When LSU won a national championship last season, Angel Reese’s life changed forever.
So did the life of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, as women’s basketball continues to garner the most attention it’s ever gotten.
This was the beginning of a revolution, with Reese and Clark as pioneers paving the way for the future to come.
So, what’s happened since the national title game for Reese and Clark? How have their lives changed?
Well, two things have prominently brought that change: social media and Name, Image and Likeness.
For Reese, those two things have brought change to her life in the biggest way possible since her championship win.
This offseason, the LSU star forward won an ESPY for Best Breakthrough Athlete and signed NIL deals with Coach, PlayStation, Reebok, Amazon and more. Her deals gave her a $1.8-million NIL valuation, according to On3.
Since then, she has put that money to good use. In August 2023, Reese started the Angel Reese Foundation to give back to Baton Rouge and her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.
Reese has 5.3 million followers across Instagram, TikTok and X/Twitter. On Instagram alone, she has 2.7 million followers. She arrived in Baton Rouge with just 70,000 followers and went into the NCAA Tournament with nearly half a million.
Reese became a household name in Baton Rouge after just one season.
Clark, on the other hand, has a $3.1 million NIL valuation, according to On3, which is the largest women’s college basketball NIL valuation in the country.
The Iowa guard has always been in the spotlight. As a freshman, she earned first-team All-America honors from The Athletic, WBCA and USBWA, along with second-team honors from the Associated Press.
Last season, she led the Hawkeyes to their first Final Four appearance since 1993. But Iowa fell in the national championship to LSU after knocking off top-ranked South Carolina in the Final Four.
This time around, Clark came into her senior season with more hype than she’s ever had. And that was because of the records she was within striking distance of breaking.
On Feb. 15, Clark became the NCAA women’s basketball all-time leading scorer with a deep, 3-point shot against Michigan. Her No. 22 now lies on the spot where she shot her record-breaking three at Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
On March 3, Clark made ultimate history.
She found herself at the foul line against No. 2 Ohio State and sank a foul shot to become the NCAA basketball’s all-time leading scorer, both men’s and women’s.
Whose record did she break? LSU’s Pete Maravich.
Clark also broke the NCAA record for most points in a single season during the team’s Round of 32 NCAA Tournament matchup with West Virginia.
But for both players, all of the good came with some bad.
Both Reese and Clark have received criticism from the public eye. And the public may even see them as enemies.
In the national title game, Reese gave Clark a hand wave over the face gesture along with a point to her ring finger, symbolizing the championship ring she was about to win. Clark had made that same hand wave gesture earlier in the tournament.
The difference is that Clark was praised for making the gesture, and Reese was criticized. Many called Clark’s gesture “funny” and “part of competition.” But when Reese made the same gesture, people called her “classless.”
Reese took note of the criticism.
“I don’t fit in a box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto,” Reese said in a postgame press conference. “But when other people do it, y’all say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that’s going to speak up on what they believe in.”
Since the national championship, many have assumed the two now have a rivalry, and that Monday’s Elite 8 matchup may bring some vengeance.
But do they have a rivalry? They don’t seem to think so.
When Reese received an abundance of criticism after her gesture to Clark in the national championship, Clark was quick to defend her.
“I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all,” Clark said. “We’re all competitive. We all show our emotions in a different way. Angel is a tremendous, tremendous player. I have nothing but respect for her.”
In LSU’s media day in October, Reese spoke highly of Clark as well.
“Oh my gosh, I love Caitlin. We’ve been competing since we were in AAU,” Reese said. “She is a great player, shooter, person and teammate.”
So, Reese and Clark may have a rivalry on the court, but off the court, they are there for each other. The rivalry on the court is a healthy one; one between fierce competitors that will do whatever it takes for their respective teams to win.
But in the big picture, Reese and Clark have a common goal, and that’s to grow women’s college basketball to its highest.
Reese and Clark may be on different teams on the court. But off of it, they’re on the same team, trying to win over as many people as possible to women’s college basketball.
