bag. I expect it to grow over the next few years too as young Caitlin Clark fans enter the college ranks.

Can we really credit Caitlin this or should we be recognizing those on the men's side who started this trend.....Steph, D Lillard, Trey Young, etc. The men are often still the trendsetters in this game. Caitlin may be the first woman who was given a green light by her coach to take such shots.

Wait.......actually, she is not the first. Remember Sabrina Ionescu?! Caitlin, IMO, is just a stronger version of Sabrina.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Can we really credit Caitlin this or should we be recognizing those on the men's side who started this trend.....Steph, D Lillard, Trey Young, etc. The men are often still the trendsetters in this game. Caitlin may be the first woman who was given a green light by her coach to take such shots.

Wait.......actually, she is not the first. Remember Sabrina Ionescu?! Caitlin, IMO, is just a stronger version of Sabrina.

Steph's impact on the game is well documented, and it has been mentioned numerous times that he's had an impact on Caitlin's game. Dame does not have nearly that same impact on the game. Nobody cares about little Trae Young because he doesn't win anything.

The truth of the matter is that Caitlin is impacting the women's game in a way that hasn't been seen before. We've seen lethal three-point shooters before--but not with this kind of insane range that is damn near impossible to guard. Steph is almost a decade and a half older than Caitlin, yet it's taken until now for us to see a woman (Caitlin) regularly shooting from 26+ feet. If we see even younger girls pulling up from 26+ feet regularly, it'll likely be because of Caitlin, not Steph.

Re Sabrina: people (fans, her opponents, etc.) do not rock with her like that because she hasn't won anything of note (no college titles, no WNBA titles). After her performance in the Finals against those Las Vegas Aces guards, I think that's the right position to take. She's not transformative or generational. Nice shoes, though--I guess.

 

[fulcortpres]

From a cultural perspective, Clark not only brought in a ton of new fans, but she also made women's basketball cool. You go onto any social media page where women's basketball is brought up, and you'd constantly see comments of "go back in the kitchen," "women's basketball is a joke," and now a large number of those same haters are invested in the sport and enjoy watching her games. She's become a household name and has catapulted the sport into the limelight.

...made women's basketball cool.

I think Caitlin clearly elevated the women's game with the way that she performed all season with the spotlight aimed primarily on her. I just think it is a bit extreme to credit her, solely, for the attention now paid to the women's game. It has been taking off over the past few years with high attendance marks. This year's attendance centered around Caitlin has been next level, but it has been a gradual build to get to that point. The game has been cool all along. Those who want to hate on the women's game are still out there, they just are quiet because the attendance numbers/TV viewership exposes them as the trolls they are.

The viewpoint I'm about to give may bother some, but if it does, then it is just backing up the point.

We can't just credit Caitlin for the explosion of fanfare around her and the women's game this season. Credit her for living up to and even exceeding hopes and expectations with her play and offcourt presence.

Truth is, we also have to give credit to Angel Reese and LSU, and S Carolina of last season. Without the storylines that came out of those final four battles last season, IMO, I don't think we get the galvanization of fans around Caitlin that we saw this season. Caitlin has been great for pretty much all four years at Iowa. She's been bombing away for most of that time(the last two seasons, at least). The soldout arenas and spotlight that we witnessed this season was a direct result of last year's FF, IMO.

 

[fulcortpres]

Steph is almost a decade and a half older than Caitlin, yet it's taken until now for us to see a woman (Caitlin) regularly shooting from 26+ feet. If we see even younger girls pulling up from 26+ feet regularly, it'll likely be because of Caitlin, not Steph.

Re Sabrina: people (fans, her opponents, etc.) do not rock with her like that because she hasn't won anything of note (no college titles, no WNBA titles). After her performance in the Finals against those Las Vegas Aces guards, I think that's the right position to take. She's not transformative or generational. Nice shoes, though--I guess.

The point is not about whether you rock with the names I mentioned, it's about them being the ones who we have seen shooting the ball just after stepping over half court, while in the early part of the shot clock. They likely have had some influence on Caitlin to think of doing the same. Yes, she will definitely inspire many of the next generation, but it will not have started with Caitlin, is what I'm saying.

 

[WBBTakeover]

The point is not about whether you rock with the names I mentioned, it's about them being the ones who we have seen shooting the ball just after stepping over half court, while in the early part of the shot clock. They likely have had some influence on Caitlin to think of doing the same. Yes, she will definitely inspire many of the next generation, but it will not have started with Caitlin, is what I'm saying.

