‘The Caitlin Clark effect’: Big Ten women’s basketball tournament sells out for first time as Iowa keeps eye on the prize

University of Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark is now the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball history and possesses an abundance of other records, but one achievement has evaded her so far in her illustrious college career: a national championship.

With Clark set to leave Iowa at the end of the season as she prepares for the 2024 WNBA Draft, she will have her last chance this year to claim Iowa’s first national title.

The journey for Clark and the Hawkeyes begins with the Big Ten tournament – tipping off on March 6 – after the regular season concluded on Sunday with Iowa taking down the Ohio State Buckeyes and Clark making history by eclipsing “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s legendary career point total of 3,667.

A pair of free throws at the end of the game’s first half etched Clark’s name into the history books.

The reigning national player of the year ended the night with 35 points – alongside nine assists and six rebounds – to take her career point total to 3,685 after a dominant regular season that saw her become the all-time major women’s college basketball leading scorer earlier in the campaign.

She was also named Big Ten conference Player of the Year for the third time on Friday.

It appears that “Clarkmania” has well and truly taken over, with the 22-year-old’s spectacular performances supercharging women’s college basketball as a whole.

The Big Ten conference announced last month that all-session tickets are sold out for the 2024 edition of the tournament for the first time in the history of the event. Per the conference, over 109,000 fans are expected to attend the five-day tournament at the Target Center in Minneapolis that runs this week from Wednesday to Sunday.

It is fair to say that a major reason for the record-setting attendance is a direct result of the ‘Caitlin Clark effect,’ which is seeing women’s basketball draw unprecedented levels of attention.

Iowa announced before the season that it had sold out all of its season tickets, while ticket prices to watch the Indiana Fever – the team that holds the No. 1 pick in this year’s WNBA draft and has heavily hinted at selecting Clark – have more than doubled.

Sunday’s matchup against Ohio State also brought in 3.4 million television viewers, higher than the audiences for both NBA Opening Night games on TNT this season and higher than 2023 No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut on ESPN.

CNN Sports Analyst Christine Brennan said Clark’s feat represents a milestone moment in the history of women’s sports and has changed the way people view basketball itself.

“I think Caitlin is having a lot of us look at this sport that is such an American institution in a different way,” she said.

Clark’s ascendency into one of the biggest college sports stars of all time has clearly been a boon for women’s basketball but has also seen her reach superstardom on a personal level.

Clark’s Iowa jerseys and shirts are online retailer Fanatics’ top-selling college athlete edition since it began selling collegiate athletic apparel in 2022, the website told CNN. She’s also signed deals with Gatorade, Nike and State Farm, among others, recently.

Looking to go one better

The Hawkeyes are the defending Big Ten champions after defeating Ohio State in the 2023 championship game. Clark took home the Most Outstanding Player award as Iowa gained the conference’s sole automatic qualification spot for the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament, widely known as March Madness.

Iowa, the No. 2 seed in the competition for the second straight season, will be looking to repeat the feat this year as it seeks the ideal start to its postseason.

Ohio State will once again be the main threat to Big Ten Tournament hopes after clinching the first seed with a conference-best 16-2 record. The Hawkeyes and Buckeyes split their conference match-ups this year, although Iowa won in Clark’s record-setting game, 93-83 on Sunday.

All 14 Big Ten teams will be competing in the tournament. The top 10 seeds receive a first-round bye, while the top four seeds receive a double bye. This means that Clark and Co. will not take to the floor until Friday for the quarterfinals, where they will face off with either Wisconsin or Penn State.

Teams other than the winner are still eligible for March Madness through the NCAA selection committee, which chooses 32 additional teams for the tournament to join the 32 conference champions.

Clark burst onto the national stage as a junior in last year’s tournament, leading Iowa to a first NCAA national championship game in program history.

The Hawkeyes eventually fell to the Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers, 102-85, in game that is often remembered for a highly publicized spat between Clark and LSU star Angel Reese.

Iowa is likely to be among the favorites for the tournament, as Clark aims to end her college career on a high. The Iowa native is leading the nation in scoring and her efforts will be crucial in the Hawkeyes’ postseason run as they look to make up for falling at the final hurdle in 2023.

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