Caitlin Clark Details Why She Chose Iowa Over Notre Dame for College Basketball Home
Caitlin Clark hit on a myriad of topics during her much discussed appearance on New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce.
Clark discussed her life changing year that was, challenges she faced in her WNBA rookie season, and even weighed in on the state of NBA ratings.
But Clark also went back to her college days in her discussion with the Kelce brothers. She explained what it was like to receive recruitment letters all the way back in seventh grade, and eventually detailed why she chose to make Iowa and not Notre Dame her college basketball home.
Jason Kelce asked Caitlin how she ended up at Iowa, referencing that she almost wound up at Notre Dame.
"I basically narrowed it down pretty early on when I was going through my college recruitment that I wanted to be like in the midwest, just kind of a homebody. Family person. Just wanted to stay fairly close to home. So that narrowed a lot of stuff down," Clark responded.
Clark added that she visited Notre Dame a bunch of times and loved the school. She even talked about her affinity for the Irish as a youngster.
"As a kid, you want to go to Notre Dame. It's the same with Notre Dame football. It's the coolest thing in the world. It's Notre Dame, it has that tradition and they've had so many great players go through there in every single sport."
However, the eventual Iowa star elaborated that she could feel it in her gut that she wasn't supposed to go to Notre Dame. Which ultimately led to her explaining why she became a Hawkeye instead. With an emphasis on being a part of building something up.
"So I picked Iowa. Iowa was really good at women's basketball before I went there too. Made a few Sweet Sixteens. Made the Elite Eight...but they hadn't been to the Final Four since like 1992. I wanted to go somewhere that was good but maybe hadn't been like a blue blood for say in quite a few years, and kind of help them get back to that."
The location relative to where she grew up didn't hinder her decision either. "It was obviously my home state too. Two hours from where I grew up. Perfect distance where like your parents can't show up but also like you can go home if you wanted to."
Clark continued, "It just kind of all worked out perfect...obviously I made an okay decision. And it worked out pretty well."
caitlin talking about how she made the choice to choose iowa over notre dame, thank god she did! 💛🤍🖤 pic.twitter.com/B0Z7eIFMR0
— #22caitlinthegoat (@ccthegoat22) January 2, 2025
Clark may be underselling that last part. Because not only did she go on to become the NCAA's all-time leading scorer while at Iowa, but she endeared herself to basketball fans across the country in the process. Which clearly carried over to her rookie season in the WNBA with the Indiana Fever.
Robin Lundberg is a media veteran and hoops head who has spent the bulk of his career with iconic brands like Sports Illustrated and ESPN. His insights have also been featured on platforms such as Fox and CNN and he can currently be heard hosting shows for Sirius XM and on his burgeoning YouTube show. And now he brings his basketball expertise to Women's Fastbreak on SI!