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As was widely expected for months, the Indiana Fever made superstar guard Caitlin Clark of Iowa the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft on Monday in New York.
Clark, whose college career ended earlier this month with a loss in the national championship game to top-seeded South Carolina, finished her tenure at Iowa by shattering records in scoring and viewership for women’s college basketball.
The 22-year-old from West Des Moines, Iowa, scored 3,951 points in her four seasons playing for the Hawkeyes, making her the all-time leading scorer in all of Division I college basketball, men or women.
Clark led the nation in scoring and passing this season with 31.6 points and 8.9 assists per game as she helped Iowa win its third consecutive Big Ten tournament title and led the Hawkeyes to the national title game for the second year in a row. Iowa’s loss to South Carolina drew 18.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched women’s basketball game on record.
A three-time Big Ten Player of the Year, Clark was the consensus National Player of the Year this season for the second year in a row.
It’s the second straight season the Fever had the No. 1 overall pick. Clark will be paired with last year’s selection—the 2022 National Player of the Year—in South Carolina product Aliyah Boston. The 6-foot-5 forward won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award after averaging 14.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game last season as Indiana went 13-27. Indiana hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016.
There is also a possibility that Clark and Boston team up this summer at the Paris Olympics on the U.S. National Team.
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