Iowa to retire Caitlin Clark's #22
There have been some very good players who wore the number 22 in the Lisa Bluder era at the University of Iowa. But, there will be never be another one to put on that number moving forward.
After re-writing the record book at the University of Iowa and in the sport of college basketball, Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz announced on Wednesday evening at celebration for the basketball team that they would be retiring the #22 that has been worn by Caitlin Clark.
With this move, Iowa will now have retired a grand total of three numbers in the history of the women’s basketball program. Clark will join Michelle Edwards and Megan Gustafason as players who have had their number taken out of circulation.
Yesterday, Clark was named as the winner of the Wooden Award for the second straight season. That is given annually to the top player in all of women’s college basketball. She is the most dominant player in women’s college basketball recently led the Hawkeyes to their second straight National Championship and finished the season leading the nation in assists (8.9 assists per game) and in scoring (31.6 points per game). She became the first player to finish No. 1 in both categories in back-to-back seasons. Clark owns a career 3,900+ points and she recently became the first Division-I player to record 1,000+ points in back-to-back seasons. She is also the only player in NCAA DI men’s or women’s basketball history to lead her conference in scoring and assists in four consecutive seasons.
2023-24 AWARDS
– Wooden Award
– Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year
– Ann Meyers Drysdale Award
– Honda Sport Award
– Wade Trophy
– Associated Press National Player of the Year
– Naismith National Player of the Year
– USA Today National Player of the Year
– ESPN.com National Player of the Year
– The Athletic National Player of the Year
– Sporting News National Player of the Year
– AP, USBWA, USA Today First Team All-America
– Big Ten Player of the Year
– First Team All-Big Ten
Nearly all of those awards were also won by Clark last season in her junior year, when she also led Iowa to the national title game.
