Women's BIG10 Basketball

West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg set a straightforward goal for the Mountaineers ahead of the 2024 NCAA tournament.

"Let's win one and let's send Caitlin Clark packing," he said to a group of fans after the team was seeded eighth in the Albany 2 regional.

Should WVU beat No. 9 Princeton on Saturday, it will be on a collision course with Clark and No. 1 Iowa in the second round.

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Kellogg didn't call his shot and guarantee victory over the Hawkeyes, and you'd expect any coach in his position to challenge his players in a similar way. Unexpected upsets fuel March Madness every year.

West Virginia can't get too fixated on Clark, though, because overcoming Princeton will be difficult enough on its own.

The Tigers suffered just four defeats in the regular season. Two of those came by single digits to UCLA and Indiana, both of whom were ranked in the Top 15 of the final Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Not to mention, Princeton won its first-round game in each of the last two years at the NCAA tournament.

More than anything, Kellogg's comments reflect how no player has a bigger target on her back than Clark.

The Iowa star has become the most recognizable name in the men's and women's games en route to claiming the all-time Division I scoring crown. Some have asked whether she's the greatest player of the modern era or at the very least put her achievements up against past legends.

Naturally there are a lot of competitors who would love the opportunity to stymie Clark and Iowa in their quest for a national title.

Iowa captured a third straight Big Ten tournament title after outlasting Nebraska 94-89 in overtime.

Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark dropped a game-high 34 points, 30 of which came after the first half, and added 12 assists and three steals.

Sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke nearly had a double-double of her own (25 points and nine rebounds), while senior guard Kate Martin had 13 points and stepped up big late.

Ultimately it was another showcase for Clark.

The reigning national player of the year shook off her slow start to play a pivotal role in her team's victory. She went 5-of-7 from the field for 12 points in the fourth quarter, tying the score at 77 points apiece with 29.3 seconds on the clock in regulation. Her three-pointer also put Iowa ahead 89-87 with 51.3 seconds remaining in overtime.

Clark garnered plenty of praise on social media for delivering when it mattered the most:

Sunday may have served as a warning sign for Iowa, though.

After McKenna Warnock and Monika Czinano graduated from last year's national runner-up squad, the Hawkeyes were going to live and die even more based on how Clark performed. But there's almost no precedent in recent history for a team winning a title when leaning this heavily on one star.

Clark's 40.5 percent usage rate before Sunday was the third-highest in the country, per Her Hoop Stats.

Diana Taurasi didn't have a usage that high when she was far and away the best player on UConn during its 2003 and 2004 championship teams. Even Candace Parker didn't control the proceedings this much when she put Tennessee on her back in 2007 and 2008.

Looking ahead to the NCAA tournament, Iowa might be in serious trouble if Clark has another half like she did Sunday against Nebraska.

Iowa star Caitlin Clark is the undisputed scoring queen in NCAA Division I history.

On Sunday against Ohio State, the senior guard passed Hall of Famer Pete Maravich for the all-time points mark (3,668) across the men's and women's games. She needed 18 points to get there—she did it in the first half.

Clark claimed the women's record from Washington's Kelsey Plum on February 15 as Iowa beat Michigan 106-89. She needed just eight points to leapfrog Plum and proceeded to score the Hawkeyes' first eight points. The pivotal moment came on a deep three-pointer.

Once the buzzer sounded, the focus shifted with Clark quickly closing in on Maravich. With two games left in the regular season, she trailed Pistol Pete by 51 points, so her scoring average (32.1 points) put her on pace to break the record before Iowa pivoted to the postseason.

Clark has already assembled a résumé worthy of legendary status in the college game, and she has had a measurable impact on helping to widen the audience for women's basketball.

The sport was on an upward trajectory before she arrived in Iowa City, and the trend will continue when she moves on to the WNBA. But it's impossible to ignore the attention her exploits have received and the extent to which a rising tide lifts all boats.

There's still one glaring omission in Clark's college career, though.

Iowa came up short in last year's national championship, the first time the program had reached the title game. As much as she has achieved individually, taking the Hawkeyes a step further might be the paramount objective for Clark. Failing to do so might leave her with a sense of unfinished business.

Within a wider context, building a case to be one of the greatest ever is a lot tougher without at least one title.

Breaking a record that stood for more than 50 years is obviously cause for celebration, and plenty of praise will be headed Clark's way after Sunday's game. But Iowa's pursuit of a championship will now take center stage.

Caitlin Clark's historic college career is ending.

The Iowa star announced Thursday that she's declaring for the 2024 WNBA draft.

Clark leads the country in scoring (32.2 points) and is also averaging 7.4 rebounds and 8.7 assists per contest. She's shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from beyond the arc.

