Stephanie White is back in Indiana! After sweeping the Fever in the first round of the playoffs with the Connecticut Sun, there is perhaps no one better suited to lead the team to success now. Bonus points to White for having played and coached in Indy before, and that too with the most famous jersey number in women’s basketball right now. So who’s the better No. 22 – Caitlin Clark or Stephanie White?

To be considered, we have just seen the beginning of CC’s pro era, although her Iowa history is laid bare for anyone with doubts. And yet, even White, who retired two decades ago in 2004, agrees on who wears 22 better. Speaking on The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show, the coach revealed, “I don’t think there’s any doubt who the best No. 22 in Fever history is. Not this one. There may not be another one.”

But does she still have one thing to laud over Clark? “I told her though, I think my arms were a little more jacked than hers in those pictures so we gotta get her into a weight room.” If you’ve seen the Fever guard play, one of her best moves on the court is her pace. But that’s not to say she has not tried to bulk up her muscles before.

In July, Fever forward Aliyah Boston posted a TikTok featuring some of her teammates in the weight room. What caught the eye was Clark at the end of the video, trying to do leg lifts. “So I’m going for 140 (pounds), OK?” the ‘Iowa sensation’ says into the camera. And proceeds to not even lift the machine one single inch!

However, she did claim to have gained 8 pounds of muscle over her time in Indiana. Still, White has some work to do and she’s confident in her own guns.

If the new (old?) head coach wants to repeat history with the reigning Rookie of the Year, she knows which quality to work on. After all, other W players ‘targeting’ No. 22 for her lithe frame has been a narrative all season long, something which Clark tried to rectify post Olympic break.

Caitlin Clark knows she’s “small…but discreetly strong”

Stephanie White was with the Fever as an assistant coach when the team won a championship in 2012 and head coach when they ended up as runner-ups in 2015. Needless to say, she knows what works and what doesn’t for a championship-worthy team. And she might focus on one of the most famous players in the sport right now!

Clark, who had been the target of many a team throughout the season, was the recipient of fouls and pushes, the most notable from Chennedy Carter in the Chicago Sky’s first encounter with the Fever. After those three and a half weeks, she revealed to reporters how she’d been working out to put on a little weight. “I’m small but I try to hold my own the best I can,” the Fever rookie said.

 “… I don’t know, I think I’m discreetly strong. I’m never gonna be the strongest person. I know that. I try to put on some weight and I’ve been working hard in the weight room. Obviously there’s some limits to that and what I can do, obviously being in the season, but over the course of the last three weeks or so we’ve all been going pretty hard in the weight room.”

The head coach now has all offseason to whip the young team into the shape she wants, sitting at a prime position at one of the most exciting times in women’s sports. Who knows, Caitlin Clark’s second year as a pro might be starkly different, but better, than her debut year!