Sue Bird Reignites Caitlin Clark and Breanna Stewart’s Debate with College GOAT Take

Earlier this year, New York Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart sparked heated debate when she made a bold claim about whether Caitlin Clark could be college basketball’s GOAT.

“Does Caitlin Clark need a championship to be considered one of the all-time greats in women’s college basketball history?” NBC Sports reporter Nicole Auerbach asked, according to the @SXMCollege X account.

“Yes,” Stewart replied. “She does. I think so. Because then when you look back ten years, you see all the records she broke… but everyone knows your goal in college basketball is to win a national championship. So you need one.

Stewart won four consecutive national championships at UConn and Clark appeared in two consecutive national championship games but never won a title.

Stewart’s position sparked much debate back in April, but things quieted down after that. However, the debate was reignited when WNBA legend Sue Bird and The Athletic journalist Jemele Hill discussed their respective opinions on Stewart’s mood on an Oct. 16 episode of the “A Touch More” podcast.

“Breanna Stewart has won four national titles. So yeah, she’s allowed to have the opinion that… you have to win to be in my group, okay?” Hill said, “That’s not a controversial opinion, that’s not disrespect to Caitlin Clark.” That’s just her opinion. And again… ring talk is the most dominant conversation in men’s sports. But suddenly when it comes to women, it’s about pettiness and jealousy.”

Bird then added, “And the problem is that we don’t have enough smart people – that is, the people who are tapped, are informed, have done research and have reported on the WNBA – to make up for it.”

Bird then returned to the topic a little later, adding: “I just want to go back to the Breanna Stewart thing… in the world of women’s basketball, four national championships is the standard. That’s not the case with… anyone.” Other sport. So that’s the benchmark.

“In another world, getting to the national championship game twice is amazing [feat]. By the way, it’s an amazing achievement. This shouldn’t affect Caitlin. But it’s not four national championships in a row,” Bird continued.

While Bird and Hill clearly have great respect for Clark and her accomplishments, they seem to agree with Stewart’s view that she cannot be considered the GOAT.