The Associated Press recently commemorated 50 years of its women’s basketball Top 25 poll by unveiling its list of the greatest college players since 1976. Names like Cheryl Miller, Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, and Candace Parker were expected and widely praised. But the inclusion of Caitlin Clark on the All-Time First Team caused a stir among some fans.
While there’s no denying Clark‘s impact on the sport, critics argue that her lack of a national championship sets her apart, and not in a good way, from the other icons named. That hasn’t stopped her supporters from defending her inclusion.
One of the most passionate defenses came from Rachel DeMita, who shared her thoughts on Courtside Club: “Everybody is going to talk about it for whatever reason, because yes, when you look at this list, Diana Taurasi, multiple championships, and Cheryl Miller has two. So two championships. Breanna Stewart has four, and then Candace Parker also has multiple championships. So, everybody on here, but also everyone on here, went to a school that wasn’t Iowa.”
She continued, “People are going to talk online. People are going to try to put down Caitlin‘s accomplishments just because she did not win a championship. The reason she’s on this list is because of all the records that she broke in college, and the fact that she led a team in Iowa to back-to-back national championship appearances with the team that she had. Anybody who has eyes, anybody who knows basketball at all realizes that she should absolutely be on this first team.”
A legacy built on stats, not titles
From the moment Clark joined Iowa in 2020, her presence was felt. As a freshman, she averaged 26.6 points and 7 assists per game, recording her first triple-double and earning First Team All-Big Ten honors, along with the Dawn Staley Award, a first for any freshman.
Her sophomore season saw even bigger milestones, as she became the first woman in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in both scoring and assists. She also delivered multiple triple-doubles and achieved the first back-to-back 30-point triple-doubles against ranked opponents.
In her junior year, Clark averaged 27.8 points and helped Iowa reach the national championship game for the first time in over three decades. Though the title eluded her, she posted a 40-point triple-double in the Elite Eight in a performance for the history books.
Her final season was even more dominant: 31.6 points and 8.9 assists per game, leading Division I in both stats for the second time. She ended her college career with 3,951 total points, surpassing Pete Maravich‘s all-time scoring record. She also broke Stephen Curry‘s record for most single-season three-pointers with 548.
Despite never winning a national title, Iowa retired her No. 22 jersey, a testament to the mark she left on the program.
Still, some fans were surprised by another omission: Paige Bueckers. The UConn star helped lead her team to a 2025 national championship, overcame a major injury, and had one of the most consistent careers of her generation. Yet, she didn’t make the first, second, or even reserve teams.
For some, Bueckers‘ absence is more questionable than Clark‘s inclusion. But in the end, it raises a familiar question in sports: Is greatness measured by rings, or by rewriting the record books?
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