What If Caitlin Clark Had Chosen Notre Dame Instead?

Notre Dame women's basketball has had plenty of star players over the decades and won multiple national championships.

What would have happened had it landed the biggest star women's basketball has ever seen in the college ranks?

That's a tremendous what-if, as Caitlin Clark recently discussed how she was originally committed to Muffet McGraw and Notre Dame before flipping to Iowa.

Caitlin Clark Discusses Brief Notre Dame Commitment

The Indiana Fever star was recently on the Post Moves podcast with Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston, and stated:

“I told Muffett McGraw I was going to go there, and then I had to call her like, no, I actually changed my mind,” Clark said. “I tell people this, I like Notre Dame. Like, it’s Notre Dame, obviously their tradition, and I grew up watching Skylar Diggins. I was like in high school or about to start high school when Enrique made those two game winners, like that was a core memory for me.”

Caitlin Clark while at Iow — Iowa guard Kate Martin (20), Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) and Iowa guard Gabbie Marshall (24) pose for a photo after the Big Ten Tournament championship game at the Target Center on Sunday, March 10, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minn. | Lily Smith/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

Clark added, "I wanted to go there, like it’s seven hours driving distance, but then something was just telling me that was just not the right place for me. And I loved the idea of going to a school that obviously had been to the Final Four in 1992 or 1993,”..." I liked the idea of staying home and liked trying to take a place that meant a lot to me, and like the state of Iowa to somewhere they hadn’t been in a really long time.”

What Would Have Happened for Notre Dame?

Clark played at Iowa from the 2020-21 to 2023-24 seasons, leading the Hawkeyes to back-to-back national championship game appearances.

Clark averaged 26.6 points per game her freshman year at Iowa, making a splash right away. That was Niele Ivey's first year as Notre Dame's head coach, as the Irish went just 10-10 overall.

Considering no guards averaged more than 11.4 points per game for Notre Dame that year, it's safe to assume Clark's offense would have helped the Irish. If everything went swimmingly, perhaps Clark would have been the difference in a few games that could have made Notre Dame a tournament team.

Niele Ivey after winning the ACC Tournament with Notre Dame in 202 — Mar 10, 2024; Greensboro, NC, USA; Commissioner of the ACC Jim Phillips (left) hands the champions trophy to Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Niele Ivey after defeating the NC State Wolfpack at Greensboro Coliseum. | David Yeazell-Imagn Images

The next three years, as Clark rose to be the biggest star in the game, Notre Dame took a step as well. Although it wasn't playing for national championships like Iowa, it did make three straight Sweet 16s in the springs of 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Add in Clark to those Notre Dame teams, and you're talking a minimum of being a Final Four regular for three seasons, if not having another banner or two for national championships, seeing as the best player in the sport.

What Would Have Happened with Caitlin Clark?

As she did at Iowa, Clark would have starred at any school she attended.

Had it been Notre Dame, though, I would have trouble believing the hysteria that came with her talents, would have been the same.

That might sound absurd, but for Notre Dame fans, perhaps its best to think of it with a former Fighting Irish football star.

Part of the reason Manti Te'o says he ultimately chose Notre Dame over USC because he could build something new with the Irish, as that was already very much the case with the rival Trojans at the time.

Te'o could have averaged a slew of tackles, had a bunch of interceptions, and big plays at USC, but if it came for a team that had been winning big for the entire decade previous, would it have been felt nationally the same?

That's how I look at Clark with what could have been at Notre Dame. The team glory would have almost certainly been there and I don't want to pretend there isn't value in that, because that's ultimately why you play team sports, right?

However, Clark doing what she did at Notre Dame would have been a lot like what Paige Bueckers did at UConn. Yes, Bueckers was still an all-time talent, but when you do it at a place that a nation is used to winning big regularly, the impact isn't as grand.

Clark taking down the likes of UConn, South Carolina, and LSU during tournament runs at Iowa wouldn't have felt the same if Iowa was seen then in women's basketball as it is now.

Iowa helped build the Clark phenomenon more than a program like UConn, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Notre Dame would have been able to do, national championships or not.

Add us as a preferred source on Google