The college basketball world has been stewing ever since Jay Williams asserted that Caitlin Clark doesn't deserve to be considered an all time great unless she wins a national championship, but fortunately Dick Vitale is around to restore common sense.
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Vitale addressed Williams' controversial take via X yesterday, where he wrote, 'Recently there has been debate about being the GOAT as it related to @CaitlinClark22. Look I RESPECT the views of others but I do not think it is FAIR to eliminate someone that doesn't win a championship. Championships r won by strong talented TEAMS . I always felt that WILT C & many others don't get a fair shake . He didn't play with a HOF roster ala the Celtics .'
Recently there has been debate about being the GOAT as it related to @CaitlinClark22 . Look I RESPECT the views of others but I do not think it is FAIR to eliminate someone that doesn’t win a championship. Championships r won by strong talented TEAMS . I always felt that WILT C…
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) February 26, 2024
This take from Vitale seems to represent the general sentiment that most fans have.
While Williams did call Clark, "the most prolific scorer the game has ever seen", refusing to deem her one of the greatest college basketball players of all time just because she couldn't single-handedly procure a national championship for Iowa is hogwash.
Especially because Clark has turned Iowa into a national championship contender over the past couple years. Although the Hawkeyes came up short in the national championship game against LSU last year — marking only the second national championship game appearance in Iowa women's basketball history — they've got a great chance at making a deep postseason run this year, if they can overcome some recent stumbles and catch fire at the right time.
Yet, Iowa's success shouldn't even matter. Anybody who has watched Clark play can tell that she's the type of generational talent that deserves to go down in history as one of the very best to do it; which is backed up by all of the scoring records she has broken during her iconic Iowa tenure.
Then again, the only person I'm arguing with right now is Jay Williams — and Dick Vitale already set him straight.
