March Madness is quite literally and figuratively upon us. The month-long spectacle has it all – insane buzzer beaters, raucous fans, a worldwide audience, and above everything else, a plethora of NBA/WNBA-ready hoopers. This year, while the usual excitement persists, a significant shift has occurred: an NCAA women’s athlete has taken the forefront. Going into the tournament, Caitlin Clark has garnered more attention and hype as compared to her male counterparts.

Caitlin Clark, who plays for the Iowa Hawkeyes, recently etched her name in NCAA Division I basketball history by becoming the all-time leading scorer. Across her four seasons at Iowa, Caitlin Clark amassed an impressive 3,685 points, surpassing the previous record held by Pete Maravich at 3,667 points. Despite her individual brilliance, Clark has never won an NCAA championship. However, this year could buck the trend.

Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes go into March Madness as one of the favorites. The popularity of Clark is unreal, but sometimes the attention can be overwhelming, and Stephen Curry knows that all too well. Curry, who first came to mainstream media’s attention during Davidson’s fairytale run to the Elite Eight, recently expressed astonishment at the hype surrounding Clark, especially in the age of social media. He said, “I couldn’t imagine what it’s like now,” Curry says. “Mine was before Twitter was really a thing. I didn’t get Instagram until I was a junior in college. So just the social media element makes it so much crazier.”

Due to her popularity as a college basketball icon, Caitlin Clark has garnered approximately one million followers on Instagram. Although this number falls short of Stephen Curry’s massive following of 56.3 million, it’s worth noting that Curry didn’t have a million followers during his college days. However, with the NCAA scoring record under her belt, can Caitlin Clark secure the NCAA basketball championship this season?

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Can Caitlin Clark lead Iowa to the title?

Across her four seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes, Clark has never won an NCAA championship. The closest she came was last season, when she lost in the finals to Angel Reese and LSU. Clark would have extra motivation to clinch this year’s title, as this would be her last season for Iowa. Clark has announced that she will be a part of the 2024 WNBA Draft.

Going into March Madness, the Iowa Hawkeyes currently occupy the 2nd spot in the Big Ten standings, with 15 wins from 18 matches. Furthermore, Clark has averaged 32.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.7 assists per game this season. With Clark performing at an elite level, would she get fourth time lucky and win the highly coveted NCAA title?

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