From Moe to the big stage: The Aussie staring down basketball’s record-breaking phenom Caitlin Clark

In a stadium filled with 18,000 fans and with more than four million people watching on television, Australian Jaz Shelley was trying to do what few in the basketball world can.

Shut down Caitlin Clark.

Nebraska’s Jaz Shelley (left) defends a drive from Iowa’s Caitlin Clark (right).Credit: Getty Images

Iowa University’s Clark is the face of a boom in US women’s college basketball, a superstar who is the highest scorer, man or woman, in college history. She has earned millions of fans and dollars under the rules that now allow college athletes to profit from their fame.

While Clark is the poster girl, the growth of the women’s game has been driven by a number of stars such as Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and Cameron Brink – and the rivalries between their teams.

This has led to predictions that the women’s NCAA tournament will out-rate the men’s tournament for the first time when March Madness tips off. To put that into context, 2023 was a down year for the men’s tournament and the final still drew 14.7 million US viewers.

Shelley is from the Victorian town of Moe, comes from a basketball family, and is in her third and final season with the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, where she is a starting point guard and one of the best shooters – not named Clark – in the Big 10 conference.

Nebraska guard Jaz Shelley fires off a shot.Credit: Getty Images

“We did really well in the last game that we played, we kept Caitlin to four points in the first half, and you knew she was going to be angry about that,” Shelley said.

“She was going to come out in the second half and want to get her own. You have a hand in her face and she does not see your hand. She just knocks it down. It’s pretty remarkable what she’s able to do.”

Last week, Shelley’s Nebraska played Clark’s Iowa in the Big 10 tournament final in front of a capacity crowd of 18,534 at the Target Centre, home of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

When the game went to overtime, the CBS audience peaked at 4.45 million people as Clark lifted her side to their third straight title, 94-89.

Clark did have only four points in the first half. But she scored 30 in the second half and overtime, and had 12 assists. That is why she has attracted so many fans and will be the first pick in the WNBA draft later this year.

“It was more viewed than the NBA game that was on at the same time,” Shelley said of the Big 10 final.

“It’s unreal how much people are investing in women’s basketball and enjoying it, the numbers don’t lie. You can give the women’s game a space right now and we will fill it.”

Shelley, 23, had a Big 10 tournament she could be proud of, setting school records for most points (82), most three-pointers (16) and most assists (34) over the four games but missing out on a rare win over Iowa left her fifth-seeded team in tears.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark signs autographs after a win over Minnesota.Credit: Getty Images

“It sucks because I think we do everything the right way, work hard and were the underdogs. Plus they kind of win everything,” Shelley said.

“But there is a lot we can take away. We are capable of doing pretty special things [in March Madness].”

When the two teams played in Lincoln, Nebraska in February, they set a record for a Fox TV women’s college games with 1.77 million viewers. That record has since been broken, which shows how rapidly support is growing – that night Nebraska did upset Iowa and did so in front of 15,042 home fans, with Shelley scoring 23 points.

If they want one last rematch with Clark, they will have to make the final four of March Madness. The Huskers will face Texas A&M in Oregon in their first-round game on Saturday at 1.30pm (AEDT).

Nebraska and Iowa, both proud farming states, have long been rivals on the college gridiron field and in the cornfield, but Clark’s emergence has further fired it up.

“It comes from football and this whole ‘who has the best corn’ thing – they are really passionate about it,” Shelley said with a laugh.

Shelley rose to prominence after teaming with Ezi Magbegor and Monique Conti to help Australia win the under-17 world championship gold medal in 2016, and she earned a scholarship to University of Oregon.

Her first season was with now WNBA superstar Sabrina Ionescu, who took on NBA great Steph Curry in a shootout at NBA All-Star weekend in February.

Nebraska’s Jaz Shelley hugs her teammates after a win over Maryland.Credit: Getty Images

But after her second season, Shelley needed a change and instead of heading to the WNBL, she joined Nebraska.

“It’s been the best experience I’ve ever had,” Shelley said.

“A lot of people that come over here and then go home, go to a program that doesn’t fit them.

“But I think Nebraska suits my personality. It’s kind of a small town, you are around genuine people. That’s one of the main reasons I’ve been able to thrive here.”

“It was more viewed than the NBA game that was on at the same time.”

Nebraska guard Jaz Shelley

During Shelley’s five years, the new sponsorship rules allowing athletes to earn money for their name, image and likeness, introduced in 2021, have played a big role in building the profiles of those star players who for decades have been compensated with only their scholarships despite generating millions of dollars.

Clark has at least 11 sponsors, including Nike, which overall earns her an estimated $US3.1 million (about $4.7 million) per year. The New York Times news podcast, The Daily, devoted an episode to “The Caitlin Clark phenomenon”, while Vox’s Today Explained posed the question: “Can Caitlin Clark fix college sports?”

“Every time you turn on a TV station, she’s on there,” Shelley said.

“I don’t know how she does it. Sounds like a whole lot of pressure to me, but she continues to perform every day and the way she promotes our game is amazing.”

Shelley, who can’t access sponsorship money while in the US as her student visa doesn’t allow it, thinks the marketing and extra social media buzz has fuelled the growth of the women’s game.

Lesser-known players can gain sponsors too. Several of Shelley’s teammates get free internet and insurance via local deals.

“People get to know them through their social media, their TikToks, and they think they know them as a person, then they follow their careers into the WNBA, now that club gets a bigger fan base,” Shelley said.

“It seems like people are following the individual now … People are still crazy about their teams but the amount of people in Minnesota [at the Big 10 tournament] who were just there for Caitlin – they were cheering for us sometimes when we made a basket.

“They were just there for her. It was insane.”

Having millions watch your game and comment on social media hit Shelley hard, but she has learned to brush it off while the extra notoriety had a fun spin-off for her family.

“They came to a home game with 15,000 fans and a whole bunch of people were wearing my shirt,” Shelley said.

“My mum went up to some random lady [in her shirt] and said, ‘That’s my daughter’ and the lady grabbed like 15 of her friends, all in my shirt, and took a photo with Mum.

“It’s a weird feeling and we’re not used to it. I mean, we come from Moe. My mum got to storm the court with my grandparents [after a win] and they were crying in the middle of the court.

“They are definitely emotional about what’s going on.”

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