"This place will always be home": $3.3 million NIL-valued Caitlin Clark leaves a heartfelt message for Iowa after final college game

Caitlin Clark finished her college career with an 87-75 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in the NCAA championship on Sunday. She finished with 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Since joining the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2020, Clark has led her team to great heights, while also smashing records.

After the game, the guard took to X to post a message for all the people who have been on this journey with her.

"Words cannot express my love for my teammates, coaches, fans and our university - Thanks for making my dreams come true. Wearing Iowa across my chest the last four years has been an honor. This place will always be home," she tweeted.

Caitlin Clark has 'no regrets' about how her college career ended

In a post-game interview, $3.3 million NIL-valued (per On3) Caitlin Clark Clark explained that the loss will not weigh her down. When she joined Iowa, her goal was to take the team to the Final Four and she has already done it twice.

"Whether it's the way the fans have supported me, the way I've been able to represent my state where I grew up, my family being at every single game, there's not a regret in my mind of how things went. I'll be able to sleep every night even though I never won a national championship," she said (via ESPN)

The Des Moines, Iowa native can rest easy knowing that she changed women's college basketball forever. She is one of the biggest draws for new fans and has led to the rise in popularity of the sport in the last two years. All of Iowa's home and away games were mostly sold out and have also set records for viewership.

Per ESPN, its Iowa-UConn Final Four broadcast on Friday drew an average of 14.2 million viewers and peaked at 17 million, the most for any basketball game in the network's history. The Elite Eight game against LSU on April 1 averaged 12.3 million viewers.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley thanked the guard for her contribution to the sport post-win.

"I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport. She carried a heavy load for our sport, and it is not going to stop here on a collegiate tour. When she’s the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft, she’s going to lift that league up as well. "

"So, Caitlin Clark, if you’re out there, you are one of the GOATs of our game, and we appreciate you."

Caitlin Clark declared for the 2024 WNBA draft in February and is likely to join the Indiana Fever as the projected No. 1 pick.

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