gettyimages-2073856146-1-1.jpg
Getty Images

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Records were made to be broken, and Caitlin Clark was made to break records.  

Clark has been the toast of the sports world throughout the 2023-24 season. For much of the season, it's felt like scoring records were being rewritten every game. But the truth wasn't that far off. Clark set three different scoring records in the span of 15 days. 

Before a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena, she surpassed Washington legend Kelsey Plum's 3,527 career points to become the NCAA women's Division I scoring leader. That was Feb. 16. 12 nights later, Clark eclipsed Naismith Hall of Famer and Kansas standout Lynette Woodard as the all-time scoring leader in women's college basketball. And then, four nights later, Clark topped LSU legend Pete Maravich's 3,667 career points to become the NCAA's all-time leading scorer.

What is also true is she's not alone. 

The future is now

USC freshman guard JuJu Watkins broke multiple program records held by Cheryl Miller, and Hannah Hidalgo is the all-time leader in points and steals for Notre Dame, claiming those titles from Skylar Diggins-Smith. Syracuse guard Dyaisha Fair surpassed names like Maya Moore, Brittney Griner, and most recently Jackie Stiles for sole possession of third on NCAA women's basketball's all-time scoring list. 

And in this way, Clark and elite stars like Watkins and Fair are doing something important but too often overlooked as we see historic viewership and attendance numbers in women's college basketball. They are honoring the past by surpassing the best players the women's game has ever seen -- or, in the case of Clark and Moore, nearly eclipsing the best the game has ever seen. 

Coaches and players from other teams have taken notice. 

"Here's the thing: Those are forgotten names, and they're only brought up because there's a record that was being broken," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told CBS Sports. 

Clark and Watkins -- who, according to some projection models, could even pass the Iowa star -- are already entering debates as a viable option for greatest women's college player of all time. Those two alongside LSU's Angel Reese, Stanford's Cameron Brink, UConn's Paige Bueckers and South Carolina's MiLaysia Fulwiley are gateway players for the masses of sports fans who might not have followed women's college basketball until now. 

"I have been around a long time, since I was 23 years of age," said Kim Mulkey, LSU's coach and a 1981 AIAW championship-winning player with Louisiana Tech. "I don't know that I've seen anything like now, and I keep asking myself why."

Staley herself was less shy with what she views as the problem. 

"I've said it before, that it's been intentional to hold women's basketball back," Staley said. Part of that includes not archiving stories of women's basketball pioneers through creative storytelling, she believes. 

"We haven't done a great job historically producing documentaries on the history of women's basketball," Staley said. "We have to do a better job. This day and age will be documented and told a million times, and I hope when that's being told that we pull from the legends, the people that have -- we're standing on their shoulders because of what they've done, and what they've done shouldn't be forgotten."

As Clark approached Woodard's record of 3,649 career points, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder made a call to the Hall of Fame player herself to see if she would attend the Hawkeyes' Senior Night. 

"I just don't want the history of our game to be forgotten, and Lynette is a huge part of the history of our game," Bluder told CBS Sports. "She's the leading scorer, and I just wanted her to be there in the arena to show her the appreciation that we all have for her.

"She laid the groundwork for what we're experiencing now. That's why it was important to me to have her there. All the great women that were a part of our game, there's been so many of them and we don't talk about them anymore, and I think it's really sad."

The basketball divide

In addition to Staley's theory, Hidalgo offered insights from her childhood. On Thursday, while chatting with media in the locker room, the ACC Player of the Year admitted she didn't get serious about watching women's basketball until Aari McDonald led Arizona on a magical run to the 2021 NCAA championship game. 

McDonald is a smaller guard like the 5-foot-6 Hidalgo, who relished having a role model that would help her pattern her game. But what kept Hidalgo, a freshman from a basketball family in position to be recruited to top college programs, no less, from watching women's basketball before 2021?

"I remember being in the fifth grade and kind of hearing people kind of talk down on women's basketball. I was like, 'I don't know if I really want to do this,'" Hidalgo said. "That was my first early memories of women's basketball, seeing how much hate it was getting."

Hidalgo's family of hoopers kept her involved in the game and away from the corner of fans with extra energy to hate on the women's game. Her father coached and her mother refereed the game in their hometown of Merchantville, N.J. 

Times have changed, however, and it starts in Iowa City, Iowa. 

This season has seen record attendance numbers for Iowa, as well as record viewership across the board. USA Today reported that teams hosting Iowa in 2023-24 saw an attendance bump of 150% compared to home games against other opponents. A decent part of those crowd, Clark believes, are traveling Hawkeyes fans. 

"When you get to go on the road, it kind of takes you back to see how many Iowa fans there are across the country, and that's kind of been the biggest thing for us all year," Clark told CBS Sports. "No matter where we've been able to go, whether it was on the East Coast, whether it was Nebraska, anywhere, we had great crowds." 

Among the crowd are young players seeing Clark and other women's college basketball stars of today working hard, being competitive and elevating the valuation of the game. Clark and the overwhelming majority of women's athletes are notoriously generous with her time, especially for young fans. 

"It's not anything you ever take for granted, and it definitely helps," Clark said. "It adds a little motivation, adds a little boost, and they rally around you whether you're on offense or defense. It's super special." 

As important as it is for Clark to be a role model, so too has it been to have former players like Woodard or Moore show up for her.  "As I've been able to break whatever record it is, it's been cool to have people that I've idolized and who I've aspired to be in my life reach out and congratulate me," Clark said. 

When the time comes -- whether it's the second-leading scorer in the nation in Watkins, the rising Notre Dame star Hidalgo, or a player who's not even in the NCAA yet -- Clark knows her record will not last forever. 

"Somebody is going to come along and break my records, and that's exactly how it should be," Clark said. "That's kind of the point of a record. Other people chase them down and break them. And also, our game is evolving so much and there's so much talent, there's so much parity. That's why people want to watch." 

When the time comes, Clark has every intention of paying forward all the love she's received at Iowa. 

"I'm just forever grateful, and the next person that comes along to break mine, I'll be right there supporting them," Clark said. "And hopefully I can see it in person."