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The Indiana Fever selected University of Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark with the top overall pick of the WNBA Draft on Monday night, setting a pro stage for the game’s most transformative player.
The annual draft unfolded as a must-see TV event, thanks to Clark’s immense fame, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
“I always just believed in myself,” Clark told the packed house after being drafted. “My parents always instilled confidence in me from a young age, when I was a young girl.”
The Iowa star strolled into the hall rocking a two-piece Prada set, with a mini-skirt and jacket atop a midriff-baring sparkle tank.
“I’m excited to get there, I’m excited to get to Indianapolis,” Clark said.
Stanford’s Cameron Brink went at No. 2 to the Los Angeles Sparks.
Brink was overcome with emotion and warned fans in the hall: “I’m an ugly crier.”
She thanked her family and friends, including godmother Sonya Curry, the mother of Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry.
“It really takes a village, it’s not a one-person job,” Brink said. “I’m so blessed to have the people I have surrounding me.”
South Carolina’s 6-foot-7 post player Kamilla Cardoso went No. 3 to the Chicago Sky; Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson was the No. 4 pick by the Sparks; Ohio State’s Jacy Sheldon will join the Dallas Wings at No. 5 and Aaliyah Edwards was selected at No. 6 by the Washington Mystics.
Angel Reese of LSU, perhaps the second best-known player in college basketball, was the draft’s No. 7 pick, by Chicago where she’ll team up with long-time rival Cardoso.
“I came from Baltimore, I’m not supposed to be here,” an emotional Reese said, thanking her mother and brother for the lifetime of support.
With Clark on the roster, even casual basketball fans will be keeping a close eye on Indiana’s games.
The Fever’s first preseason game is set for May 3, against the Dallas Wings in Arlington. The team’s regular-season opener is scheduled for May 14 when Indiana visits the Connecticut Sun at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Indiana’s home opener is two days later, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, against the New York Liberty.
The Fever finished last in the WNBA’s Eastern Conference last season, winning just 13 of 40 games. But Clark’s arrival to Indianapolis, less than 400 miles away from Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena, has already made the Fever appointment TV.
The WNBA has scheduled 36 of Indiana’s 40 games to be shown on national broadcast and streaming partners. The Fever occupied that center stage 22 times last season.
Clark’s arrival in Indiana means she’ll be paired with former South Carolina star and one-time rival Aliyah Boston.
Clark famously scored 41 points in last year’s national semifinal game, leading Iowa past Boston’s then-undefeated South Carolina.
The sharp-shooting, play-making guard from Iowa just ended the most heralded career in the history of women’s college basketball.
The two-time national player of the year brought unprecedented attention to the women’s game.
She scored 30 points in the NCAA Division I championship game, ending her career with 3,951 points, more than anyone in the history of top-flight college basketball.
But it was Clark’s dynamic style of play that captured the public’s imagination and brought record attention.
In Iowa’s national semifinal victory over perennial powerhouse Connecticut, an average of 14.2 million viewers tuned into ESPN — the most for any basketball game, college or pro, on the all-sports channel.
Then two days later, more than 18.9 million viewers watched No. 1-seeded South Carolina score sweet revenge and topple Clark’s Hawkeyes.
The men’s title game a day later, when Connecticut beat Purdue, had 14.8 million viewers, Nielsen said, marking the first time the women’s final drew more watchers.
When South Carolina beat Iowa to capture the national championship, winning Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley took time in her post-game comments to thank Clark for contributions to the game.
Clark appeared on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend and scored plenty of laughs, roasting “Weekend Update” co-anchor Michael Che and his long history of jokes about women’s sports.
After the laughs, Clark ended the segment with a heartfelt thank you to pioneers of the women’s game.
“Thanks to all the great players like Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper, the great Dawn Staley and my basketball hero, Maya Moore,” Clark said.
“These are the women that kicked down the door so I could walk inside,” she continued. “So I want to thank them tonight for laying the foundation.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.