Caitlin Clark explains decision to pass up one last go-round at Iowa

Iowa women's basketball star Caitlin Clark is already arguably the greatest college hooper of all time. And if she wanted to, she could build on that remarkable legacy by using her final year of eligibility to further cement her place in the record books.

That opportunity undoubtedly made the decision to declare for the WNBA Draft tough for the Hawkeyes guard. But, ultimately, Clark felt like she was ready for the professional stage.

“It was definitely a really hard decision and I think the biggest thing for myself was I felt like I’m just kind of ready for a new challenge," Clark said on the Big Ten Network (h/t On3)." And I feel like my game has developed enough to where I can play in WNBA. Obviously, there’s going to be things for me to learn and that’s what’s so exciting."

Clark is absolutely ready to dominate the WNBA like she has in college, but it's going to be tough for even her to outshine the legacy she'll be leaving at Iowa.

She's averaging 32.3 points, 8.7 assists and 7.3 rebounds per game this season, and her career as a whole has been legendary. Clark recently set the NCAA Division I all-time scoring record for both men and women, passing Hall of Famer “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

She currently has a career total of 3,685 points. Pistol Pete's previous record was 3,667.