Former Iowa star Caitlin Clark gets a shoutout from Cavinder twins Haley and Hannah: ”Everyone will miss her”
Former Iowa Hawkeyes basketball star Caitlin Clark revolutionized women's basketball and is now hoping to do the same with the WNBA. During her four years with the Hawkeyes, Clark broke the all-time point-scoring record and brought women's college basketball to a mainstream audience like the sport has never seen before.
Clark's contribution has been recognized by both past and present college basketball stars. On Outkick's Hot Mic, the Miami Hurricanes' Haley and Hanna Cavinder gave their praises to Caitlin Clark
"Caitlin Clark is a once in a lifetime player. What she has done for women's basketball, people are way more intrigued by it ... Everyone will miss her."
Caitlin Clark's role in helping to create what women's college basketball is today will never be forgotten.
Before her, the sport was seen as a massively inferior product compared to the men's game. This led to nobody wanting to watch women's basketball, which in turn made the amount of money that professional WNBA players earn a mere fraction of what their male counterparts earned.
Clark spearheaded a new way of playing basketball. Working alongside the likes of Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, the new stars of women's basketball adopted a physical style of play more akin to the men's game.
This led to more points being scored in games, with the majority of them being scored by the likes of Caitlin Clark. This culminated with Clark breaking the all-time points scoring record in college basketball.
This culminated in the women's March Madness tournament's championship game, featuring Clark in her final game for the Hawkeyes, being viewed by 4 million more people than the men's game, something that has never happened before.
However, Clark is now gone. Women's college basketball will now hope that the millions of people who were interested in the sport last year will stay engaged, even without their biggest star.
Can the Cavinder Twins add to Caitlin Clark's legacy?
Haley and Hanna Cavinder are two rising stars in women's college basketball. The twins both play for the Miami Hurricanes, but while their basketball skills brought them into the public eye, they're more known for their social media presence.
The twins have 4.5 million followers on TikTok and have taken full advantage of NIL deals. According to On3.com, each twin has an NIL value of $851,000, making them the third-highest-earning women's college basketball players.
This may be a sign of things to come, and it may be commonplace to see female basketball players with NIL deals worth $1 million in the future.
Clark made the sport more accessible and known around the country, and the Cavinder twins capitalized on this increased exposure to secure many deals with top brands. They could both be seen as pioneers to help the next generation of female players.
Do you think Caitlin Clark's point-scoring record will ever be broken?