It certainly was not unexpected or unusual to notice a number of celebrities – basketball and otherwise – sprinkled among the capacity crowd at the 2023 NCAA Women’s Final Four. First Lady Jill Biden and First Lady of Tennis Billie Jean King made the trip to Dallas for the title game. Such legends of the game as Dirk Nowitzki, A’ja Wilson, Pau Gasol and Sheryl Swoopes were in attendance. What made this occasion extraordinary, though, this game between LSU and Iowa, was that two of those who attended in uniform and helped decide the championship ranked among the most famous people in the building.
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark and LSU forward Angel Reese are stars. Clark has been featured in a national television commercial along with “Jake from State Farm,” the kind of prominence usually accorded Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes and NBA All-Star Chris Paul. Reese has been featured in a photo shoot and article in Teen Vogue and in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.
On the court, should Clark stay healthy and continue producing at her current, astronomical rate, she will become the leading career scorer in Division I women’s history, passing Kelsey Plum of Washington sometime in late February. Under the same conditions, she figures to rank no…
