Refereeing is not an easy job. Refereeing with Caitlin Clark in attendance — not even on the floor — is near impossible.
The former Iowa Hawkeye, back at her old stomping grounds to watch Monday’s matchup versus Drake, picked up right where she left off: badgering hopeless referees for calls of varying questionability.
Cameras picked up the star guard, now with the Indiana Fever, standing a few rows back from courtside and with a look of dismay on her face after a ref levied one such ruling against one of her former teammates.
Clark, 22, shakes her head in disbelief. Shouts something indiscernible. Raises her palms to the sky as if He, only He, could answer for this abomination of officiating.
From the video — shared on the Caitlin Clark dedicated X page aptly named “Clark Report” — it’s not entirely clear what the call against Iowa in question was. Though, surely, it was a questionable one.
After all, we’re talking about Clark — who is to referees what dog is to man.
Well, not really.
See here. Or here. Or, if not yet convinced, here.
It is not these antics that earned Clark her international reputation while playing college ball at Iowa.
She was the greatest college basketball player the Hawkeye State had ever seen and will go down as one of the greatest athletes in the history of the sport.
The antics are a part of that game. One doesn’t earn an X page charting their every move for a middling jump shot and a double-double here and there.
Ever true to form, in her rookie campaign with the Indiana Fever Clark played exactly as advertised: prolific.
The first overall selection in the 2024 WNBA draft earned numerous accolades — including Rookie of the Year honors — and set new league records in virtually every rookie category, per Clark Report.
And on Monday, she got to see her alma mater win. The school she guided to back-to-back NCAA championship games in 2023 and 2024 is 4-0 in their first season without her.