Iowa Hawkeyes to retire Caitlin Clark's No. 22 basketball jersey
April 11 (UPI) -- Iowa will honor college basketball legend Caitlin Clark by retiring her No. 22 jersey, commemorating one of the best collegiate athletic careers in history, Hawkeyes athletic director Beth Goetz announced.
Goetz revealed the plan during a celebratory ceremony of the Hawkeyes' historic season Wednesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Clark, the all-time leading scorer in the history of women's and men's college basketball, announced in February that she would forgo a fifth season with the Hawkeyes to enter the 2024 WNBA Draft.
"With almost as much certainty that Caitlin's shots from the logo would drop in the net to the roar of this excited Carver crowd, we always knew your jersey would be hanging in the rafters one day," Goetz told the crowd, which included Clark and her teammates.
Clark, who is also 22 years old, earned multiple National Player of the Year awards for the second-consecutive season. She scored 3,951 points over 139 games for the Hawkeyes, 284 more than Pete Maravich, who previously held college basketball's points record.
The Des Moines, Iowa, native also finished third in NCAA history in career assists (1,144). She will be the third women's basketball player to get her number retired by the Hawkeyes.
"It's super incredible," Clark said. "It's something I am very thankful for and, obviously, I have had some incredible teammates over the course of my four years here."
Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague also proclaimed Wednesday as Iowa Women's Basketball Day in Iowa City at Wednesday's ceremony.
The Hawkeyes posted a 109-30 record during Clark's four-year tenure. They went to the NCAA women's basketball tournament all four years, losing in the national championship to end the last two campaigns.
The four-time All-American, three-time Big Ten Player of the Year and two-time NCAA All-Tournament selection is expected to be selected by the Indiana Fever as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. That event, held in Brooklyn, will air at 7:30 p.m. EDT Monday on ESPN.
On Wednesday, CBS Sports and the WNBA announced a new broadcast agreement, resulting in the most-ever games on broadcast.
The WNBA also announced that 36 of the Fever's 40 regular-season games will be on national TV. The Fever's first four games will appear on ABC, ESPN or Prime Video. The Fever also will appear on ESPN2, ION, and NBA TV, in addition to CBS and CBS Sports Network.
The Fever's regular-season opener, against the Connecticut Sun at 7:30 p.m. May 14 in Uncasville, Conn., will air on ESPN2.
