Caitlin Clark says college basketball's lack of 'IQ' slowed her WNBA transition

Caitlin Clark was a three-time All-American and became college basketball's all-time leading scorer in her glorious career at Iowa. However, her four seasons in Iowa City did not prepare her for the WNBA.

In an interview with Time as the magazine's Athlete of the Year, Clark said she struggled to adjust to the pro game at the start of her rookie season due to the Indiana Fever's "zero flow" offensively under former head coach Christie Sides.

“It was just so choppy, and no one really knew what the other person was doing," Clark told Time's Sean Gregory. "Our defense was really bad.”

Clark also attributed her slow transition to the WNBA due to being ill-prepared for the "rigors" of the league. And her reasoning was based on the pro game being "a lot smarter" than the college ranks, where she says the "the IQ of understanding how the game works" is lacking.

"Professional players and professional coaches — this is no disrespect to college women's basketball — are a lot smarter,” Clark said. “I love women's college basketball. But if you go back and watch the way people guarded me in college, it's almost, like, concerning. They didn’t double me, they didn't trap me, they weren't physical. And it’s hard. It’s college.

"A lot of those women will never go on to play another basketball game in their life. They don't have the IQ of understanding how the game works. So I completely understand it. And it's no disrespect at all. They don’t have the IQ. You have to simplify it for girls at that age.”

Clark's words might be viewed as being overly critical on college basketball, which provided the platform for her to become a superstar before turning pro. The substance of what she is saying is not wrong, though, no matter how harsh it may seem.

The WNBA comprises only 14 teams and features most of the world's best players in women's hoops. The league requires a difficult transition for any newcomer, including a generational, transcendent talent like Clark.