Caitlin Clark Jersey Retirement Introduces a Developing era in the Women’s Form

The second day of the second month that falls on a woman’s basketball on Sunday feels like the kism. An appropriate date, 2/2, for two of the most iconic No. 22s of this decade.

Caitlin Clarks No. 22 jersey will rise to the Carver-Hawkeye Arena City rafters on Sunday, less than a year after its second national championship game in an Iowa Hawkeyes uniform. In Columbia, South Carolina, a grenade will go up with A’Ja Wilson’s No. 22 seven years after her own back-to-back national title performance.

The number of Jersey pensions seems to be ramping up in recent years as players tear through recordbooks and schools that are turning more attention to flowering woman’s programs. At the end of the Iowa and South Carolina ceremonies, at least four legendary players will have seen their jerseys be erected in the first 33 days of 2025. Two left school within the year. Two more already won WNBA championships together.

Retired sweaters are not all-sizes. Schools have different requirements for eligibility for Jersey pensions, players must be ready for the credit, and many more people are aware of and are passionate about women’s basketball than ever before.

“It has not been such a great ordeal, the women’s retirement of their jerseys compared to the gentlemen’s,” Dr. Lisa Delpy Neirotti, Director of the Sport Management program at George Washington University and an advisory board member of Women’s Sports Foundation, Yahoo Sports said. “And it just comes back to – I’m not saying no one was interested, but there were much fewer people who were interested in women’s basketball than there is now. Of course, now it will raise the profile of everything these women do. “

Clark had hardly played his last game when Iowa Athletics Director Beth Goetz announced the honor in April under Hawkeyes’ team celebration at their arena.

“It’s a privilege for me to now make the official,” said Goetz, while Clark was sitting near her, under Jerseys from Michelle Edwards (No. 30) and Megan Gustafson (10). “You will be the last to carry No. 22.”

In mid-December, the school revealed the date as its first Big Ten match against No. 4 USC (13:30 ET). Fox stays with the broadcast after the game ends at the ceremony. As was the case in her play days, ticket prices have risen with a combined interest in Clark and Naismith -Ever Juju Watkins from USC.

“Strike, while the iron is hot, is always my marketing (tip),” Delpy Neirotti said. “Historically, I could see why they would retire (the jersey) after the person has turned out to be even more (in the pros), but in today’s world of trying to get so much media and excitement around your programs and Take advantage of a star athlete is a great strategy. “

Clark, who turned 23 last week, is used to pomp and circumstance, whether it was record -breaking parties or senior evening. Still, this is the first time she doesn’t play in a game in advance.

“It’s a little difficult to evoke emotions after you just competed for 40 minutes,” Clark said at Hawkeyes 247 Sports Podcast. “But now that I don’t actually want to play, I feel like I’m likely to be a little more emotional, even though I’m not a super emotional person.”

The South Carolina Athletics Department establishes a five-year wait for a Jersey retirement that begins at the end of the Student-Athletes last season. Wilson, who ended his college career in March 2018, was justified in 2023. In a rare experience, she reveals the school a statue of her resemblance in front of the arena before her number was raised inside it. Gamecocks withdrew three times Allamerican Tiffany Mitchells No. 25 last season.

Quick Jersey Retirement Turnarounds

Swiftness of Clark’s honor is not without a precedent. Iowa drew Gustafson’s number eight months after she won 2019 -the year player for this year’s accolades and entered WNBA.

USC Retired Cheryl Miller’s No. 31 in 1986 while she was still playing. The three-time winner of the Naismith Award played five matches in number while swinging over her at the Galen Center. It was withdrew back In 2006 during a common ceremony with Lisa Leslie and followed by Cynthia Cooper (2011), Pam McGee (’12), Paula McGee (’12) and Tina Thompson (’19). Watkins, a generational talent that breaks their records, could see a similar reversal.

Texas Tech Raised Sheryl Swoopes’ No. 22 in February 1994, less than a year after she scored a record 47 points in the NCAA Championship Game as a senior. Old Dominion withdrew initial preliminary Naismith winner Anne Donovan’s No. 22 winter after her last season. Maryland, if head coach Brenda Frese Delivered the news in prank formhonored Alyssa Thomas’ Nr. 25 on his senior day in 2014. Georgia followed the same timeline with Teresa Edwards (No. 5) and Katrina McClain (No. 32)

Last month, Virginia honored Tech Elizabeth Kitley, a degree of 2024 and 2023 Naismith finalist with Clark. The most decorated Hokie in the program history wore No. 33, and it became the first Jersey retirement since Renee Dennis (No. 44) in 1987.

To find the right time

The day before Kitley’s party, her former Las Vegas ACES teammate, Kelsey Plum, saw her # 10 go up. It was eight years since the guard constantly put Division in Women’s scoring record in Washington before Clark broke the mark. She was the first female husky to receive the honor, joined six men’s players and there was a month long party that the school called “Forever 10.“

Some players are not ready for credit or may not fit it into their schedules. It was more difficult as most WNBA players played abroad during the high season. The day after Tennessee made Candace Parker the sixth player to earn the honor (Pat Summitt’s name is also in the rafters), she jumped out to Russia to throw Ummc Ekaterinburg again.

Dewanna Bonner returned to her Alma Mater in January 2024 for her no. 24 honor. It was 14 years since she broke the program’s scoring record and ended as a National Player of the Year Runner-Up.

Brittney laughs, Bonner’s former Phoenix Mercury teammate, waited 12 years after leading Baylor to an undefeated championship to see her # 42 head to the barriers a year ago. This year’s national player had a strained relationship with former Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey, who said she demanded players to study for the honor. Laughing received a degree in 2019, and the new head coach Nikki Collen made it a priority when the Star Center was released from an unlawful Russian detention.

As the interest in women’s sports grows, there is more push for recognition of the game’s greatness. Syracuse retired its first female athlete Jersey in 2021 after calls from local fans and media members. Felisha Logette-Jack, an alumna from 1989, became the first in 2021 when she took the main coach job. All-American Kayla Alexander looked at her jersey in it in December.

In their pending era

Winning National Player of the Year Awards is an almost lock for jersey retirement. While most Naismith winners have already received the honor, almost a dozen since 1986 waiting for a while.

Connecticut, often referred to as the world’s college basketball capital, is cunning with its Jersey retirement. Huskies’ Athletic Department allows only players introduced in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to be considered. Players must also be fully retired for four years to be eligible for the hall.

Ray Allen (No. 34) and Rebecca Lobo (No. 50), both members of the early 1990s troops were the first in March 2019. Swin Cash (No. 32) followed in 2022, months after she left into the hall. SUE BIRD (No. 10), Maya Moore (No. 23), Diana Taurasi (No. 3) and Breanna Stewart (No. 30) will eventually join them.

Other players do not have the same option. Notre Dame, where Ruth Riley won Naismith in 2001, does not retire. It inserts players to his Purcell Pavilion Ring of Honor, which includes Skylar Diggins-Smith, Niele Iive, Kayla McBride, Muffet McGraw and Riley. Diggins-Smith went in months after traveling to WNBA.

Larger more schools, such as Oregon, where this year’s 2020 National Player of the Year Sabrina Ionescu set the NCAA Division I-men and women’s triple record, has no formalized criteria. So she could become the first in a rapid expanding group of women’s basketball honores.