Brown: Caitlin Clark Deserves NPOY Award

Iowa's Star Junior Most Complete Player in the Country

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Caitlin Clark is a generational basketball talent, an in-state gift to the University of Iowa.

Granted, she’s grown and matured in her two-plus seasons with the Hawkeyes. She’s received great coaching that’s made her a better player. And she’s surrounded by teammates who know their roles and play with great chemistry. But Clark was born with a gift for the game, and the intensity to match.

She’s the reason that Iowa is a hot draw, home and away. She’s why young girls make signs touting Clark as their favorite player, and beg for her autograph, both at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and on the road. She’s why Iowa has had games televised by the Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2 and FOX this season. And it’s why ESPN’s College GameDay will make its first trip to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the regular-season finale against No. 2 Indiana on Feb. 26.

Clark has taken on the role of a hoops ambassador and done all she can to grow the game she loves. That alone should make her a leading candidate for national player of the year.

But to achieve the honor she deserves, Caitlin will have to shoot over or dribble around one tall opponent named perception.

That became abundantly clear during last week’s Tennessee-Alabama men’s game on ESPN. Analyst Jay Bilas, whose opinions carry a lot of weight in the sport of basketball, called Caitiln Clark the best scorer in women’s basketball, but added that South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston was the best player in the game.

Boston, a 6-foot-5 senior for the nation’s top-ranked team, was the consensus player of the year last season after helping the Gamecocks win a national title. She is a great player, and the reigning Naismith defensive player of the year.

She’s blocked 52 shots this season, shot 57 percent from the floor, is her team’s No. 2 scorer at 13 points a game and averages 9.9 rebounds. Boston has 17 double-doubles this season.

South Carolina’s No. 1 ranking and its status as the defending national champion will help get Boston to the front of the line when it comes to national player of the year discussion.

When Bilas credits Clark as the nation’s best scorer, it’s a compliment. It also feeds a false narrative that Clark is all about the points.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. Do you know who leads the nation in assists, and triple-doubles? It’s Caitlin Clark.

Yes, her shooting draws a lion’s share of attention. And there’s no arguing what Bilas said a year ago, calling Clark “the most exciting player to watch in college hoop. She is a straight up baller.”

That excitement is fueled by Clark’s logo triples. Too bad there’s not an official NCAA statistic for that. There is one for triple-doubles. Clark has three of them, more than anyone else in the nation.

Yes, she gets her share of shots off. And why not? She’s one of the best shooters in the country. Clark is averaging 18.7 field-goal attempts from the field, including 8.52 3-pointers, per game. Maddy Siegrist of Villanova, who leads the nation in scoring at 29.1 points a game, is averaging 20.6 shots per game.

Critics point to Clark’s 3.9 turnovers a game.They are a reflection of two things - the amount of time the ball is in her hands and her flamboyant style of play. Playing with reckless abandon, if you will.

Clark is currently the only player in Big Ten history to rank in the career Top 10 in scoring and assists. She’s averaging 8.3 assists a game, and recorded double-figure assists nine times this season. Over the last 11 games, she’s averaged 10.6 assists.

Her ability to score and deliver the ball to her teammates in scoring position is a huge reason why the Hawkeyes lead the nation in both scoring (88.3 points a game) and field-goal percentage (.515).

Watching Clark and center Monica Czinano work together is a thing of beauty. Czinano is fourth nationally in field-goal percentage at .673. Many of those baskets have come after Clark’s entry passes.

Clark also has her fingerprints all over two more impressive national statistics. Iowa is second nationally in assists per game at 21.3 and fourth in assist-turnover ratio (1.51).

Clark’s all-around skills can also be found in rebounding statistics, where her 7.5 per-game average ranks sixth in the Big Ten.

Despite all those team-oriented statistics, the stereotype of Clark as a scorer instead of a complete player might he harder to overcome than No. 7 Maryland on the road Tuesday and No. 2 Indiana at home on Feb. 26.

But if the right people are watching those final two games, maybe they’ll see that Clark is the game’s most complete player. The game’s college player of the year.

“I’m not sure how you can’t call Caitlin Clark the National Player of the Year with the season she has had,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said after her star guard had 42 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in a 96-82 victory over Maryland on Feb. 2.

But the verdict is still out in some circles, apparently. The Hawkeyes might need a deep run in the NCAA Tournament to push Clark’s candidacy over the top.

And push, they should. Being a consensus all-American again doesn’t seem enough for a young lady who has become the face of her sport.