LeBron James and Caitlin Clark

LeBron James dismissed Caitlin Clark’s critics as she delivered an outstanding performance in the first quarter of Sunday’s NCAA national championship game, scoring an impressive 18 points and giving Iowa an early lead against the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks.

However, Clark’s red-hot start cooled considerably in the second quarter, where she made just one of her six shots. This slowdown allowed the Gamecocks to surge ahead and maintain their lead until the final buzzer.

With a final score of 87-75, South Carolina secured its third national title in seven tournaments and its second in three seasons, finishing the season with a flawless 38-0 record, making them the 10th women’s Division I program to complete a perfect season. The last perfect season was achieved by the University of Connecticut in 2016.

“It’s awesome. It’s awesome. It’s unbelievable,” Coach Dawn Staley said in an emotional speech after the game, according to the Associated Press. “When young people lock in and have a belief, and have a trust, and their parents have that same trust, this is what can happen. They made history. They etched their names in the history books.”

Despite Iowa’s disappointing finish, with Clark falling short of securing the championship for the second consecutive year after last year’s defeat by Louisiana State University, she concluded her historic collegiate career on a high note, scoring 30 points. As the two-time national player of the year, Clark is expected to be the top pick in the upcoming WNBA draft.

Clark’s remarkable 18-point start set a new record for the most points in a quarter by a single player in championship game history. This achievement adds to the numerous other records she has broken this season, including the record for the most three-point shots made in a single season, previously held by Steph Curry.

In early March, Clark surpassed 3,685 career points in a game against Ohio State, becoming the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer in college basketball, earning recognition from both LeBron James and President Joe Biden, who praised her for making her school proud.

Throughout the season, LeBron James has consistently praised Caitlin Clark, including a recent acknowledgment where he recognized her as one of the women’s basketball “icons,” alongside standout players such as LSU’s Angel Reese and UConn’s Paige Bueckers.

In recent days, both LSU and UConn experienced defeats against Clark and her team. Notably, the Hawkeyes’ Final Four matchup against the Huskies resulted in a thrilling 71-69 victory, setting new records for the most-viewed women’s basketball game and the largest viewership for an ESPN basketball broadcast, as reported by the network.

Throughout the season, James has consistently praised Clark, considering her as one of the women’s game “icons,” alongside other stars like LSU’s Angel Reese and UConn’s Paige Bueckers.

Despite previous comments from South Carolina’s coach, Dawn Staley, suggesting Clark needed a championship title to be considered the “Greatest of All Time” (GOAT), Clark expressed during a news conference that she believes her legacy should be about her impact on women’s basketball rather than simply points scored or games won.

“You are going to look 10 years back and you are going to see all the records that she has broken, points and stuff like that, but anybody knows your goal when you play college basketball is to win a national championship,” Staley told Sirius XM, according to ESPN. “So you need one.”

But Clark said at a news conference that she didn’t think that was “a fair assessment,” and that she wanted her legacy to be about her impact on the game of women’s basketball, rather than points scored or games won.

“When you’re in the spotlight like this there’s gonna be a million different opinions on you,” she said later. “And for as many people that are going to love you, there’s going to be people that don’t like you. That’s the case with every professional athlete, men or women, playing at the highest stage.

“And I think what I’ve been able to do over the course of my career is just focus on the opinions of the people inside our locker room. That’s what I really care about. The people that I love to death. The people that have had my back every single second of my career.”

Staley, acknowledging Clark from the victory podium on Sunday, seemed to have reversed her stance on the GOAT debate, recognizing Clark’s significant contributions to the sport.

“I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport,” the coach said. “She carried a heavy load for our sport… She’s gonna lift [the WNBA] up… You are one of the GOATs of our game and we appreciate you.”