Other than Steph (who, again, is much older than Caitlin), those players mentioned are not having anywhere close to the impact on the women's game--at this point in time--as Caitlin. That's a fact. And considering that there is a 15-year gap between the end of Steph's college career and the end of Caitlin's, then one would think that Steph's influence would have shown up in a more robust way in WBB well before Caitlin stepped foot on Iowa's campus. Yet, all we hear is that he influenced Sabrina's game. Big whoop. She's not an icon in the women's game.

If we see more girls shooting from 26+ feet from here on out, then that would have to more more attributable to Caitlin and less so to Steph.

 

[fulcortpres]

Steph is almost a decade and a half older than Caitlin, yet it's taken until now for us to see a woman (Caitlin) regularly shooting from 26+ feet. If we see even younger girls pulling up from 26+ feet regularly, it'll likely be because of Caitlin, not Steph.

One last comment on this for me.

We've all probably seen the commercial documenting Caitlin's bb journey from kiddie leagues up through the present. Looked to me as if she was about 8 or 9yo in that footage, maybe younger. According to that timeline, ..... if she was watching basketball since that time(men's and women's), she was seeing Steph Curry in his prime during the course of her development. And whether she likes Lillard, T Young, or S Ionescu, I know, in recent years, she has seen them bombing away and being somewhat brash with the taunting and crowd interaction that is so much a part of the men's game. Personally, that(trash talk/taunting) is one aspect of the men's game that I hate to see the women emulate.

The young players bring mannerisms and style to the game that they have seen somewhere before. It's fine to acknowledge a person's greatness, but it is also important to remember those who came before them and how they may have impacted/contributed to their greatness.

 

[Charliebball]

I've been wary of the hyperbole surrounding Caitlin, and especially the one where she's somehow changed the game, or done more for it than any players in recent memory. However... I think if we narrow the focus of this claim a bit, I'd have to agree with it.

IF we ask who has brought the most attention to Women's College Basketball in the last 25 years, I think it's fair to say it's Caitlin. A lot of it is timing -- lots of previous players have the skills and talent she has -- but the fact is her timing was impeccable. She came on the scene just as the audience for college basketball was ready for a change, and she gave it to them.

She's not the GOAT -- sorry that's Stewie -- nor is she the one who gave the WNBA instant credibility -- that's Rebecca Lobo -- but she is the one who got WCBB the following it has long needed and deserved.

Good work, Caitlin!

She's done a remarkable job creating new interest in the women's game.......better late than never! That said, I wonder whether the momentum from this season will be continued with great players like Paige, JuJu and others. I certainly hope so...........

 

[Bjbod]

Shooting-no one has made 25-30 foot 3s part of their offensive arsenal like she has and hit them with great regularity. We've never had a women's player create off the dribble for so many 3 pointers, or take (and make) so many contested 3 pointers with defenses specifically designed to prevent her from scoring.

Passing-specifically transition passing. We've never had anyone consistently make such gorgeous lead passes, threading through defenses, at the volume and consistency she has. Other players can make a pass like that here and there, Clark has 4-5 of those every single game where it looks like a quarterback hitting a receiver in perfect stride. No one is making those passes nearly as frequently as Clark is, and it's a major reason why so many people enjoy watching her.

There's never been a player in women's basketball who has carried such a massive load for an elite team. For context, people talked about the crazy load Sabrina carried in 2019-20, and this year Clark almost doubled Sabrina's point per game average while matching her assists. Kelsey Plum carried an insane load for Washington her senior season, and Clark matched her scoring and doubled Plum's assists this year.

While running the entire offense through her, Iowa was unstoppable and had one of the best offenses of all time, and that's due to Caitlin. Almost every possession down the court, Clark was expect to create and facilitate for others, or score herself. If you don't close out on her, she'll nail a 25-30 foot 3. If you do, she'll beat you off the dribble for a layup, or the defense collapses and she finds the open player for a great look. She was the magician and playmaker for the most high octane offense in women's basketball the last several years.

All of that isn't even taking in any of her statistical achievements, where she's broken every conceivable scoring record, 3pt record and finished #3 all time in assists. She has done things differently than anyone has ever seen before.

From a cultural perspective, Clark not only brought in a ton of new fans, but she also made women's basketball cool. You go onto any social media page where women's basketball is brought up, and you'd constantly see comments of "go back in the kitchen," "women's basketball is a joke," and now a large number of those same haters are invested in the sport and enjoy watching her games. She's become a household name and has catapulted the sport into the limelight.

