Stop Caitlin Clark? Good luck. Coaches share their (often failed) strategies

ALBANY, N.Y. — Here are some universal truths about college basketball: A game will start and eventually end. Shots will be taken. One team will win; another will lose. Want one more? It’s impossible to fully stop Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.

A head coach who has played Clark multiple times throughout her career has set the following definition for success against Iowa’s star guard. Even if she scores 35 points, records five assists and takes five free throws, the coach considers it a positive. “You’re in the game,” the coach said. “I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. We were smart enough to know we weren’t gonna keep her from scoring.”

The conundrum of stopping Caitlin Clark is a reality coaches around the country have confronted for almost four seasons. Clark’s career average of 28.4 points per game on 20 shot attempts reflects her consistent dominance. This season, she averages national bests of 31.8 points and 8.8 assists per game, hitting a career-high of 49 points the night she set the NCAA Division I women’s all-time scoring record.

There is no singular approach to stopping the player the vast majority of coaches view as the hardest to game plan for. But different approaches to slow Clark down have emerged among coaches.

The Athletic talked to four headed coaches, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about their strategies to try to stop Clark this season. Their plans have often been dashed, but Colorado — Iowa’s Sweet 16 opponent — might try to employ some of these tactics.

An initial choice must be made. “You’ve gotta pick your poison,” one head coach said. Do you clamp down on the best scorer women’s college basketball has ever seen and allow her teammates opportunities? That didn’t work for Penn State. Iowa forward Hannah Stuelke scored 47 points on the Nittany Lions. Or do you limit her teammates and know Clark’s going to get hers? “Honestly I think you gotta figure out a way to keep Kate Martin under wraps,” another coach said. “I think Caitlin’s gonna get what she gets.”

Swish ????@CaitlinClark22 x #Hawkeyes

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— Iowa Women’s Basketball (@IowaWBB) March 26, 2024

Whatever coaches strategize, it often turns out futile. And there is seemingly no look opponents haven’t tried.

Opponents have thrown out 2-3 and box-and-1 zone sets. (Nebraska had the most success doing the latter, holding Clark scoreless in the fourth quarter of its Feb. 11 upset over the Hawkeyes.) Others, like West Virginia on Monday night, have pressed her full-court. (She had six turnovers, but still ended up with 32 points, 12 free-throw attempts and eight rebounds.) Clark has seen double- and triple-teams. She’s been shaded left and right.

“We forced her left,” a coach said. “A lot of people don’t like to force her left because she shoots the jump shot with the side-step to her left so well, but to me, that’s what you give up, and if you have enough…