“Pick a different day!” – Caitlin Clark’s college jersey retirement clashing with A’ja Wilson’s has fans burning the internet
Iowa Hawkeyes decided to retire Caitlin Clark’s jersey on the same day South Carolina will retire A’ja Wilson’s.
Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson will have their college jersey’s retired on the same day
Caitlin Clark made her name with the Iowa Hawkeyes as one of the best women’s college basketball players ever. With those efforts the program became an elite place for top recruits to commit to. In light of those contributions, they decided to retire her No. 22 jersey in coming February.
They chose the date 2.2.25 when they will play their 22nd game of this season, making it an ode to Caitlin Clark‘s jersey number. What makes the event even more exciting is that JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans will be at the Carver–Hawkeye Arena to play against them.
Once the event was announced, tickets ballooned to over $500 for the cheapest ones, with the most expensive one’s crossing $8000. Those extreme prices though have not stopped fans from wanting to be a part of the event as tickets sold rapidly.
But what caught the attention of fans is that this will be the 2nd women’s college basketball jersey retirement ceremony of the day. The other, is when defending champions South Carolina retire the jersey of another famous No. 22, A’ja Wilson.
Her alma mater made this decision back in October, showing that the University had considered it for some time. But Iowa did not want to miss on this opportunity as they do not have another day that signifies 22.
But in this situation, it opened doors to another discourse on social media. On one hand the recent Time Magazine and Sheila Johnson debacle has opened a can of worms. On the other hand, the never-ending comparisons between the best player in the WNBA and their Rookie of the Year just received another spark.
Fans fume after Iowa create another A’ja Wilson vs Caitlin Clark discourse
For fans of women’s basketball and especially the WNBA, Sheila Johnson suggesting the WNBA should have been on the cover of Time Magazine instead of Caitlin Clark has brought back race-based discussions. Now, with Iowa seemingly hijacking A’ja Wilson’s night into celebrating their own has fans feeling this was done intentionally.
Talks of conspiracy theories and doing the Las Vegas Aces star dirty are rampant on social media. When some slammed Iowa for intentionally creating this discourse, others suggested the University does not care about the discourse. Check out examples of those below.
This discourse is only going to get some added fuel as the dates come nearer. Some feel South Carolina took too long to decide to retire A’ja Wilson’s jersey. Moreover, Iowa did not have a better opportunity to do so for Clark, but Wilson’s fans are not convinced.
