Caitlin Clark’s legacy in college basketball is solidified—even without a championship

This time around, millions more people tuned in throughout the teams’ runs to the championship. That was thanks, in large part, to a player who didn’t win yesterday: Caitlin Clark. The Iowa basketball phenom’s electric sharpshooting and star power wasn’t enough to clinch the championship, but she did change women’s basketball forever.

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Clark is expected to be No. 1 in the upcoming WNBA draft, and yesterday’s final marked the end of her decorated college career. Before the championship, she said that she hopes her legacy is bigger than points scored or games won. “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,” she said.

That legacy is already here. The Iowa-UConn semifinal was watched by 14.2 million people—a record not just for women’s college basketball, but for any basketball broadcast on ESPN. Three years ago, women’s basketball players were treated as second-class players by the NCAA with vastly inferior weight rooms—a scandal that prompted some reflection in the sport. It’s only been three years, too, since women’s basketball was even officially allowed to use the “March Madness” moniker. So the significance of 14.2 million viewers—and Clark’s role in getting those eyeballs on screens—can’t be overstated.

South Carolina coach Staley took a moment in her celebratory speech to commend Clark and her impact on the sport. “I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport,” Staley said. “She carried a heavy load for our sport. It just is not going to stop here on a collegiate tour but when she is the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, she’s going to lift that league up as well.”

Emma Hinchliffe
[email protected]

The Broadsheet is Coins2Day’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Accenture sued. Peter Lacy, the former head of sustainability at Accenture, is suing the firm for disability discrimination. Lacy, who was diagnosed with ADHD, says he was “belittled” and “shamed” by executives, including an incident in which Julie Sweet allegedly cut him off during a meeting of the company's global management committee and asked him to stop speaking. Accenture denies the claims, and Sweet denies ever publicly "shaming" Lacy. Financial Times

- Eye for entrepreneurs. Tennis star Serena Williams estimates that her venture capital firm has invested in 14 companies that individually are now worth more than $1 billion. Williams built Serena Ventures on the strategy of investing in startups with founders from underrepresented backgrounds after realizing how little venture funding goes to women and minorities. Afrotech

- Gap persists. A Reuters analysis found that 21 of the U.K.’s biggest finance firms paid women employees almost 30% less on average than their male counterparts in 2023. The difference narrowed by two percentage points from the previous year, but the gap at Goldman Sachs, the company with the biggest divide on the list, jumped to 54% from 53.2% last year. Reuters

- Remote role reversal. A University of Warsaw study reports that women who work from home are 7% less likely to receive a promotion or get a raise than in-office peers. Men who work from home are at an even bigger disadvantage; they are 15% less likely to get promoted and 10% less likely to receive a raise. Coins2Day

- Clouds for Sunshine. Enrique Munoz Torres announced he was leaving Sunshine, the app developer he founded with former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, just a week after the company launched a photo-sharing app that was panned by critics. The future of the company is now uncertain, and current and former employees blame Mayer's demand that employees rush the app’s rollout. Platformer

ON MY RADAR

The fight to restore abortion rights in TexasThe New Yorker

The ‘Michael Jordan of field hockey’ wanted to try out for the Olympics. USA Field Hockey said noThe Wall Street Journal

Women in AI: Kathi Vidal at the USPTO has been working on AI since the early 1990s TechCrunch

PARTING WORDS

“To receive an eight-figure offer, for a woman, is huge. Sometimes women don’t like to talk about that. Whereas I don’t think the guys have any issues saying they get $20 million a movie.”

— Actress Rebel Wilson onhow she leveraged being type-cast as the “fat funny girl” to earn more money