Breanna Stewart: What Caitlin Clark must do to be all-time great

Caitlin Clark. Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

Breanna Stewart: Caitlin Clark must still do this to be all-time great

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 4/5/24

Some basketball fans believe that Caitlin Clark's legacy is on the line at the 2024 Final Four.

As the Iowa Hawkeyes guard prepares for her team's national semifinal matchup against UConn on Friday night, one former member of the Huskies entered the debate.

Four-time national champion and current New York Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart said that she feels Clark will need to win a championship in order to be considered one of the greatest players in women's college basketball history.

"Yeah. She does. I think so," Stewart said in a Sirius XM interview with Nicole Auerbach. "Because you're going to look 10 years back and you're going to see all the records she's broken and the points and stuff like that, but anybody knows, your goal when you play college basketball is to win a national championship. So, you need one."

"Does Caitlin Clark need a championship to be considered one of the greats in women's college basketball history?" - @NicoleAuerbach

"Yeah. She does." - @breannastewart

Live @WFinalFour Coverage: https://t.co/nV1komI7dD pic.twitter.com/ZkfXGfudRH
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) April 5, 2024

It's ironic not only that UConn is one of the two final steps between Clark and a national title, but it was recently revealed that Huskies longtime head coach Geno Auriemma didn't recruit No. 22 to come play for his program.

According to ESPN rankings, Clark was the No. 4 recruit in a stacked 2020 class, paced by Huskies stud guard Paige Bueckers. The second-ranked recruit was LSU star Angel Reese, No. 3 was Stanford big Cameron Brink and fifth was South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso, who initially chose Syracuse.

While other college coaches reached out to Clark, the reigning two-time AP Player of the Year stayed local and joined head coach Lisa Bluder's program.

The UConn women have won 11 national titles (all under Auriemma), including four straight during "Stewie's" college days from 2012-16. The Huskies haven't won a championship since Stewart left campus, though.

Connecticut lost in four straight Final Fours from 2016-2021 (the Covid-19 pandemic led to the 2020 tournament being canceled). Then the Huskies fell in the championship in 2022 and exited in the Sweet 16 in 2023.

Iowa is playing in just its third-ever Final Four, but second in a row under the leadership of Clark.

The Hawkeyes have increased their win total in each of her four seasons with the club, going 33-4 to earn a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance this spring.

Clark has only faced UConn twice in her career, falling to the Huskies in the regional semifinals in 2021 and then again in a regular-season contest on Nov. 27, 2022.

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