Next year she'll go to the pros, and college basketball will look similar next year on the court (though Iowa wont be as good), but the real growth and change will show up 4-5 years from now when all of the younger players who idolize Clark hit the college ranks and we'll see a lot of great scorers and floor generals talk about how Clark was their hero and they modeled their game after her. Not too dissimilar to how Clark talked about she idolized Maya Moore as a child.

Donalddoowop doesn't like the semantics of the phrase, 'Caitlin changed the game'. Completely agree, the rules are exactly the same as they were before she started playing. So she did not change the rules of the game.

If anyone has watched much womens basketball in the last 3 years, there's no one that's played the game consistently with as much flair and skill as Caitlin Clark. There are some that dwell on her exaggerations of fouls or injuries and therefore can't stand the attention she gets from the other 99% of fandom. She played under intense pressure from opposing teams as well as the media and rarely failed to amaze us most of the game. She simply is more watchable than anyone else playing; part of that is fanned by the freedom Coach Bluder has granted her plus the style of play Iowa favors as well.

For those of you who think her fame is just a case of being in the right place at the right time, then we should see another seismic jump in attendance and TV viewership next season. But if we're not seeing multiple teams sell out their arenas for the season, if we're not seeing 25 million people tuning in for next April's National Championship Game, then you are going to have to concede Caitlin's greatness.

No, Caitlin didn't rewrite the rules of the game. But she did play the game of basketball in a way that captivated the attention and hearts of the public in a way we have never seen.

 

[Velocity80]

Donalddoowop doesn't like the semantics of the phrase, 'Caitlin changed the game'. Completely agree, the rules are exactly the same as they were before she started playing. So she did not change the rules of the game.

If anyone has watched much womens basketball in the last 3 years, there's no one that's played the game consistently with as much flair and skill as Caitlin Clark. There are some that dwell on her exaggerations of fouls or injuries and therefore can't stand the attention she gets from the other 99% of fandom. She played under intense pressure from opposing teams as well as the media and rarely failed to amaze us most of the game. She simply is more watchable than anyone else playing; part of that is fanned by the freedom Coach Bluder has granted her plus the style of play Iowa favors as well.

If those of you who think her fame is just a case of being in the right place at the right time, then we should see another seismic jump in attendance and TV viewership next season. But if we're not seeing multiple teams sell out their arenas for the season, if we're not seeing 25 million people tuning in for next April's National Championship Game, then you are going to have to concede Caitlin's greatness.

No, Caitlin didn't rewrite the rules of the game. But she did play the game of basketball in a way that captivated the attention and hearts of the public in a way we have never seen.

Indisputible.

 

[Bone Dog]

Donalddoowop doesn't like the semantics of the phrase, 'Caitlin changed the game'. Completely agree, the rules are exactly the same as they were before she started playing. So she did not change the rules of the game.

If anyone has watched much womens basketball in the last 3 years, there's no one that's played the game consistently with as much flair and skill as Caitlin Clark. There are some that dwell on her exaggerations of fouls or injuries and therefore can't stand the attention she gets from the other 99% of fandom. She played under intense pressure from opposing teams as well as the media and rarely failed to amaze us most of the game. She simply is more watchable than anyone else playing; part of that is fanned by the freedom Coach Bluder has granted her plus the style of play Iowa favors as well.

For those of you who think her fame is just a case of being in the right place at the right time, then we should see another seismic jump in attendance and TV viewership next season. But if we're not seeing multiple teams sell out their arenas for the season, if we're not seeing 25 million people tuning in for next April's National Championship Game, then you are going to have to concede Caitlin's greatness.

No, Caitlin didn't rewrite the rules of the game. But she did play the game of basketball in a way that captivated the attention and hearts of the public in a way we have never seen.

This is more or less the way I see it too. But I think you misstate the bit about timeliness. And it’s worth recalling that Aristotle thought timeliness is a significant virtue, and I do too. Sabrina also worked wonders on the court but had little impact on viewership, and it’s fair to say the moment wasn’t right. Had she come up next to Caitlin, as Paige did, I think the limelight would have been shared. Caitlin was the woman for this moment. I don’t think that diminishes her at all.

