Longstanding college basketball scoring records are in danger of being broken in a new era of faster-paced, higher-scoring matchups at the collegiate level. In fact, five of the top 13 Division 1 scoring leaders have played in the 2010s or later.
Last season, Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis finished his career three points shy of the all-time collegiate scoring record held by “Pistol Pete” Maravich.
Though Maravich’s 3,667 seemed an untouchable threshold for over 50 years, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has now surpassed this mark, becoming the all-time scoring leader. She broke this mark on March 3rd against Ohio State, a game where she scored 35 points, finishing the regular season with 3,685 points.
In the first game of the Big Ten Tournament, Clark passed Stephen Curry for the most three-point shots made in collegiate history. In the second game of the conference tournament, she broke the all-time record for scoring in the Big Ten Tournament. In the third game of the tournament, Iowa brought home another conference championship, securing a top seed in March Madness.
Caitlin Clark revolutionized the landscape of women’s basketball. Prior to last year, women’s basketball struggled to gain viewership compared to men’s basketball. However, last year’s women’s NCAA tournament was similar in television ratings to the men’s NCAA tournament.
Clark, along with the current LSU Lady Tigers, have become household names in college basketball. Angel Reese and the Tigers defeated the Hawkeyes in the 2023 national championship game, but Iowa has been much more dominant this season.
Women’s basketball has begun to skyrocket in popularity with the emergence of mainstream superstars. Sabrina Ionescu broke the all-time three-point contest record and narrowly lost in a challenge against Curry on NBA All-Star Weekend.
Idaho women’s basketball has also grown in popularity in recent years. This year was one of the best in recent memory for high school girl’s basketball in the state.
Boise’s Avery Howell was one of the top players in the country and is committed to the University of Southern California. Coeur d’Alene won back-to-back state championships, led by Idaho’s Gatorade player of the year for the second consecutive season, UNLV commit Teagan Colvin. The Shelley Russets won the 4A state championship and finished the season with a perfect 25-0 record.
