Caitlin Clark: Chasing History and Beating The Boys
Caitlin Clark Has Cemented Herself in College Basketball History or Should I Say, Herstory.
SPORTS
Dan Campbell
3/5/202410 min read
IOWA CITY, IA- Caitlin played ball with the boys growing up. Unable to find a girl’s league for her age group, her father signed her up for the boys’ team. Boys being boys, they were going to give her no special treatment, the opposite actually. They didn’t shy away from roughing up a five-year-old Caitlin Clark.
There was a particular game where a boy on the opposing team roughed Caitlin around a bit. Frustrated, Caitlin began crying and her head coach, who was her dad, promptly pulled her from the game. As she approached the bench, he talked with her and told her to calm down, and explained that it's part of the game. Emotionally calm on the outside, but still very pissed off inside, Caitlin returned to the game.
Now, Cailtin grew up with two brothers. As an older brother myself, I can tell you we aren’t always gentle with our delicate younger siblings, girls or not. She looked up to her brothers and jumped at any chance she could to compete against them in sports. However, if she wanted to stick around and compete with them, she had to take some shots and face tough competition from her brothers.
Caitlin checks back into the game, the ball in the other team’s possession. She was not worried about who had the ball, or gaining possession of the ball whatsoever, she looked to identify her target. She aimed her sights on the boy who had roughed her up, promptly made her way over to him, and leveled his ass. Her tears now dried up as she stood over the boy like an NFL flanker that just laid a crackback block on an unsuspecting player.
Parents would soon call for Caitlin’s removal from the boys’ league, stating that it was unfair to their sons. She was going to be special.
Having grown up in Des Moines, Caitlin Clark is a product of Iowa. She gravitated towards sports from a young age, getting on some kind of court or field whenever she could. Before committing fully to basketball around sixth grade, she was involved in soccer, volleyball, softball, tennis, and even piano. But it was ultimately basketball that won her over, and she was a talent early on.
Once she was finished dominating the boys, and I’m sure they were done with getting beat up by her, she joined a powerhouse of an AAU travel team called the All Iowa Attack. This is the team that produced multiple Division I NCAA recruits, it had a history of churning out top-tier talent. Caitlin was no exception. She had a knack for performing stunning theatrics on the floor, making them look fundamental.
She was an exceptional ball handler. During an AAU tournament in Virginia, she was forced into a corner trap by a couple defenders. Her solution? Simple. Dribble the basketball between the defenders' legs, force the ball up court, and blow by past the other, likely stunned, defender. They never stood a chance.
There’s another story of Caitlin putting on performance that would make Reggie Miller blush. In a game months later, her team was trailing by nine points with 65 seconds left on the clock. Clark took over the game, scored 11 straight points, and carried her team to victory. “It was jaw-dropping,” said Dickson Jensen, who coached Clark. “There was a look on her face that was a little different.” She was different, indeed. And soon, the entire nation would learn of Caitlin Clark.


Caitlin has been breaking collegiate records essentially since she stepped foot on Iowa’s campus. Named the starting point guard since day one, she was quick out of the gates, scoring 27 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in her debut. She recorded her first double-double in her second game, tallying 30 points. She would score a then career high 39 points against Nebraska, a venue record for Pinnacle Bank Area, the home court for Nebraska.
Like many other greats before her, she especially rose to the occasion when the games matter the most. On the way to being named to the Big Ten Tournament all-tournament team, she amassed 37 total assists, a tournament record. Iowa would finish as a runner-up in the conference tournament. Clark broke Iowa’s program single-season record for points and three pointers in the NCAA tournament. She did it all while, once again, playing against the boys.


For decades, women’s college basketball programs have recruited men to practice against their players. There are a few reasons for this. The first being that there simply aren’t as many players on women’s teams compared to men’s teams because of scholarship restrictions. They need bodies to practice against, especially bodies you don’t have to worry about getting beat up and worn out before a game. The second factor is to provide a competitive advantage. These scout team players provide a high level of physicality that provides the women players a competitive environment to improve their skills, adapt to different playing styles, and develop strategies to overcome challenges on the court.
These volunteers, often having experience playing DII or DIII ball, are no slouches. They’re competitive enough to be sometimes told to take it down a notch. They’re here to play scout team, not to put on a show. There’s no NBA scouts in the practice stands trying to find the next LeBron.
These volunteers get absolutely cooked by Caitlin Clark, who has never given a good goddamn if the competition across from her is a guy or not. She’s coming after your ass with tenacity.
There’s a story about one particular practice where one of the scout team fellas are battling it out against Clark. The scout player heaves up a jumper as the shot clock expires, sinking the shot. Caitlin is pissed and immediately protests, stating that the player he's mimicking would never take that shot. The scout talks a little trash, stating that if they’re left that wide open, they would.
Caitlin regroups, gets set to play another possession of D, and calls him a bitch. The guy, mildly flabbergasted, asks, “What? Say it again!” She calls him a bitch one more time for good measure. He is unaware of how lucky he is to not have been mowed over like that poor boy back in elementary school. Tenacity.
On offense, Caitlin gets her revenge on the inferior scout team stand-in. She drains a three-pointer despite a hand in her face. With a slick hesitation dribble, she fakes out the defense and drives hard to the hoop for a bucket. She tries to use a screen to get open but doesn't quite shake the defender, getting a bit off-balance, yet she still drains an absurd off-balance floater from about 15 feet out. Everyone's jaw drops in disbelief. Her coach cracks up, dropping down in a squat, laughing. Caitlin jogs off the floor to get some hand sanitizer. Not because the shot was so sick, but because she’s making a fool of the guy despite having a runny nose.
“Aw, he’s mad,” Caitlin then exclaims as the defeated scout jogs back.


