Many fans and analysts expected Caitlin Clark to take the WNBA by storm and post staggering numbers as she did for the Iowa Hawkeyes. However, that hasn’t been the case. She struggled to make an impact in her first few games but has since been effective. But her numbers are nowhere close to what she managed in college and her former teammate Kate Martin explained why that is the case.
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In an interview with Jada Gyamfi on the Taco-Bout Network, the former Hawkeye turned Las Vegas Aces star was asked what the key difference was between NCAA basketball and the WNBA. She responded that the league is more physical and the game’s pace is more frantic. She revealed that akin to Clark, she too had to tweak her playing style to be more effective. Martin said,
“I drove more in college… Now, everybody is my size, and like faster. That’s also one of the differences, is like bigger, faster, stronger. You have to learn and adjust. Like, any new job, new whatever you’re going into, right?… That’s how it was my freshman year of college… That’s how it is. Like your freshman year of high school too. It’s just like learning, growing pains.”.
At 6-foot, Martin is far from the smallest guard in the WNBA. However, she isn’t as strong or physically assertive as some peers. The guard also needed time to adjust to the league’s pace, which Clark also admitted to struggling with initially.
In an interview in April, she spoke about how massive the six-second difference in the shot clocks in college basketball and the WNBA feels when she’s on the court. The Fever star said,
“It’s fast, fast shot clock, but I think all of you know that’s how I like to play. So, I think it suits my game pretty well. It’s a fast pace, a lot faster than college, and you’ve to learn quicker.”
While Clark was thrust into the spotlight and expected to flip the fortunes of an underwhelming team, Martin was drafted by the reigning WNBA champions. She’s had more time to acclimatize herself to the difference in speed and strength between professional and college basketball.
However, her playing time has been cut by more than half. She averaged nearly 29 minutes in her final season at Iowa but is playing only 13.8 minutes per game with the Aces. The guard is expected to become a key player for the reigning champions soon. For now, she’s still learning the ropes.
