Caitlin Clark Fires Back At Dawn Staley’s Criticism Of Her

Iowa star Caitlin Clark is the biggest name in college basketball right now. Not women’s college basketball, mind you – all of college basketball.

There is a reason her butt holder is going for an obscene amount of money on the open market right now.

Understandably, many have taken to calling Clark the GOAT.

That said, some of Clark’s critics believe that in order to qualify for that distinction she must win a National Championship.

Last week, Breanna Stewart made the case that Clark needed to win a title in order to be considered a GOAT in the sport.

“Does Caitlin Clark need a championship to be considered one of the greats in women’s college basketball history?” – @NicoleAuerbach

“Yeah. She does.” – @breannastewart

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South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley jumped on that bandwagon this week.

“Yeah, I was really good in college but never won a championship. You gotta win a championship,” Staley said.

“You’ve got to win a championship. That’s me, personally. Like, I had a great career. But it’s always, did you win a championship?

“Went to the Final Four three times. We never won. I do think – I agree with Stewie when it comes to winning the championship. We’re going to talk about GOATs, I think she’s the GOAT, to be able to win four National Championships and to be MVP. I think she was MVP all four times.

“If Caitlin wins the championship, she’s pretty damn good, yeah, like, she’s a GOAT. I mean, she’s really damn good regardless. But winning the championship would seal the deal.”

Clark responded to Staley this week ahead of Iowa’s looming National Championship Game showdown.

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“I’ve played basketball at this university for four years, and for it to come down to two Games and that be whether or not I’m proud of myself and proud of the way I’ve carried myself and proud of the way I’ve impacted people in their lives, I don’t think that’s a fair assessment,” she told reporters on Saturday.

“I don’t want my legacy to be, ‘Oh, Caitlin won X amount of Games,’ or ‘Caitlin scored X amount of points.’ I hope it’s what I was able to do for the Game of women’s basketball.

“I hope it is the young boys and young girls that are inspired to play this sport or dream to do whatever they want to do in their lives. For it to come down to 40 minutes and for me to validate myself within 40 minutes, I don’t think that’s a fair assessment.”

Will Clark be able to shut all her haters up for good? An answer one way or the other is coming this weekend.

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