Caitlin Clark announces she’s turning pro at end of this Iowa women’s basketball season

Sunday really will be Seniors Day for Caitlin Clark.

The reigning National Player of the Year in women’s basketball and one of the most-recognized college athletes ever announced via social media Thursday she will turn professional at the end of the Hawkeyes’ current season.

“While this season is far from over,” Clark wrote, “and we have a lot more goals to achieve, I am excited to be entering the 2024 WNBA draft.”

What that almost certainly means is Clark will be taken with the first pick by the Indiana Fever at the April 15 WNBA draft in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Clark, a fourth-year senior from West Des Moines, leads NCAA Division I in scoring (32.2 points) and assists (8.7), and averages 7.4 rebounds for the 25-4 Hawkeyes. She has shepherded Iowa to the 2023 national title game, the last two Big Ten women’s tournament titles, and a share of the 2021-22 league regular-season crown.

She had the option of staying one more season at Iowa because of the NCAA’s waiver year extended to every college athlete who participated during the COVID-19 pandemic-affected 2020-21 academic year.

Clark recently became Division I’s all-time leading scorer. Her totals are 3,650 points, 1,049 assists and 917 rebounds.

At Indiana, she would join forward Aliyah Boston, the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year. Iowa upset Boston’s then-No. 1 South Carolina in the NCAA national semifinals last year in Dallas.

The Fever have had seven straight losing seasons. They were 13-27 last year, and their best record in the previous six years was 13-21. They have been in the WNBA since 2000. Last season, they drew 4,067 fans per game in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The league average was 6,615.

Those numbers, especially the one specifically at Indiana, figure to grow. A capacity crowd of 17,222 saw Clark and Iowa play at Indiana University last week.

The Fever’s season-opener is May 14 at Connecticut. Their home opener is May 16 against New York. WNBA teams play a 40-game schedule from May until mid-September.

Clark has stood basketball and sports in general on their ears in her career, making a lot of new fans in Iowa and around the country as she has drawn significant attention to women’s basketball. The Hawkeyes sold out Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the season well in advance of the first game, and have been selling out everywhere they’ve been going on the road including their most-recent contest, a 108-60 win over Minnesota Wednesday night.

Clark’s presence got Iowa into nationally-televised games on network television, including Saturday evening games at home against Indiana and at Maryland.

Her scoring prowess, her long-distance shooting ability, her passion for playing, and Iowa’s results combined to make the Hawkeyes big box office and a television attraction. Iowa games have set women’s basketball viewing records on several networks.

As that has happened, Clark has become college sports’ No. 1 beneficiary of NIL offers, with endorsement deals with State Farm, Nike, Gatorade, Hy-Vee and others.

The Hawkeyes are 100-19 in Clark’s four seasons, 54-18 in the Big Ten.

No. 6 Iowa closes its regular season Sunday at noon in Iowa City against Big Ten regular-season champion No. 2 Ohio State. It will be Seniors Day for Clark and teammates Molly Davis, Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin. ESPN’s “College GameDay” show will be broadcast live from Carver-Hawkeye at 10 a.m.

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