Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes will play for the national championship when they take on Kim Mulkey’s LSU Tigers Sunday night in the 2023 Women’s NCAA Championship Game.
Clark has set the women’s basketball world on fire with her thrilling performances and scoring clinics as she’s led the Hawkeyes to wins over Louisville in the Elite Eight and previously unbeaten South Carolina in the Final Four. Meanwhile, she’s averaged 32.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game in the NCAA Tournament.
She will unfortunately not be eligible for the upcoming 2023 WNBA Draft. The WNBA operates differently than the NBA where you have to turn at least 22 years old or have graduated from a four-year university within three months of the draft to be eligible.
Clark could realistically stay in college through the 2024 college basketball season. College players received an additional season of eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year said that she hasn’t made up her mind just yet.
“There are definitely pros and cons to both,” Clark said recently. “I can probably leave and go to the WNBA draft [in 2024] or I can come back for a fifth year. So, to be honest, I have no idea what I’m going to do, and I haven’t thought much about it. I always kept saying, like, ‘I’ll just worry about that later,’ but I can’t believe I’m going to be a senior next year. So, that’s pretty crazy.”
If she does return to Iowa in 2024, Clark has the chance to not only break former Hawkeye Megan Gustafson’s all-time Iowa points record (2,804), but she might even be able to challenge the Big Ten and NCAA scoring records.
