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Well said all the way through, Bone Dog, although Clark's achievements even before last season were consequential.@The deacon i don’t disagree that Caitlin is a great player — and you’ve defended her name stoutly these last three years. But the fact is her only truly great achievement was last season, and she rightly was recognized for it with the NPOY. I stand by my statement that prior to last season all she really accomplished was stats. The very fact that Paige won the NPOY in their freshman year despite Caitlin’s numbers is the confirmation of it. Gaudy stats are not enough. Yes, a conference title is something to be proud of, but I guarantee you that she was disappointed in the results of her first two seasons.
And now Caitlin has finally matched Paige’s achievements, and if we are all very lucky this coming season will be their moment to shine in competition with each other. Neither has actually won an NC (sorry I mistyped above) and it’s high time one of them actually did. Merely making it to an NC game is not enough for either of these great competitors.
But this is all old news and we’ve argued this out before. The question before us is which of them will be the media darling headlining this season. This is not simply a matter of who’s better, but also of who has more star power. In this matter, I don’t believe there’s any competition. Paige’s charisma and the excitement of a comeback story will just be too great for anyone else to overshadow.
Otherwise, I'm agreed, on the proviso that Paige is healthy. If she is, and rises to the levels we all hope for, I'm in line with you that she has potential star power even beyond that of the magnetic and charismatic Caitlin (you need to watch Clark's interaction with fans and media more often if you think she's lacking in that regard). Paige also has star personality, but the built-in edge of playing for the Huskies.
I'll just add that, if she has a healthy season, Clark will likely challenge for and probably achieve legendary status as an 'amasser' of both assists and scoring stats. Those pursuits will not be overlooked by the media, regardless of what the Hawkeyes manage as a team.
This is fun. I get to talk about two amazingly gifted young women who happen to play for two of my favorite teams. Cool stuff...