The West Des Moines, Iowa, native was part of the last class that could take advantage of an additional year of eligibility the NCAA granted amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As the 2023-24 season unfolded, she was noncommittal when it came to her future.

UConn star Paige Bueckers already confirmed she's returning to UConn. Stanford's Cameron Brink hedged when asked about her status for next season, and LSU's Angel Reese seemed to be doing the same.

The Indiana Fever, who have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, were faced with a doomsday scenario where the consensus best player in her draft class and a potential franchise cornerstone could slip through their grasp.

At the end of the day, leaving Iowa always appeared to be the likely decision for Clark.

The 6'0" guard has little else to prove with the Hawkeyes. She helped guide them to their first national championship game appearance in 2023, and she's only 18 points away from passing LSU's Pete Maravich as the all-time leading scorer in Division I history.

The extent to which Clark was financially incentivized to stay in college has often been exaggerated as well. Sure, she will only earn $76,535 as a rookie thanks to the WNBA's wage scale, but the endorsement deals she signed as a college athlete aren't going to suddenly disappear entirely.

There was a time in women's basketball when a player's popularity peaked in college, and all but a select few would largely fade into anonymity upon reaching the WNBA. That's no longer true when the league and women's sports writ large are getting more exposure than ever.

Clark will probably feel she has unfinished business if this year's Hawkeyes fall short of winning a title. The benefits of making the leap to the WNBA now were nonetheless impossible to ignore.

As a draft prospect, the totality of Clark's skills cannot be overstated. In January, The Next's Em Adler, Hunter Cruse and Lincoln Shafer ranked the top prospects in league history and ranked her fourth behind Candace Parker, Lauren Jackson and Breanna Stewart.

"Every now and then, a basketball player comes along that is unlike anything we have ever seen before," their evaluation said. "A singular offensive engine with basically no weaknesses on that end of the ball, Caitlin Clark has been one of the best players in college basketball since the moment she arrived in Iowa City.

"Her combination of on-ball skills and off-ball utility compares only to legends of the game like Stephen Curry and Diana Taurasi, and her defense quietly improved across her first three collegiate seasons."

A adjustment period is inevitable for Clark when she hits the next level. She's attempted 22.6 shots per game this season and maintained a 40.4 percent usage rate, per Her Hoop Stats.

Assuming she lands on the Fever, she'll be sharing the floor with 2023 All-Star Kelsey Mitchell and reigning Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston. She won't be running the show in Indianapolis to the same degree she was in Iowa City.

That's to say nothing of the general difficulty of going from college to the WNBA. The transition is typically tougher for guards because they're responsible for facilitating the offense and are left on an island defensively with greater regularity.

Clark should find her footing eventually, and the Fever couldn't have hoped for a better complement to Boston stylistically. Indiana is screaming out for a playmaker after averaging the second-fewest assists (18.0) and finishing last in assist rate (59.7 percent) this past season, per WNBA.com.

With Clark and Boston, the Fever will have the brightest young tandem in the league, one that should propel the franchise to great heights.

College basketball fans won't soon forget where Caitlin Clark was when the Iowa star broke the all-time scoring record.

The Hawkeyes revealed the on-court decal they placed at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to commemorate Clark's record-breaking moment:

In the first quarter of a 106-89 win over Michigan, the senior guard spotted up from deep to nail a three-pointer and leapfrog Washington legend Kelsey Plum in the record books.

It was a fitting way for Clark to make history. Long-range jumpers have become one of her trademarks, and she's helping to widen the court in the same way Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry did in the NBA.

Clark wound up with 49 points against the Wolverines, setting a new career high and a single-game record for Iowa. She shot 16-of-31 from the field, including 9-of-18 from beyond the arc.

Heading into the contest, the reigning national player of the year was only eight points away from passing Plum, so now she can open quite a wide berth atop the scoring charts. Iowa has three games left in the regular season on top of the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.

USC freshman JuJu Watkins is already on a trajectory that could see her challenge Clark's record, but Clark will have set the bar pretty high when she leaves Iowa City.

Iowa star Caitlin Clark doesn't want a lot of pomp and circumstance Thursday night in the event she sets the Division I women's scoring record.

According to The Athletic's Scott Dochterman, Clark and Hawkeyes head coach Lisa Bluder have considered how to honor the occasion in the moment. Bluder said she thought about calling a timeout once the record is broken, but the senior guard has other ideas.

"Honestly, I hope they don't stop the game though," she said. "We can't be wasting timeouts on that. Come on."

Bluder said she's willing to be flexible: "I guess I'll talk to her about that first. Because if she doesn't want it, I don't think I want to do it."

Clark only needs eight points to pass Washington legend Kelsey Plum for the career mark. She hasn't finished a game with fewer than 21 points this year, and eight points is her career low for a single game.

