The Indiana Fever have felt the ‘Caitlin Clark’ effect firsthand, with ticket prices experiencing a 140% hike for away games, per a May 2025 report by WCNC. She has become the uncontested face of the WNBA since she was drafted first overall in 2024. But University of Connecticut women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma believes that while the Fever guard is not the greatest player of all time, her popularity can be equated to perfect timing. He addressed this phenomenon on the Mad Dog Radio podcast when host Jared Stillman asked him about what made Clark boom.
“Again, timing in life is everything, right? Being there and being there, being present, and being good enough at the perfect time – that’s usually the recipe for success.”
Auriemma also made an interesting comparison on the Mad Dog Radio podcast between Clark and Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers, who was the first overall pick in 2025, in order to explain his stance on Clark’s timing as a player.
“Caitlin and Paige were both freshmen the same year. They both came out of high school the same year…and Paige won every single award there is to win. First freshman ever in history to win every award. And if you were to say, hey, who’s the face of women’s basketball? You would say, oh, Paige Bueckers. No one mentioned Caitlin Clark as a freshman. And through circumstances, Paige didn’t play. She missed a whole year.”
Bueckers missed the entire 2022-23 college basketball season due to an injury in her left knee – a torn anterior cruciate ligament. This is around the same time that Caitlin Clark blew up as one of the finest players in women’s college basketball. She averaged her then-highest 27.8 points per game, shooting with 47.3% accuracy from the field. Auriemma seems to imply that Bueckers’ absence, in addition to Clark’s unquestionable skills, led to the Fever guard becoming the face of women’s basketball across America.
Clark entered the WNBA as a force to be reckoned with. Her very first game for the Fever saw her record a team-high 20 points against the Connecticut Sun. Her smart playmaking and prolific scoring earned her the WNBA Rookie of the Year award in 2024, as well as All-WNBA First Team honors. She was doing things no other player was doing at the time in the W, as Auriemma adds.
“Caitlin decides to start making shots from the logo, and the place erupts, and it becomes a phenomenon, not because she all of a sudden is a better player than anybody who’s ever played, because, like you mentioned, there have been many great players come along, but she was doing something that no one had done before. She was making shots that people in their right mind wouldn’t even take, much less make.”
Caitlin Clark entered the W as one of the most hyped drafts in recent memory, with a historic college career at the University of Iowa. She is the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer with 3,951 points to her name, and holds the NCAA Division I women’s record for the most career 3-pointers with 548. She lived up to her hype, averaging 19.2 points with 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists across 40 regular-season games in her rookie season.
Auriemma’s opinion should be taken with a pinch of salt, as Caitlin Clark played for the Iowa Hawkeyes, a competitor to Auriemma’s UConn Huskies on the national stage. Bueckers, on the other hand, played at UConn under Auriemma.
Regardless of past records, the Fever and the Wings are both currently in the running for the 2026 WNBA playoffs, with the Fever placed fifth (21-12) while the Wings stand seventh (20-14). Fans will be eager to see Bueckers face Clark once again in the playoffs.
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