Foul Play: Why you should definitely watch the NCAAW

Courtesy of Tim Weight via Wikimedia Commons

I’m contractually obligated to push out one of these a week or else the ghosts of sports editors past will come down from Heaven and shoot me. RIP Kyle Hynes, Sports Editor, 2022-2022. Useless punk.

Anyway, what’s been going on in sports that isn’t covered by the rest of my beat writers? Kyle has baseball on lock, and we know that the Pirates are definitely winning the Fall Classic this year. Haley’s on the Penguins, so I’m either going to be editing an article that really oughta be in Playboy or just contains a general sense of depression. Jaden has the NBA on lock, which is great, and we’ve even got new content this week!

So what’s left to write about?

Well, have y’all heard about this player called Caitlin Clark?

Yeah, well, if you haven’t, allow me to introduce the greatest college basketball player in history, and I will absolutely stand by that claim. She’s currently the all-time leading point scorer for NCAA Basketball — men’s and women’s — and she took that record from a guy who held it for over fifty years. It’s an incredible accomplishment, and it’s just one small part of her legacy on the hardwood. She’s put together an incredible resume, and she’s leading the lead in scoring right now — a full 5 ppg over second place. An integral part of the Iowa Hawkeyes team, she’s part of their deep tournament runs, and is currently on track to crash back into reigning champions LSU, the team she lost to in the natty last year. It’s a matchup to watch.

And people are watching. She’s brought so much viewership to the NCAAW tournament — a part of the sport historically overlooked, even though it’s just as rich with storylines for the decades. There’s so much to talk about when it comes to NCAAW, and thanks to Clark, people are tuning in. She’s part of the push to make women’s college sports part of the public eye, something that’ll go far in turning women’s sports into revenue-generating sports at more institutions. Combine that with how well Nebraska has marketed their volleyball team, and the future looks bright for women’s sports.

Now, back to Clark, because I gotta talk about her statline. She’s insane. First, off, she’s putting up 31 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists on 46% shooting — an insane statline for college. She’s putting up generational stats, 4 ppg above her second-place competitor, and 7 ppg more than reigning Player of the Year winner and all-around basketball prodigy Zach Edey at Purdue. She’s the best in the game, playing on the top level of college basketball.

And it’s honestly refreshing to see these kinds of discussions centering around the NCAAW tournament — the fact that it languished in obscurity for so long is sad, and people tuning in has made the game just that much more fun.

So yeah. Basketball is fun. Go watch basketball. Go watch Clark beat the hell out of the league. It’s a blast. Trust me.