Former WNBA superstar doubles down on Caitlin Clark’s bold women’s college basketball claim

By Miguel de Guzman

Modified Dec 19, 2024 02:14 GMT

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To say that Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark's game translated well from college to the professional league would be an understatement. However, she also had to make some adjustments for her game to fit in with the pros, as she said in her interview with Time.

Clark's statements on the difference between college and the pros caught the attention of four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird. Clark's comments were acknowledged by Bird on Wednesday's episode of the "A Touch More" podcast which she co-hosts with her partner Megan Rapinoe.

Bird quoted Clark saying that she was guarded differently in college, how there were barely any adjustments made to contain her which of course changed once she was in the WNBA.

"When I read this, it brought me back to something I said," Bird said, before allowing Rapinoe to finish her statement for her. "What I said was, what? Because I love saying it. 'College basketball is not a reliable evaluator of talent.'" (30:56-31:12)

Bird went on to name a specific moment during the NCAA Tournament when Hailey Van Lith went under screens, which allowed Clark to get open for 3-pointers. She also pointed out how professional players questioned the scouting that was done on Clark for that game.

"And so, for all of us, it was like a side-eye of like, or not really a side-eye, more of like an inquisitive eye around what does this mean?" Bird continued. "Because it’s hard to gauge or to know. So, to have Caitlin kind of acknowledge that, I think it’s really just her now understanding the pro game versus the college game."

The difference in how Caitlin Clark was being guarded was perhaps most evident in her debut game for the Fever. In that game against the Connecticut Sun, she turned the ball over 10 times.

Her struggles in taking care of possessions continued to plague her in her rookie season. She led the league in turnovers per game with 5.6, while the second-highest was 3.6, which belonged to Alyssa Thomas. Clark also led the league in total turnovers with 223, while the second most was Thomas' 145.

Teams didn't just hold Caitlin Clark back in the turnover department. In her first year in the WNBA, she was held to single-digit scoring five times in 40 regular season games.

The number of times she failed to score 10 or more in college only happened once in 139 games. That was in her freshman year at Iowa against Northwestern, where she only dropped eight.

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What did Caitlin Clark say about the difference between college and the WNBA in her interview with Time?

In her interview with Time published on Dec. 10, Caitlin Clark talked about the difference between college players and coaches to those who are in the WNBA.

According to Clark, the players and the coaches she has competed against since coming to the league have displayed better IQ.

"Professional players and professional coaches – this is no disrespect to college women's basketball –are a lot smarter," Clark said. "I love women's college basketball. But if you go back and watch the way people guarded me in college, it's almost, like, concerning.

"They didn’t double me, they didn't trap me, they weren't physical. And it’s hard. It’s college. A lot of those women will never go on to play another basketball game in their life. They don't have the IQ of understanding how the game works. So, I completely understand it. And it's no disrespect at all. They don’t have the IQ. You have to simplify it for girls at that age."

Caitlin Clark was interviewed by Time as she was named its 2024 Athlete of the Year. This year, she was taken first in the WNBA draft, won the Rookie of the Year award, was named to her first All-Star team and made the All-WNBA first team.