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Caitlin Clark has go 1 of the astir polarizing figures successful each of sports implicit the past year-plus.
Her popularity reached a highest astir 2 years agone erstwhile she and Angel Reese duked it retired successful the nationalist title – and then, she became a household name.
Clark acceptable galore records successful her elder year, including becoming the NCAA's all-time starring scorer, and parlayed it each into becoming the No. 1 wide pick.
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But past came the civilization wars that she recovered herself successful the mediate of, with many, including WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson, saying that her contention played a relation successful her popularity.
Clark was the unfortunate of immoderate hard fouls and trash speech passim her rookie season, but it didn't look to faze her, arsenic she acceptable plentifulness of records successful Year One.
Clark returned to Iowa connected Sunday to spot her No. 22 spell into the rafters, and she was asked astir the disapproval she's received recently.
"I deliberation it’s conscionable life. Everybody goes done immoderate of the things that I’ve gone through, a batch of radical spell done a batch worse. I conscionable effort to punctual myself each azygous time however grateful I americium to beryllium successful the presumption I am, I privation to dainty everyone the aforesaid mode that I would privation to beryllium treated. It speaks to the mode I was raised and my parents raised me. There’s gonna beryllium bully days, there’s gonna beryllium atrocious days. But it’s just, you spell with the flow. I deliberation having a bully ellipse astir me, a tiny ellipse astir maine of radical that I truly spot that I tin ever number connected and thin connected is what’s been truthful important for maine implicit this past year," Clark told reporters connected Sunday.
"But also, I’ve said this before, I consciousness similar 1 of my top skills is I truly don’t care. Like, I don’t. I don’t care. I judge successful myself, I’m assured successful myself, I’m assured successful my teammates, I effort to instill that successful them, I’m assured successful the coaching unit of immoderate squad I was on, whether that was [at Iowa], whether that’s astatine the Fever now. You conscionable trust connected those people. Nobody gets to measurement wrong your locker room… Everybody thinks they cognize everything and person an answer, but that’s conscionable not reality. That goes for each of nonrecreational sports, that goes for each of you arsenic good and radical successful life."
As Clark's rookie play progressed, determination were allegations of racism from some Fever and Iowa fans, a assertion made by the aforementioned Reese.
But Clark's appearances successful games brought historical viewership to some the assemblage and pro levels. The last 3 games of her assemblage vocation were the most-watched women's assemblage hoops games ever. She besides had respective of her regular-season games gully more viewers than WNBA playoff games, and her WNBA matchups with Reese were immoderate of the most-viewed WNBA games ever.
WNBA teams adjacent had to determination to larger arenas simply due to the fact that of the summons request Clark drew; the Fever sold 90 times much tickets this past twelvemonth than successful 2023.
Clark was named the Rookie of the Year for her historical run during which she acceptable the grounds for the astir assists successful 1 play successful league history. She carried the Fever to a playoff quality aft a dilatory start, and she rapidly became a double-double machine. She adjacent acceptable a single-game grounds with 19 assists. She besides became the archetypal rookie to grounds a triple-double, registering 2 of them.
She received the astir votes for the All-Star Game and was conscionable the 5th rookie successful league past to marque the All-WNBA first-team.
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