Shaquille O’Neal opinion of Caitlin Clark validated after special Iowa moment

Caitlin Clark returned to Iowa to accept rings celebrating the Hawkeyes’ 2024 Big Ten championship and their Final Four appearance in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament

Caitlin Clark received a hero’s welcome upon returning to Iowa on the heels of an incredible rookie season in the WNBA.

On Saturday, Clark came back to her alma mater to accept rings commemorating Iowa’s 2024 Big Ten championship, as well as the Hawkeyes’ Final Four appearance in this year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

During the Iowa football team’s 40-14 win over Northwestern, Clark and her former teammates from the Hawkeyes’ 2023-24 roster – including Las Vegas Aces guard Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall – were honored on the field while donning their new hardware.

Though each player on the decorated team was shown on the jumbotron, it was Clark who generated the loudest reaction. Once she was shown on the screen, Kinnick Stadium erupted into a state of pandemonium as those in attendance showered her with cheers.

The warm reception should come as no surprise, considering Clark cemented herself as one of, if not the greatest college player of all time during her time at Iowa. The 22-year-old surpassed LSU’s “Pistol” Pete Maravich as the leading scorer in NCAA Division 1 basketball history her senior year, while also propelling Iowa to three-straight conference tournament titles and back-to-back NCAA championship game appearances.

Amidst Clark’s historic collegiate career, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal went so far as to crown her the greatest of all time. “I’m gonna go on the record and say she’s the best female collegiate player ever,” he declared on ‘Inside the NBA’ back in February

More recently, O’Neal doubled down on his assertion during an appearance on Angel Reese’s “Unapologetically Angel” podcast. “She’s doing stuff we’ve never seen before,” he said. “We’ve never seen anybody do it on a consistent basis. There’s a lot of girls in the WNBA that have done it in spurts, but that game I’m watching y’all [LSU vs. Iowa] in the Final Four, I’m like ‘Damn.’

And I was a hater, because you know I went to LSU” O’Neal conceded. “I was like ‘She’s not going to hit that shot.’ And bam! She’s not going to hit that shot. Bam! If I say ‘You’re not going to hit that shot’ 10 times and you hit the shot, that means you’re the truth.”

After being selected by the Indiana Fever with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, it didn’t take long for Clark to adjust at the professional level. Earlier this month, the star guard was officially crowned ROTY by the league, receiving 66 of 67 first-place votes.

Once the dust had finally settled on her dominant first season in the WNBA, Clark finished with the most points, assists and 3-pointers by a rookie in league history. Even more impressive, she additionally set the single-game and single-season records for assists among all players with 19 and 337, respectively.