By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Now that the regular season has ended in spectacular fashion for the Iowa women’s basketball team, it’s time to say what seems pretty obvious:

Iowa junior guard Caitlin Clark deserves to be the National Player of the Year.

If there was any doubt heading into Sunday’s much-anticipated regular-season finale against Big Ten regular-season champion Indiana, Clark certainly erased that doubt with a scintillating performance capped by a spectacular last-second game-winning 3-point basket that lifted Iowa to an 86-85 victory before a sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It’s hard enough to hit a game-winning shot with the score tied, but Iowa was trailing by two points when Clark made an off balance three with a defender in her face and another defender nearby.

Everyone in the arena, and everyone watching the game on ESPN, probably knew that Clark would take the shot, and the Hoosiers defended it about as well as a shot can be defended, and yet, Clark still drained it to cap a performance that included 34 points, nine assists and nine rebounds.

That’s what a player of the year does with the game on the line, and that is what a legend does.

Clark already is a Hawkeye legend, and now the West Des Moines Dowling graduate deserves to win the top individual honor for women’s collegiate basketball.

Some will say that she had accomplished enough long before Sunday’s game to be named national player of the year.

And maybe so, but it makes more sense to wait until the regular season is over to crown her.

With her individual success, coupled with Iowa’s team success, Clark checks all the boxes.

She is the face of women’s college basketball and the biggest reason why Iowa set an all-time home attendance record this season.

South Carolina center Aliyah Boston is the best player on the best team in the country, and the reigning national player of year.

Boston is also a force on defense who controls the paint and the rim like no other women’s player does.

Boston should go on to have a long and distinguished career in the WNBA assuming she stays healthy.

But even she has to take a back seat to Clark when picking the national player of year because no player in the country impacts a game from start to finish the way Clark does as the nation’s leader in scoring and assists.

ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas recently drew the ire of Iowa fans when he said that Boston is the best player in the country, while Clark is the best scorer.

Clark is without question the best scorer with a shooting range that stretches almost to mid-court.

But to label her as just a scorer isn’t fair because Clark does so much more than score points

A case could be made that she is a better passer than shooter.

The way in which Clark feeds All-Big Ten center Monika Czinano in the post is a thing of beauty. Clark’s anticipation and her ability to work angles and put the ball in the ideal scoring position for Czinano is absolutely incredible.

One of the criticisms about Clark is that she commits too many turnovers.

And while there is some truth to that, in Clark’s defense, she commits turnovers because she is so aggressive and makes passes that her teammates sometimes can’t handle, or they aren’t ready to catch the pass.

Clark is always on the attack with her head up and her teammates have to be ready, because if not, the ball might bounce off their face.

Clark fits perfectly in Lisa Bluder’s fast-paced offense, and they both have made each other better.

Some might assume that Clark hunts for shots, given how many points she scores on a regular basis.

But that really isn’t the case.

Rarely will Clark force a shot if she has a teammate that’s open.

Clark by definition is a point guard, but she’s really just a guard that does everything on offense.

Clark is also about 6-foot, and that allows her to shoot over smaller guards and also defend smaller guards with her length.

Clark doesn’t get much praise or recognition for her defense, but her ability to rebound helps Iowa on defense.

Clark just missed what would have been her 10^th career triple-double on Sunday, and triple doubles don’t happen without rebounding, and without being a complete player.

Clark hasn’t even completed her third season as a Hawkeye, but she is arguably already the best player in program history, and that’s saying a lot considering Iowa’s list of star players that includes Michelle “Ice” Edwards, Sam Logic and Megan Gustafson just to name a few.

The voting for national player of the year is highly subjective and there is some bias involved because the voters are human.

It’s also hard to compare guards with centers and forwards because their roles are so different.

But in Clark’s case, she has consistently performed at an elite level and is producing numbers that have never been seen before, and she is doing it for a top-10 team.

All that’s left for her is to lead Iowa to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

But if the national player of the year award is based on what a player accomplishes during the regular season, then Caitlin Clark has been in a class by herself this season with Sunday’s stat-sheet stuffing performance yet another example.

OH MY GOD!! THE BUZZER BEATER 3 BY CC!!!!@CaitlinClark22 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/IEAohn8ZbF

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 26, 2023