A’ja Wilson Fans May Trigger War on Caitlin Clark as Former Hawkeye Breaks Silence on Iowa Jersey Retirement

“There will never be another 22.” The Iowa women’s hoops team proudly declared this in April, just after Caitlin Clark had led them to a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Finals. In contrast, South Carolina could say the same of A’ja Wilson, except she graduated two years before CC stepped foot on her campus. Fans have found a number of things that could have made them lock horns in the WNBA but didn’t. Now their jersey retirements might finally do it.

The Iowa Women’s Basketball Instagram page in collaboration with the Hawkeyes and NCAA March Madness’ women’s hoops page just posted a clip of Clark and one of her insane three-pointers. The video then fades out to her jersey in black and yellow hanging in the rafters with the years CC played present at the bottom – 2020-2024. Then comes the date – 2.2.25, when Iowa will host JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans.

The Des Moines native said of the honor, “I’m forever proud to be a Hawkeye and Iowa holds a special place in my heart that is bigger than just basketball. It means the world to me to receive this honor and to celebrate it with my family, friends and alumni. It will be a great feeling to look up in the rafters and see my jersey alongside those that I’ve admired for so long.”

Now let’s go back to Oct. 22, 2024, when the Gamecocks announced practically the same thing – A’ja Wilson’s No. 22 jersey will also be retired on Feb. 2, 2025, when the school faces Auburn.

One ceremony will be at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena whereas the other will take place at the Colonial Life Arena. Wilson has had a statue of herself in front of the building since 2021, thanks to her leading the Gamecocks to their first national title in 2017.

The program’s first No. 1 recruit, Wilson was also a three-time Southeastern Conference player of the year and became the school’s all-time scoring leader with 2,389 points. On the other hand, Clark is the NCAA women’s basketball all-time leading scorer and also has the most points in Division I history, men’s or women’s, eclipsing Pete Maravich. She joins two other former women’s hoops players in the program who have had their jerseys hanging from the rafters – Michelle Edwards’ No. 30 in 1990 and Megan Gustafson’s No. 10 in 2020.

For the Indiana Fever guard, this news comes just after two big honors have caused a ruckus in the basketball community – being named the TIME Athlete of the Year and named to Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Influential Women. While there was no shortage of critics, Clark’s former Iowa coach Lisa Bluder stood firm in her defense.

When Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson said she didn’t agree with Caitlin Clark being named the TIME Athlete of the Year, it did not sit well with many. Johnson suggested that the entire WNBA league should have been put on the cover and named League of the Year, probably something like the US women’s soccer team in 2019, the award’s debut year.

However, to this Lisa Bluder said, “It’s silly to me that anybody’s trying to take away from something that’s so good in your sport right now. (Clark) is a person that’s really helped athletics, helped women’s sports in a way that nobody has helped women’s sports, maybe since Billie Jean King.”

BJK might be someone of an era past and long gone now, but her impact on sports is still felt to this day. Clark, who became famous in her sport even before she turned pro, might have a similar or even bigger effect if Bluder is to be believed. Well, someone who has almost single-handedly brought more fans to the sport, not to mention the charter jets, could certainly do that!