College basketball pits two of its biggest stars against each other in the Final Four as Iowa's Caitlin Clark squares off against UConn's Paige Bueckers with a spot in the national championship game on the line. Ahead of Friday night's showdown, the Hawkeyes' and Huskies' leading scorers received support from their favorite childhood NFL teams with the Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings standing behind Clark and Bueckers, respectively, on social media. Clark leads the nation in scoring at 32.0 points per game while Bueckers ranks 11th with an average of 22.0 points per contest. Only one of the superstars will compete this weekend for the national title when the winner faces the victor of South Carolina and NC State.
"She grew up cheering for us and now we're cheering for her," the Vikings said of Bueckers. "Good luck in the women's Final Four Paige ‼️"
"You cheered for us. Now it's our turn!" the Chiefs said of Clark. "All of Chiefs Kingdom is rooting for you tonight, @CaitlinClark22."
UConn coach Geno Auriemma earlier in the tournament called Bueckers the "best player in America" in response to a question centered around Clark, but ahead of the matchup against the Hawkeyes, he walked back those comments. Auriemma watched Clark score an NCAA Tournament-record 41 points during Monday's win over LSU moments before his Huskies knocked out USC to advance to Cleveland.
"I hope Caitlin Clark had a personal agenda against LSU and I know there's nothing personal between me and her," Auriemma said. "So I don't need to be seeing her drop 50 on us next weekend, you know. So, I love her. I think she's the best player of all-time. I don't know whoever said that I said Paige is the best player in the country."
Bueckers averages 28 points per NCAA Tournament game this postseason and recorded three double-doubles in the first four rounds. She announced earlier this spring that she will return for another year of college basketball rather than enter the 2024 WNBA Draft. With Clark moving on to the professional level next season, though, her UConn counterpart could step further into the national limelight.
Bueckers said in response to that question that she hopes to "share the spotlight" with other standouts during the 2024-25 campaign.
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"I mean, there's so many names in college basketball now that are huge, that are stars, that deserve credit," Bueckers said. "And I think, it's not my job, but the media can do a better job of just making sure everybody gets love, everybody gets not an equal amount of attention but try to spread it out more. So I honestly hope next year I'm not the vocal point and the only person that gets attention, and I hope as media, as players, we can spread the love a little bit more."
