Caitlin Clark's decorated career won't have championship ending, but her legacy was already secure

CLEVELAND — Caitlin Clark first told Lisa Bluder she wanted to go to a Final Four during her recruitment. She kept saying it once she made it to campus even though the Hawkeyes had only ever gone once two decades prior. They hadn’t even made it into the NCAA tournament field during part of Clark’s high school career.

“A lot of people laughed at her and maybe even laughed at her for coming to Iowa, quite honestly,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “But she believed, we believed, and she got everybody else in that locker room to believe. And that is not an easy thing to do.”

Maybe that’s why actor Jason Sudeikis, the man behind “Ted Lasso,” became so invested in Iowa specifically. He’s one of millions over the past two years to watch and believe in Iowa and Clark. Or at least be entertained and enthralled by them.

With every Clark logo 3 came triple the eyeballs. With every stunning pass came shocking viewership numbers. A segment of the world now heavily invested in women’s basketball wanted her to win a national championship to be called the greatest of all time. Another segment couldn’t see past the records, the spiking interest and the competitor to care about a ring.

The day before her final collegiate game, she said she found it unfair her legacy should be attached to a single 40-minute basketball game. She knew she would be sad, win or lose, that this chapter of her life reached an end. The last page was a 87-75 loss to South Carolina, the best program and top-to-bottom team in the country, but also included more records for Clark and another 30-point showing.

It means her GOAT legacy will forever be up for debate. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said on Saturday she couldn’t be the GOAT without a title, but after the game told the world she was “one of the GOATs of our game and we appreciate you.” Millions who couldn’t give a name in the debate are now ferociously arguing about it and will be for a long time, which lends itself further to the status she’s created for herself and the game.

“When you're given an opportunity, women's sports just kind of thrives,” Clark said. “I think that's been the coolest thing for me on this journey. We started our season playing in front of 55,000 people in Kinnick Stadium. And now we're ending it playing in front of probably 15 million people or more on TV. It just continues to get better and better and better. That's never going to stop.”

Clark, the No. 4 overall recruit in the 2020 class, didn’t go to a powerhouse. She committed to Bluder and they brought Iowa to back-to-back Final Fours for the first time in program history. Their 2023 title loss was the first time the Hawkeyes played in a title game. They repeated it in 2024.

It’s not something Kate Martin, a fifth-year redshirt senior guard who grew up with an Iowa poster hanging on her ceiling, ever dreamed of becoming reality. The Hawkeyes roster worked well with Clark, but without her it’s not one of the best in the country. Martin said it was hard work, preparation and commitment that went into their success. Those two and fifth-year guard Gabbie Marshall are creators of the winningest two years in Iowa program history.

“We truly have each other's back,” Clark said. “Maybe we weren't always the most skilled. Maybe we weren't always the tallest. Maybe we weren't always the fastest, but we just believed. We knew we could be in these moments. We trusted one another. That took a couple of years to get to that point.”

Repeatedly over the past few months as she knocked down records, Clark said she doesn’t want her legacy to be about how many wins or how many points she scored. The day she broke Kelsey Plum’s NCAA Division I all-time women’s scoring record, her mom, Anne, reminded her of that in a pre-recorded video celebrating the moment. Her family spoke of her joy to the roars of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which sold out for the season.

That’s the legacy Clark said on Saturday she wanted to leave behind. The joy, impact and inspiration.

“People aren't going to remember every single win or every single loss,” Clark said after the title game loss. “I think they're just going to remember the moments that they shared at one of our games or watching on TV or how excited their young daughter or son got about watching women's basketball. I think that's pretty cool.”

One of them sat feet from her as she scored 18 first-quarter points. Caitlyn Varela, 13, and her father, Jesus, flew in from Orange County, California, to attend their second Final Four after watching Iowa in Dallas last year. The sign they planned and created together read, “This is our kind of daddy + daughter dance.”

Varela said she enjoyed watching Clark’s teamwork and the way she changed the game, bringing awareness to it and younger girls becoming more interested in it just like she’s invested. Her father sees the creation of an improved future.

“As a club player, she’s going to have more opportunities to play in different arenas,” Jesus said. “It’s not just a men’s sport or a boys sport, but there’s actually going to be tournaments, opportunities, different trainings that weren’t available before in the past for her.”

They stood with tens of thousands waiting outside the arena to welcome the teams down a long red carpet from Ontario Street between Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and Progressive Field. Every time a police siren sounded on its way through, the crowd would pulse.

When the Final Four-branded bus pulled up and the team was announced, the black-and-gold fans bellowed as loudly as if they were back home at Carver-Hawkeye. The coaches rolled through first, Bluder leading the way waving to fans. The players came up afterward with Clark toward the back.

Her legacy kept looking back at her in a set of 18,300-plus eyes in the arena. Many were in No. 22 black-and-gold jerseys, the same they wore all weekend to pack coffee houses, eateries and Final Four events. The title game rematch, her collegiate career and her WNBA future led sports shows when historically women’s basketball has rarely even seen air time.

“I don't really get offended when people say I never watched women's basketball before,” Clark said. “I think, one, you're a little late to the party, yes. But, two, that's cool. We're changing the game. We're attracting more people to it.”

In the first hour of her post-collegiate career, Clark answered question after question as she always had. The media packed the room, as it had since she began torching record books in February. More waited in a breakout, where she reiterated she’s loved playing basketball at the University of Iowa representing her home state. Her mom always taught her to hold her head high, be proud of what she accomplished and focus on what she has instead of sulking about what she doesn’t.

“There’s not a regret in my mind of how things went,” Clark said. “I’ll be able to sleep every night even though I never won a national championship.”

She reached two Final Fours and only one with Iowa across her chest was ever her goal.