If Caitlin Clark’s Iowa team went the distance, could the women’s final outdraw…. “No way,” he said. Three weeks later, the early numbers came in: The women’s final had outdrawn the men’s by 4 million.

Caitlin Clark raised the profile of women’s basketball to unprecedented levels in both the college ranks and the WNBA, and Tuesday she was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year for her impact on and off the court.

Clark is the fourth women's basketball player to win the award since its inception in 1931. She joins Sheryl Swoopes (1993), Rebecca Lobo (1995) and Candace Parker (2008, 2021) as other basketball stars to receive the honor.