Even without a championship, Caitlin Clark can be one of the greatest players of all time

During Final Four weekend in Cleveland, Breanna Stewart had some pointed words about which women’s college basketball players should be considered some of the greatest of all time.

Stewart, a four-time national champion with UConn between 2012-16, told SiriusXM players, specifically Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark, need to win a title to even be considered to be on college ball's Mount Rushmore.

'She is so fun to watch.' Fever fans are ready for Caitlin Clark after college career ends

“You’re going to look 10 years back and you’re going to see all the records she’s broken and points and stuff like that, but anybody knows that your goal when you play is to win a national championship," Stewart told SiriusXM’s Nicole Auerbach.

Stewart is a legend in her own right. She was a four-time Final Four Most Outstanding Player, and she didn’t play a season at UConn that the Huskies didn’t win a title. She’s had a lucrative professional career as well, winning two WNBA championships and two MVP awards in her eight-year career

There’s an argument to be made Caitlin Clark isn’t the absolute GOAT (Greatest of All Time) without a championship, and sure, all of the proclaimed GOAT women’s basketball players — Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Sue Bird, Stewart — have won a championship.

But saying she can’t even be one of the greats in women’s college basketball — or college basketball as a whole — if she doesn’t win a title? It seems off base.

Sabrina Ionescu, the all-time triple-double leader, never won a national championship with Oregon, nor did Dawn Staley at Virginia. Kelsey Plum, the all-time leading scorer in Division I women’s basketball before Clark broke it this year, didn’t win a championship at Washington. Staley, a two-time Naismith Player of the Year, even has an award named after her, given annually to the best guard in the nation. They don’t give that out to just anybody.

When Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks took down Iowa, 87-75, in the national championship on Sunday, the legendary coach cemented her thoughts on Clark's status as one of the best women's basketball players.

"I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport," Staley said during South Carolina's national title celebration. "She carried a heavy load for our sport, and it just is not going to stop here on the collegiate tour, but when is the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft, she is going to lift that league up, as well. So, Caitlin Clark, if you're out there, you are one of the GOATs of our game, and we appreciate you."

Even without a title, Clark is absolutely one of the greatest players of all time. She is a two-time unanimous national player of the year, holds the NCAA Division I all-time scoring record, and both the NCAA tournament 3-point and scoring career record, among many others.

Throughout her four years at Iowa, Clark has willed the Hawkeyes to not only compete, but win, against the blue-bloods of women’s basketball in UConn, South Carolina and Kim Mulkey’s LSU.

The Iowa women’s basketball program had been close to this position. Megan Gustafson was the 2019 Naismith Player of the Year, and she brought the Hawkeyes to the Elite Eight.

But Clark brought the Hawkeyes to a place they’ve never been. The 2022-23 season was Iowa’s first Final Four since 1993, and the program’s first national championship appearance. This season, even with two starters leaving, Clark brought them back to the exact same spot. It is the first time Iowa has seen back-to-back Final Fours, much less back-to-back championship game appearances.

Through the name, image, and likeness era, she’s grown into a household name, willing rapper Travis Scott, actor Jason Sudeikis, WNBA stars Maya Moore and Sue Bird and baseball legend Nolan Ryan to Iowa City for games.

She and the Iowa team have been behind viewership records on seven different networks, including the most-watched women’s basketball game on record — 14.2 million people watched the Iowa-UConn Final Four game on Friday. This national championship game, aired nationally on ABC, will likely have a viewership even higher than that.

At the end of the day, Clark and Iowa ran into the brick wall that is South Carolina, and she ended her college career without a title. But she still has a legacy that will transcend the University of Iowa and college basketball as a whole.

As she moves on to the WNBA, that’s all that she wanted.

“I don't want my legacy to be, oh, ‘Caitlin won X amount of games or Caitlin scored X amount of points.’” Clark said on Saturday. “I hope it's what I was able to do for the game of women's basketball. I hope it is the young boys and young girls that are inspired to play this sport or dream to do whatever they want to do in their lives.

“I think it's just the people that we've brought together, the joy we've brought to people, the way people are recognizing women's basketball as a sport. It's fun to watch. Everybody loves it. It can be on the highest of stages.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Title or not, Caitlin Clark is one of the greatest players of all-time