Caitlin Clark impact summed up by Lisa Bluder as WNBA playoff agony hits

Caitlin Clark’s impact on women’s basketball could be felt long before the Indiana Fever rookie ever stepped foot onto a WNBA court.

On Wednesday, the Fever suffered an early exit from the playoffs after losing to the Connecticut Sun , 87-81, at Mohegan Sun Arena. Clark did all she could to stave off elimination in the win-or-go-home Game 2 of the first round - leading her team with 25 points and nine assists in 40 minutes played - but the dominant showing ultimately wasn’t enough to see another day.

Despite the disappointing finish to the season, Clark still has much to be proud of when looking back on her historic rookie campaign. She broke the WNBA record for most assists in a single season with 337, while additionally scoring the most points ever by a rookie (769).

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Thanks to her incredible feats, Clark earned a fourth-place finish in the league’s MVP rankings with 130 points, securing six third-place votes, 26 fourth-place votes and 22 fifth-place votes. She additionally unanimously won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award and was named to the All-WNBA First Team and All-Rookie Team.

Clark’s influence wasn’t just restricted to the court this year, either. According to the News & Observer , she and the Fever broke the single-season record for average attendance (17,036) and total attendance (340,715) while also smashing a plethora of ratings in ratings and merchandise sales.

For much of her career both at the professional and collegiate level, Clark’s games have been deemed must-watch television. The star guard first burst onto the national scene at Iowa , and didn’t take long to make herself a household name.

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Several weeks after Clark cemented herself as one of the greatest college athletes to ever grace the court by surpassing LSU’s “Pistol” Pete Maravich as the leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball history, then-Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder commended her for the positive effect she has on the program.

“I think she's had a huge impact, not only for fan support - I mean we sold out very quickly every single game and everywhere we go - but also with recruiting,” Bluder said back in March. “Just with the added TV exposure, you're on TV and recruits can see you so that's a good thing and they like what Iowa is all about, they like the fan support, they like the community.

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“We play a fun brand of basketball, we lead the country in scoring, assists, and field goal percentage so that's a fun style.”

Despite several veteran players suggesting that Clark would struggle through a transition period upon entering the WNBA, the 22-year-old almost immediately took the league by storm. Over 40 games started in the regular season for the Fever, she averaged 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game.