Caitlin Clark, the standout player of the University of Iowa basketball team, is transitioning to the next phase of her journey following a challenging defeat in the NCAA women’s final for the second consecutive year.

In Sunday’s championship match held in Cleveland, Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes suffered a 75-87 loss against the South Carolina Gamecocks, concluding Clark’s remarkable college basketball tenure.

Throughout this season, the 22-year-old native of Iowa achieved remarkable feats, notably shattering the longstanding NCAA all-time scoring record, which had remained unbroken for over half a century. Additionally, she ascended to the pinnacle as the leading scorer in NCAA women’s basketball history.
Here are three things to know about what’s ahead for Clark.

1. She’s headed to the WNBA
Clark announced earlier this year that she planned to forego her last season of college hoops to enter the WNBA draft.

“I’m just kind of ready for the next chapter and a new challenge in my life,” Clark told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts in March. “And what I’ve been able to do here has been very, very special. But I think the reason I decided to announce it when I did was just to have that closure.”

Clark, who is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, will soon know where she will spend the start of her professional basketball career.

The Indiana Fever have the first pick of the draft this year.

The 2024 WNBA draft will be held Monday, April 15, in Brooklyn, and will air on ESPN.

2. But first, she could spend the summer in Paris
Before embarking on her WNBA journey, there’s a possibility that Clark might spend her summer in Paris, participating in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
USA Basketball extended an invitation to Clark to attend the Olympic training camp held in Cleveland from April 3 to 5. However, this clashed with the NCAA women’s Final Four weekend, as reported by ESPN.

Should she be selected for Team USA, Clark could feature in either the traditional women’s U.S. Olympic 5-on-5 team or the 3×3 team, which made its debut at the 2020 Games, where the U.S. clinched gold in both categories in Tokyo.

As of now, USA Basketball has not disclosed when the final rosters will be announced. The Paris Olympics are slated to occur from July 26 to Aug. 11.

Competing for positions on Team USA are WNBA luminaries and former Olympians such as Brittney Griner, Breanna Stewart, Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray, A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Jewell Loyd, according to ESPN.

3. Expectations are high for her impact on the WNBA
The anticipation is palpable regarding her prospective influence on the WNBA. Admirers of women’s basketball are optimistic that Clark will leave a comparable mark on the professional league as she did on collegiate women’s basketball.
After Sunday’s game, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said she hopes Clark can “elevate” the sport in the WNBA.

“I think she’s the sole responsibility of our game being raised to this level of playing, as many women’s games basketball games were on national television,” Staley said of Clark. “Every time she plays, she seems to outdo herself. There’s not a lot of people that can demand and command that kind of attention, and Caitlin’s one of them.”

Staley continued, “I know her shoulders are heavy because of what she has to give to women’s basketball. I just want to say we’re thankful. We’re thankful that she chose to play basketball. We’re thankful for the way she’s handled all of it. Her next step is the WNBA — I do think she can be that person that elevates us.”

The two most recent March Madness games in which Clark played prior to Sunday’s final broke viewing records.

Iowa’s win over the University of Connecticut on Friday night averaged 14.2 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most-viewed women’s basketball game on record and the largest audience for an ESPN basketball broadcast, according to the network.

The previous women’s basketball record was 12.3 million viewers for last Monday’s Iowa vs. Louisiana State University game, according to ESPN.
As Clark broke scoring records at Iowa, ticket prices increased more than 160% for home games compared to the previous season.

Clark herself spoke about her appreciation for how interest in women’s basketball has grown over the course of her collegiate career.

“When you’re given an opportunity, women’s sports just kind of thrives,” Clark said Sunday in a post-game press conference. “I think that’s been the coolest thing for me on this journey. We started our season playing in front of 55,000 people in Kinnick Stadium, and now we’re ending it playing in front of probably 15 million people or more on TV. It just continues to get better and better and better. That’s never going to stop.”