Obviously, Caitlin Clark is very, very good. First ever 40-point triple double in NCAA tournament history. First player to have two consecutive 30-point triple doubles. She's a threat on all angles. She can create off the dribble as well as anyone I've seen. You can't even say "well, a team just has to stop one person", because she's a fantastic passer as well. And on top of that, she's got a bit of menace to her which I love. She's just a ton of a fun to watch play ball. Her performance against the #1 seeded South Carolina was a tour de force.
The Iowa/South Carolina match was a fantastic game of basketball. Indeed, my only sour note about it is the degree to which the post-game coverage has emphasized it as (in the New York Times' words) "the upset of all upsets", something that nobody saw coming, an impossibility made real. No, it wasn't. To be sure -- it absolutely was an upset. South Carolina was the favorite, and deservedly so, given its absolute dominance on the court this year. But going into the game, South Carolina's victory was not treated as a foreordained conclusion, precisely because Caitlin Clark would be on the floor. To the contrary, the game was promoted -- correctly -- as must-see TV, a "clash of the titans" pitting the tournament's clear best team against the tournament's clear best player. This was not Purdue/Farleigh Dickinson, where nobody outside the FDU locker room could have possibly seen the upset coming. This was seen as a very competitive matchup precisely because everyone knew Caitlin Clark really was that good. And she proved that yes, she was that good.
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