Barring an injury, Clark is all but guaranteed to leapfrog Plum and may have claimed the title by the time the first quarter concludes.

If the moment when Plum overtook Jackie Stiles to become the all-time scoring leader is any indicator, then it could be a relatively understated affair at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The southpaw hit a floater with a little over four minutes left in an 84-77 victory over Utah, and the game carried on as usual.

The circumstances were a little different, though, considering Plum was 54 points away from the record before that game. It didn't carry the same air of expectation as Iowa's game against Michigan.

The Hawkeyes will have had plenty of time to prepare something to celebrate Clark's achievement.

Based on her comments, she's firm in the belief that there's a time and place for that to happen.

If you want to watch Iowa star Caitlin Clark make history Tuesday night, you better have a Peacock subscription.

NBC Sports confirmed the matchup between the Hawkeyes and Michigan will air exclusively on the streaming service:

Clark is only eight points away from breaking Kelsey Plum's all-time scoring record, so some wondered whether NBC might move Tuesday's game to a cable broadcast alternative.

There's always the chance the senior guard doesn't get to eight points, thus prolonging her quest for the record. But she hasn't finished a game with fewer than 21 points this season, and she has only hit single digits once in her college career (eight points against Northwestern on Jan. 9, 2021).

Clark and her teammates are also looking to atone for Sunday's collapse against Nebraska. Iowa was outscored by 17 in the fourth quarter of an 82-79 loss, and its best player was held scoreless in the final 10 minutes.

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Bad offensive possessions and prolonged stretches without points are typically reserved for the Iowa football team.

The second-ranked Hawkeyes were cruising through three quarters against Nebraska on Sunday. Then they were limited to 10 points in the final frame as they were upset 82-79 on the road.

Jaz Shelley scored a team-high 23 points for the Cornhuskers, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter. She put the home on top with a three-pointer with 31 seconds on the clock.

Iowa star Caitlin Clark fell eight points short of passing Kelsey Plum for the all-time scoring record. She finished with 31 but went scoreless in the fourth quarter, missing all six of her shots.

Needless to say, fans were shocked to see Iowa's disappearing act, and some wondered whether her quest for the scoring title indirectly determined the game:

Iowa has one game in the week ahead, a home contest against Michigan on Thursday.

Clark hasn't scored fewer than 21 points in a game this year, so it would take a season-worst performance to keep her from overtaking Plum. She and her teammates will be itching to rebound from Sunday's defeat as well. Clark could potentially claim the record before the first quarter ends.

For the Hawkeyes, the bigger picture is continuing to be in a position to claim a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. With No. 14 Indiana and No. 5 Ohio State on the schedule, winning out would likely achieve just that.

Iowa star Caitlin Clark hit another major benchmark Sunday against Nebraska.

The senior guard dished out the 1,000th assist of her college career, becoming the sixth women's basketball player ever to reach that number. She's also the first to record at least 1,000 dimes along with 3,000 points.

It's only a matter of time before Clark takes down Kelsey Plum's all-time scoring mark. She was 39 points behind the Washington legend before Sunday's game tipped off.

Suzie McConnell-Serio can continue to rest easy, though. McConnell-Serio left Penn State in 1988 after totaling 1,307 career assists. Not only does she remain the career leader in the category, but no other player has reached 1,200 assists, either.

Iowa only has five games left in the regular season. Even when including the conference and NCAA tournaments, there isn't enough time for Clark to bridge the gap to McConnell-Serio.

Being the first entrant into the 3,000/1,000 club is another reminder that Clark's game goes beyond her prodigious scoring.

Iowa guard Caitlin Clark is now the No. 2 all-time points leader in NCAA Division I women's basketball history after surpassing ex-Ohio State guard (and current Indiana Fever star) Kelsey Mitchell on Wednesday at Northwestern.

Clark entered the evening with 3,389 points, putting her fourth all time behind former Washington guard (and current Las Vegas Aces star) Kelsey Plum, Mitchell and ex-Missouri State guard (and current Oklahoma assistant coach) Jackie Stiles, in that order.

Clark, who began Wednesday averaging 32.0 PPG, needed only five points to pass Stiles and 14 to take over Mitchell.

She jumped over Stiles with this first-quarter three-pointer.

Then Clark found herself alone in second following this second-quarter layup.

Clark finished the game with 35 points, 10 assists and six rebounds as the No. 3 Hawkeyes defeated the Wildcats 110-74. She now trails Plum by 103 points for first on the all-time scoring list.

Naturally, fans were amazed with the reigning consensus player of the year's historical efforts once again.

At this juncture, it's a matter of when and not if Clark overtakes Plum. Based on Clark's current PPG rate, Iowa's Feb. 15 home game against Michigan is the most likely game to feature the broken record, although it's possible she gets it done the matchup before at Nebraska on Feb. 11.