In the upcoming WNBA Draft, Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark is the presumed first overall pick. Part of what makes her such a sure thing at the next level is the competitive fire that she plays the game with.
Ahead of the draft, Caitlin Clark spoke with ESPN’s Holly Rowe, explaining what she thinks makes herself so unique as a competitor.
“I think the biggest thing about myself is I am completely different off the court than I am on the court,” Caitlin Clark said. “When I step in between the lines, I’m there to kind of kill. That’s like my mentality is you just want to go out there and be the best. You want to beat whoever is sitting on the other bench no matter who it is. I think that’s the biggest thing. You look over there and you just want to win so bad and you’re going to do whatever it takes to get there.”
Clark played four seasons at Iowa, becoming a star in the process. During that time, she became the all-time college scoring leader, regardless of gender, with 3,951 points scored. She did that by averaging 28.4 points per game. On top of that, she led the Hawkeyes to multiple national championship game appearances.
During her career, Clark grew as a player. In particular, she felt like she grew in how she was able to use her emotions as a competitive advantage.
‘I think that honestly, that’s like the biggest thing I’m most proud of throughout my career is just like my maturity to evolve through bad games, through bad emotions, and be able to channel that and still find ways to win. I think that’s the biggest way I grew my junior and senior year and I think that allowed us to win a lot more games, for us to have a lot more success, and that’s honestly what I’m most proud of.”
Lisa Bluder believes Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston ‘could really have fun’ on same WNBA team
The expectation is that Caitlin Clark will be selected by the Indiana Fever. With that in mind, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder believes that she could have fun playing alongside Aliyah Boston.
“How much — I don’t know if that’s a good question for me or for a WNBA coach, to be quite honest. Obviously she’s going to have great people around her. And if you put great people around her, that helps her succeed so much. So I think that’s going to be a benefit,” Bluder said.
“If she’s with the Fever, playing with somebody like Aliyah Boston, I think they could really have fun together. I think they’ll be a great one-two punch.”
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