Caitlin Clark Was Ratings Star Before Iconic Angel Reese National Championship Taunt

Caitlin Clark's massive popularity can be traced back to her early years at Iowa, before the moment that helped elevate women's basketball to a whole new level.

Iowa women’s basketball’s Caitlin Clark shows off her rings during a second quarter timeout during Iowa football’s game against Northwestern Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Many have pointed to the moment when Angel Reese taunted Caitlin Clark in the midst of LSU's 2023 National Championship victory over Iowa as the most significant occurrence in women's basketball history. And they very well may be correct.

Angel Reese taunts Caitlin Clark 👀

pic.twitter.com/9uTn13OF0u

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 2, 2023

That contest garnered 9.9 million viewers and created endless talking points.

The next year, Clark and Iowa's game against South Carolina in the championship exploded to 19 million viewers. Which made it the most viewed women's college basketball game ever and saw it beat the men's final by four million viewers.

This momentum continued into the 2024 WNBA Draft, one that was watched by more than 300% more people than the year prior. Obviously that didn't stop during a WNBA season that saw Clark and the Indiana Fever break all sorts of records and Reese become a star in her own right.

So it's not wrong to attach significance to the iconic taunt. However, it would be incorrect to identify it as the origin of the Clark phenomenon.

A recent piece from The Athletic by Andrew Marchand and Scott Dochterman helps to illuminate that fact. The article goes in depth about the history of women's basketball on television and credits the pioneers of the game like Cheryl Miller, Rebecca Lobo and Maya Moore. But it also contains a ratings anecdote that helps crystalize how Clark was a breakout star from jump.

Before Caitlin Clark turbocharged the awareness and popularity of women’s basketball, a foundation had to be built.@AndrewMarchand and @ScottDochterman explore the visionaries — and the players — that preceded Clark and contributed to her phenomenon.

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) November 4, 2024

The article notes that Clark's games as a freshman outdrew others aired on the Big Ten Network by about 30%. That jumped to 98% in her sophomore season. Those numbers adding context to what was already apparent by how viral her Iowa highlights had become even before the showdown with LSU.

Oh... my... goodness. @CaitlinClark22 #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/GWkkay66hc

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 7, 2022

Meaning that though the moment between Clark and Reese was surely the beginning of the narratives surrounding soon to be rookie sensations, it was clearly not the start of the "Caitlin Clark Effect".