Many believe that Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark is already the greatest women’s collegiate players ever. WNBA icon Breanna Stewart, however, isn’t one of those people.
While Clark has already done a lot to elevate the game that her predecessors couldn’t, Stewart highlighted that there’s still one thing missing from her resume.
Breanna Stewart Gets Real on Caitlin Clark’s GOAT Status
On Friday ahead of the Hawkeyes’ showdown with the UConn Huskies in the Final Four , Stewart was asked if she thinks Clark needs to win a national championship in order to be considered one of the greats in women’s college hoops history.
The New York Liberty star, without hesitation, quickly answered “Yeah, she does. I think so.”
Stewart added on SiriusXM, “Because then you’re gonna look 10 years back and you’re gonna see all the records she’s broken, the points and stuff like that. But anybody knows your goal when you play. College basketball is to win the national championship.”
To be fair to Stewart, she’s not wrong with her statement. In any conversation among the great players, be it in the pro level like the NBA or WNBA, championships are part of the metric when discussing a player’s position among the greatest of all time.
There’s no denying that Clark is the biggest reason why women’s sports, particularly women’s college basketball, is flourishing. She’s just so fun and amazing to watch. However, in order for her to really leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that she’s the GOAT, winning the natty is necessary.
Iowa Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark Is the GOAT … Economically
For what it’s worth, not everyone shares the same thinking as Breanna Stewart. Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman previously shared her belief that Caitlin Clark doesn’t need to win a championship to be in the conversation, even comparing her to Michael Jordan who didn’t win a championship until his seventh year in the NBA.
Clark has only played four years in college, and for her to accomplish so much for herself and the game in such a short amount of time, that’s GOAT-level in Lieberman’s books.
“She is legitimately the GOAT, I don’t really care what anybody else [thinks]. Nobody in the history of the game has done what she’s done,” Lieberman shared, via The Guardia.
“I’m sure some people will say she has to win a championship and I agree a championship means something. [But] Michael Jordan didn’t win a championship for the first [seven] years he was in the league. What Caitlin has done economically for women – she’s the GOAT.”
Clark has a chance to silence her doubters as the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks in the national championship. Regardless of the result, though, no one can argue against the fact that Clark is the most impactful player of her generation.
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