Caitlin Clark was a silent commit to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Caitlin Clark told the Notre Dame Fighting Irish she was coming.
- She later realized she simply didn't love it and picked Iowa instead.
Imagine Hannah Hidalgo doing what she’s done this year but on the same team as Caitlin Clark. Do the Notre Dame Fighting Irish lose a game in that scenario? That dream was closer to reality than people likely realized a week ago.
Then ESPN senior writer Wright Thompson wrote a very in-depth article on the Iowa Hawkeyes, which included a section on how she came to play basketball in the Big Ten rather than in South Bend.
Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw almost made it happen. When she went to visit Clark during the star’s highschool days, McGraw was enough of a presence that the choice came down to Iowa and Notre Dame.
It turns out Iowa was quite worried about the draw of the Fighting Irish. To the point where Hawkeyes coaches offered Clark when she was in 7th grade. They wanted to get their foot in the door early, that badly. There was a reason to worry.
"My family wanted me to go to Notre Dame," Clark told Thompson. "At the end of the day they were like, you make the decision for yourself. But it's Notre Dame! 'Rudy' was one of my favorite movies. How could you not pick Notre Dame?"
Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost the battle for Caitlin Clark after a silent commit
At one point, Caitlin Clark even called the famed Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach and told her she was committing. Even though she never really felt as though that was “the” decision.
Clark even told Bluder she was going to South Bend. However, an official announcement never came. Iowa kept working Caitlin Clark and eventually, the leading scorer in all of college basketball, pulled the trigger for the Hawkeyes.
College sports is rife with stories like this. The player who committed one place and unbeknownst of anyone, they ended up going somewhere else.
This article hurts a little bit more though. As the Notre Dame Fighting Irish gear up for their second-round game in the NCAA Tournament, it certainly would be a site to see Caitlin Clark going to battle with them.