Why the hottest basketball player in the world is a 22-year-old university student

The most talked about basketballer in the world right now isn’t LeBron James, Steph Curry or Nikola Jokic – she’s a 22-year-old from the University of Iowa.

College star Caitlin Clark sent the sporting world into a frenzy when she broke Pete Maravich’s long-standing record of 3667 points last month to become the all-time leading point scorer – male or female – in college basketball history. She’s now on 3900 points, and counting.

On Tuesday, her team defeated arch-nemesis Angel Reese and the Louisiana State University team, scoring a colossal 41 points, to send her team into the NCAA’s Final Four.

The Athletic reported it was the most-watched women’s college basketball game in history, with an average of 12.3 million viewers. On average, a typical NBA game attracts 1.6 million viewers.

Dubbed “Clarkonomics”, women’s basketball is experiencing unprecedented success, with game attendance, ticket sales and jersey purchases going through the roof.

Caitlin Clark will enter the WNBA draft this year.Credit: Getty

Clark herself has been called the “female Steph Curry”, but even the four-time NBA champion himself doesn’t think it does her justice.

“I’ve been watching from afar and understanding just how much of a power she is out there on the court,” Curry told CBS last month.

“The cool part is the way that she plays, and her range, and the level of difficulty on her shots is obviously a very close comparison to the way that I play. But I think it almost robs her of the rest of her game because she’s such a good floor [general], she has her overall floor game.

“She’s racking up close to triple-doubles every night. Her shooting ability is her superpower, but the rest of her game is as polished as that, so this is must-see TV.”

Clark will forego her final year of college and enter the WNBA draft on April 15, where the Indiana Fever have hinted she’ll be their No.1 pick.

Her famous fans include Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes and actor Jason Sudeikis – aka Ted Lasso – along with an army of travelling fans who line up for hours before gates open to watch her games.

Shaquille O’Neal said she was “phenomenal” and “the best female collegiate player ever”, while luminaries including James and Luka Doncic have been quick to sing her praise.

In college basketball, she’ll go down as one of the best in history.

The great “Pistol” Pete Maravich – who played college basketball from 1967 to 1970 – held the record for most college points for more than 50 years.

Maravich, who played before the three-point line or shot clock were part of the game, had a 10-year professional career playing for the Atlanta Hawks, Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics before injury forced him to retire in 1980.

Just this week Clark was invited to a training camp for the US Olympic team. If she goes to Paris, she will play alongside Kelsey Plum and Brittney Griner, both WNBA stars and legends of the collegiate system.

To top it all off, Clark is already one of the wealthiest female basketball players in the world.

When she enters the WNBA for the 2024 season, she’ll make about US$77,000 ($117,000), but she’ll already be a multimillionaire.

Now one of the most marketable athletes in the world, Clark has deals with brands like Nike, Bose and Gatorade worth an estimated $4.7 million.

Before she can start thinking about her professional career, Clark has at least one more college game to go.

She plays her next match at 12.30pm Saturday (AEDT) against Connecticut’s UConn Huskies. If Iowa win, they will play in the championship match the next day.

With the championship in sight, and Saturday’s match expected to gain even more attention, Clark is amazed by the journey she – and women’s basketball – has been on this past season.

“I love this university so much, I love the state of Iowa, and the way the country has supported us and our team, the way women’s basketball has really rallied around this team and multiple teams all around the country,” she said after the win over LSU on Tuesday.

“We’ve just elevated the game so much, and that’s the coolest part for me. I want to keep living in these moments and enjoying these moments, soaking them in, and I think the biggest thing is I want to go out on the right note, I’m going to give it every single thing I’ve got.

“It’s hard to be the last team standing. There are 360 teams in Division 1 basketball, and only one gets to end the season happy, and that’s going to be us, that’s what we want to do. You’ve just got to believe it, and go out there and earn it.”

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