I remember a few days ago looking through Facebook and seeing a post that was going viral.  It was from Earvin Magic Johnson’s twitter, and gave Iowa’s Caitlin Clark’s this high level of praise.

“What makes Caitlin’s 40-point triple-double so special is the fact so many players never had one, not me, Michael Jordan, or Larry Bird!”

I don’t know if that is true – I assume that Magic knows what he is talking about.  But as the post went viral, many commentators were saying that Clark was the best player in college basketball, both men’s and women’s.

I thought to myself that this is just trying to promote the women’s game – which I totally support.  I also don’t know that I like putting the best designation onto something so hard to describe.  Zach Edey was awarded the best player in men’s basketball and couldn’t even get his team past the first round.  Centers have skills that guards don’t.  Guards have skills that centers don’t.  What is best – towering dunks, deep ranged three pointers, shut-down defense, or amazing passes.

But then I watched both women’s Final Four games last night, and got to watch Caitlin Clark play.  She hit one three-pointer from the March Madness logo.  She would drive down the lane at will and make these beautiful layups against a South Carolina team that was undefeated because they had the best defense in women’s basketball.  She would make these great passes to her teammates leading to baskets.  She did turn the ball over a few more times than one would like – but it was super entertaining.

If you are not doing anything tomorrow at 3:30 pm, you need to turn on the women’s championship game and watch her play.  What she did on Friday night was incredible, and that wasn’t even the game that got praise from one of the best players to ever play basketball.  It should be a great game, LSU has only lost twice all season so they are obviously incredibly talented as well.

If that is not enough to make you believe it, I will take a moment last night.  Charlie had just come down to make some popcorn and asked how the game was going.  And he looked and watched Clark drive to the basket and get a layup.  I said Iowa is winning, but Clark is incredible.  And without missing a beat, Clark comes down the court and hits a three pointer from almost half court.  And Charlie goes, “Dang – that was from the logo”.  I said, “Yeah – she has been doing that all night”.  Charlie even stayed and watched a little more of the game before wanting to go back to his video games – leaving and saying that she was amazing.

People who love the game or have starred in the game like Magic Johnson are going to recognize something special right away.  But you know that someone is special when you can get someone who doesn’t really care about women’s basketball to stop and watch for a while because they realize they are watching something special.