Iowa’s Caitlin Clark wins AP Player of the Year – WTOP News

DALLAS (AP) — Caitlin Clark has put collectively one of many biggest particular person seasons in NCAA historical past with eye-popping offensive numbers.

Iowa’s junior guard, although, saved her finest efficiency for the sport’s largest stage, recording the primary 40-point triple-double in NCAA historical past to get Iowa to the Closing 4 for the primary time in 30 years.

Clark was honored Thursday as The Related Press ladies’s basketball Participant of the 12 months. She acquired 20 votes from the 28-member nationwide media panel that votes on the AP Prime 25 every week. Voting was carried out earlier than March Insanity started.

“It’s an enormous honor,” Clark stated. “I picked a spot that I completely match into and that’s allowed me to indicate my talent set. I’d be mendacity if I stated it didn’t imply one thing. It’s not the explanation you play basketball, it’s simply one thing that comes together with attending to do what you’re keen on.”

The Iowa teaching employees stunned Clark by sharing that she gained the award whereas they had been visiting the Iowa Kids’s Hospital — a spot close to and pricey to her. It additionally has enormous ties to the Hawkeyes athletic department.

They put collectively a video of a number of the youngsters within the hospital congratulating Clark on an excellent season, and in the midst of it, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder popped on the display to inform her she gained.

“I’m there for uplifting the subsequent era and being there for the folks that are going via a tough time,” stated Clark, who grew up in Iowa. “With the ability to give pleasure to folks that watch you play and watch your staff play is superb.”

She averaged 27.0 factors, 8.3 assists and seven.5 rebounds throughout the season to assist Iowa go 26-6. Clark has 984 factors, the sixth-most in a season by any participant in Division I ladies’s historical past. She additionally has over 300 assists.

“She is spectacular. I don’t know the way else to explain what she does on the basketball court docket,” Bluder stated.

Subsequent up for the Hawkeyes is undefeated South Carolina within the nationwide semifinals. The Gamecocks are led by Aliyah Boston, final season’s winner of the award. She garnered the opposite eight votes this season.

“There’s so many nice gamers, extra than simply me and (Aliyah),” Clark instructed the AP. “You possibly can go on and on and record the super gamers. I feel that’s actually good for our sport when there’s loads of nice gamers. That’s what’s going to assist this sport develop greater than the rest.”

Whether or not it’s hitting deep 3s from the Hawkeye emblem at dwelling video games, hitting off-balance game-winning photographs or throwing pinpoint passes to teammates for straightforward baskets, Clark has excelled on the court docket this 12 months to get Iowa to a spot it hasn’t been in a very long time.

“It’s humorous, as a result of the higher the opponent, virtually the higher she performs,” Bluder stated. “It’s like she locks in on these, after we’re enjoying towards Prime 25 groups. That’s when her statistics even go up much more, towards nice opponents.”

Clark is the second Iowa participant to win the AP award prior to now few seasons, becoming a member of Megan Gustafson who gained it in 2019.

___

AP March Insanity protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Copyright
© 2023 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, written or redistributed.