ESPN’s Andraya Carter: If Caitlin Clark, Iowa win the NCAA Tournament, she’s the GOAT

Caitlin Clark is the leading scorer in the history of NCAA basketball, but does that make her the GOAT?

If you were to ask ESPN analyst Andraya Carter, Clark has one final accomplishment to add to her résumé: An NCAA Women’s National Championship. Factor that in with the records Clark has broken in her time in Iowa City and it wouldn’t be a debate, Carter said on Friday’s “Get Up.”

“People are going to give me a hard time for this and that’s fine. But if Caitlin Clark wins the national championship this season, she is the GOAT of college basketball. The greatest of all time. There are multiple reasons why,” Carter said. “The first one, are the records she’s broken on the men’s and women’s side. Caitlin Clark would be the first player ever to lead the country in not just scoring — people want to say she’s the greatest scorer of all-time and that’s true but scoring and assists. She’s the only player to reach 3,000 points and 1,000 assists. No player has ever done that before. So, there are things she’s done that no player on the men’s or women’s side has ever done.

“To me, I know players have won multiple national championships. Breanna Stewart won four. Maya Moore was my favorite player, I had newspaper clippings of her. Every time I see her, or I talk to her, I get butterflies because I still get that excited. But Caitlin Clark, if she wins one, she’s the GOAT. To win multiple, that’s a representation of a program. To win one, that’s a representation of a player. If Caitlin wins one, along with the records she has on the men’s and women’s side, and the teams she would potentially have to take down to get it, she’s the GOAT.”

Caitlin Clark, Iowa chasing first NCAA Women’s National Championship

Clark, who had already earned the title as the best player in the nation, has outdone herself in her senior season with the Hawkeyes. In 33 games, she has posted averages of 31.9 points, 8.9 assists and 7.3 rebounds per game. Clark is shooting 46% from the field and 38.1% from behind the arc.

With a pair of made free throw attempts against Ohio State in the regular season finale earlier this month, Clark passed “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s 3,667 career points scored at LSU to sit atop the Division I college basketball all-time scoring list. Maravich’s mark stood for more than 50 years before Clark broke the record.

One year removed from falling to LSU in the NCAA Women’s National Championship Game, Iowa looks primed to make another run at glory, with Clark once again leading the way. Iowa (29-4), the Big Ten champions, earned the No. 1 seed in the Albany 2 region, set to face No. 16 seed Holy Cross (21-12) on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.