And bear in mind that I am one of those who thinks her complaining about fouls, dramatizing minor injuries, and her general style of hunting for fouls cast a pall on her reputation and on the game. But these were largely artifacts of her first two seasons at Iowa. Coach Bluder seems to have talked her out of much of that behavior. This is why in those two seasons, when presented with two candidates to be the face of WCBB, Paige and Caitlin, many of us were appalled after the injury in her sophomore season and the one the following summer that Paige would fall out of sight and the stage would be left to a less than perfect representative.

But in the following two seasons, Caitlin changed her tone and became just the face the game needed to captivate the world of WBB fans. The moment presented itself and she was up to it. I give all the credit for this. She’s not the GOAT, but she may be something more important for the game.

 

[UcMiami]

Yeah, I think I have a problem with the Clark changed the game statement. There have been a string of ball dominant scoring guards including Kelsey Plum 7 years ago (whose career scoring mark was just broken), and Sabrina Ionescu 4 years ago who dominated their teams stat lines. So I don't see any fundamental change in the way the game is going to be played going forward or the expectation for what players can do on a court.

In terms of popularity of the sport, the biggest transition in my life time started with Lobo and Uconn crashing the Southern/West Coast party and involving the whole country in 1995 and the rivalry born that year between Pat and Geno/Tenn and Uconn that became can't miss TV that also coincided with the birth of the WNBA, the rise of cable TV and sports networks searching for content.

The advent of creative, athletic women like Catch and Diana, and Candace, and Maya, etc, who didn't just automatically disappear after college to reemerge every 4 years for a two week Olympic window. And they drew attention from NBA legends like Bryant and Lambier making it OK for 'real men' to actually follow the women's game. And it created year to year continuity of support

Caitin has had a phenomenal college career and she has packed arenas and raised viewership of the NCAA tournament to great heights, but Uconn and TN and Baylor and SC have been selling out away arenas for years as in Uconn parlance 'the circus comes to town.' The viewership of the FF has been improving in fits and starts depending on the star power of participants for years - if Caitlin actually changed anything then next year it should stay in the stratosphere, but I suspect that unless there is a 'new compelling story' generated it will revert back to that norm of fits and starts from a baseline.

 

[nwhoopfan]

but Uconn and TN and Baylor and SC have been selling out away arenas for years

They have? I don't believe that. Selling out home arenas, sure. Bringing higher than average crowds to away games, sure. But selling out wherever they go? Nope, not even remotely buying that. Almost all of Iowa's games were sold out this year, regardless of location. I don't think anything even close to that has happened before.

 

[ConnManFan]

She brought new fans and more media attention to the game.
That is all.
She didn't change the way the game is played or officiated.

Agreed! She is a special talent, but it's not like there are a generation of girls that are out in their driveways perfecting 35 foot jump shots. Not everyone can do that. In fact we could argue only one player has ever been able to do that.

 

[hussybulldog]

She absolutely changed the game! I've said it before and I'll say it again. She's going to have the first 20 ppg/10 apg seasonal averages in the WNBA and will do it a few times. We do not talk enough about her passing ability.

Except WNBA is not a big sport in the US and it has very limit appealing to the general public. I would say WNBA has less impact than the NCAA women’s basketball games whose impact is more or less limited to the championship time. Do general public know of the WNBA championship series (when and where)? The answer is mostly a NO. At least people know when the NCAA championship happens.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Except WNBA is not a big sport in the US and it has very limit appealing to the general public. I would say WNBA has less impact than the NCAA women’s basketball games whose impact is more or less limited to the championship time. Do general public know of the WNBA championship series (when and where)? The answer is mostly a NO. At least people know when the NCAA championship happens.

Okayyyyyy.

What you said has nothing to do with what I wrote.

 

[hussybulldog]

But one fact is beyond debate: Caitlin Clark has been a singular force who has grown the women's game in ways no college player ever has before.
We've never seen a player sell tickets like Clark, both at home and on the road. We've never seen a player drive ratings like she has. We've never had a player bring this many eyeballs to women's college basketball.
Caitlin Clark has captivated the broader sports fan. The casual sports fan. Even the non-sports fan.
People simply love watching her play.

-- Rebecca Lobo (ESPN)

Not much else is going on in Iowa….

 

[hussybulldog]

Okayyyyyy.

What you said has nothing to do with what I wrote.

I just wanted to say very little impact even if the change is real .

 

[WBBTakeover]

I just wanted to say very little impact even if the change is real .

Again, what you're saying has nothing to do with what I wrote in that comment.