Caitlin Clark’s emergence as a basketball superstar in 2024 was among the most notable sports stories of the calendar year. After setting the NCAA record for points in a college career, Clark was selected first overall by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA Draft, and she quickly played in an All-Star Game before leading the Fever to the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
During her surprise appearance on “New Heights” with Jason and Travis Kelce, Clark discussed a number of topics relating to her nascent pro career, her Kansas City Chiefs fandom, and her historic NCAA career, in which she won two National Player of the Year honors and led the Iowa Hawkeyes to consecutive national championship game appearances.
Clark recalls her unusual recruitment
Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Clark harbored ambitions of attending the University of Connecticut and working with the school’s legendary head coach Geno Auriemma. Clark told Travis Kelce that her recruitment process began unusually early — she received her first letter in seventh grade, bringing her into competition with high schoolers.
Clark’s parents had her brother hide recruitment letters from her so that she could enjoy her adolescence and not have to deal with the pressures of recruitment. Even still, Clark ripped the process on “New Heights”, as more and more high school athletes are committing to the highest bidder: the school that will give them the most money and control over their name, image, and likeness.
“It’s honestly sad. Where college recruitment has gone, it’s kind of insane,” Clark said.
Clark was one of the five best prospects in a class that included Paige Bueckers, Cameron Brink, and Angel Reese. In the end, she stayed home and embarked on a record-shattering career at the University of Iowa that sparked significant interest in women’s basketball — a phenomenon that fans and media members have referred to as the “Caitlin Clark effect“.
But it is a brave new world out there in the realm of high school recruitment, with universities competing for the best prospects under new and controversial parameters. Clark sees where the process is going and has registered her concern as college athletics continues down this unprecedented path.
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