This isn’t a story about the battle of the sexes. I’m not here to speculate on the superiority of men vs women. Save that shit for Joe Rogan or some other low-confidence faux macho bro. What I look to portray is the dominance of Caitlin Clark, regardless of what gender she’s matched up against. Regardless of the sex of the ghost she’s chasing in the history books. She comes to play and talks in buckets, and a plethora of rebound and assists, to boot. You’d be an ignorant fool to dismiss her fire and transcendent talent on the court.
Caitlin has been an absolute force for Iowa. She’s finished in the top three in points, rebounds, assists, and three pointers every season she’s played in college. She’s won almost too many awards to name (30 total) which include the AP Player of the Year, Naismith College Player of the Year, James E. Sullivan Award (top college or Olympic athlete in US), and Big Ten Player of the Year three times.
She carried the Iowa Hawkeyes to a Big Ten regular season title in 2022 and a Big Ten Tournament title in 2023. She’s taken the Hawkeyes to the big dance in each of her seasons, falling just short of a National Championship last year, defeated by a talented LSU team in the championship game. You can bet the tenacious Clark is looking for redemption this year.


We’ve all been witnesses to Caitlin Clark chasing history this year. There’s a buzz around the women’s game like there’s never been before. You can argue that there are more notable players on the women’s side than the men’s with talented women such as Angel Reise, JuJu Watkins, Cameron Brink, and, of course, Caitlin Clark. It’s a refreshing and exciting thing to see, and I think we owe a large share of it to the historic run by Caitlin.
On February 15th Caitlin Clark broke the women's all time scoring record with a homing-missile of a shot from the logo against Michigan. She would blow past Kelsey Plum’s previous record by surpassing 3,527 points, ending with 3,569 after the game. Now, you don’t have to be a mathematician to know she scored a heaping of points during this pivotal Big Ten matchup. Almost as impressive as the women’s point title, she would score 49 points and dish out 13 assists against the Wolverines, securing the win. After the win, she said, “I thought our defense could be a little better.”
This is what you want in an athlete. A burning drive to be better and to put the team before self. If you listen to Caitlin during interviews or even watch her actions and body language when accomplishing these singular feats, you can tell she wants more. She remains focused on getting the W. She wants to win on the biggest stage and wants to do it for her state, her school and for her team.
The eyes of the sports world were now upon the dazzling phenom from Iowa. A reoccurring narrative in her career, she was now pinned up against one of the boys. Caitlin was now 99 points shy of breaking Pistol Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record with just four games left in the regular season. She would score 81 points over her next three games. The record was now within her grasp before a face off with number two ranked Ohio State.


Iowa had lost to the Buckeyes earlier in the season. Not only had they lost, but a fan had collided with Clark when storming the court after the home court win, sending Caitlin falling to the floor. It was also reported that she received inappropriate comments from fans. You can bet she was looking to throw Ohio State to the court in this rematch.
Travis Scott, Nolan Ryan, Maya Moore, Jake from State Farm. These are the type of A-list celebrities and athletes you’d expect to see courtside at a Lakers game. Yes, based on Travis Scott dapping up the insurance spokesman, he is indeed an A-lister. What a time to be alive.
They were all here to witness history be made by number 22 with Iowa printed across the chest. After a bit of a slow start scoring in the first quarter for Caitlin, albeit a hot start for her team, jumping out to a 25-10 lead, Caitlin began to drop buckets in the second quarter, adding 12 points. She was now single-digits away from breaking the record.


Pistol Pete is a legend. He averaged an astonishing 44 points during his college career at LSU. His 3,667 total point record has stood unbroken since 1970. Think about all the legendary players that have played the collegiate game, both men and women, since this time. Steph Curry, Michael Jordan, Maya Moore, Brittney Griner. None of them could top the long-standing record set by Pete. These are the Mount Rushmore of ball players we’re talking about here. Caitlin stands alone, at the mountaintop, when it comes to points scored.
Caitlin Clark would surpass Pete Maravich for the all-time scoring record, men and women, with a pair of free throws shortly before the half. Playing a game where she had started out playing against the boys due to having no other options, she had surpassed all the boys in scoring.
Some would say there was no other option for Caitlin. She’s naturally that competitive, that dominant, when she’s on the court. It was destined to be since she was a fiery kid playing with the boys in that gym in Des Moines.
In typical Caitlin Clark fashion, there was little reaction after sinking the history-sealing free throw. The gym almost sounded like they were waiting for the ball to find the net. Caitlin later claimed she wasn’t really aware she had broken the record until the crowd finally reacted. She had her sights on taking down Ohio State.
And take down Ohio State they did. Iowa topped the Buckeyes with a final score of 93-83, with Caitlin finishing with 35 points and 9 assists. This was a huge win for number six ranked Iowa heading into the Big East Tournament, where they’re likely to face off against Ohio State once again.
The monumental records may have been shattered, but there’s plenty more Caitlin Clark to watch. She’s hungry for that National Championship and there’s some fierce competition in the way. There’s the favorited top-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, the familiar Angel Reise led LSU Tigers, and of course the conference rival Ohio State Buckeyes all contending for the title. As if the pressure wasn’t high enough, Caitlin announced a few days before the Ohio State game that she would be leaving Iowa and declaring for the WNBA draft after this season. It’s now or never if she wants to cement her legacy as an NCAA Champion.
There’s one thing for certain: witnessing Caitlin Clark is witnessing greatness. And we’re all lucky to be witnesses.
Dan, a bona fide sports and data geek, hails from the wilds of Western Pennsylvania with an undying passion for the Stillers, Pens, and Buccos. Dan has embarked on an exciting sports writing journey, ready to subject the world to his unique blend of enthusiasm, questionable insights, and yinzer homerism. Find him and his laptop in the corner of a Starbucks near you.

