Caitlin Clark’s deep-range shooting and record-breaking dominance at Iowa brought unprecedented attention to women’s college basketball. Since entering the WNBA, she has continued to do the same. At both levels, the 24-year-old has rewritten the record books, from becoming the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer with 3,951 career points to setting the WNBA rookie single-season scoring record in 2024.

Yet despite all that success, NCAA March Madness recently chose not to mention her while highlighting former college stars who are making their mark in the W. And that decision has left former ESPN host Linda Cohn frustrated.

“Women’s basketball continues to find creative ways to promote everybody around Caitlin Clark while pretending she isn’t standing right there,” Cohn said on her YouTube livestream on August 27.

“On Wednesday, March Madness put out a social media post celebrating former college stars now succeeding in the WNBA, and Caitlin Clark was nowhere to be found! So, you’re telling me the all-time leading scorer in Division I NCAA college basketball, the woman who owns more records than every player in that promo combined, the woman who helped take the popularity of March Madness to an incredibly new different level, you couldn’t find room for her in your small-minded promo post?”

In the post shared on X, NCAA March Madness featured A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and Olivia Miles, four players who have all carved out their own success in the WNBA. And while there is very little doubt that all four of them are deserving of recognition, it does not make Clark’s absence any less noticeable.

Miles was highlighted in the graphic for having the second-most assists by a rookie in WNBA history, and that is an impressive accomplishment. The problem is that the player sitting at No. 1 is Clark, who finished her rookie season with 337 assists. The Minnesota Lynx guard sits at 228, per ESPN.

To its credit, March Madness did honor Caitlin Clark with a solo post when she became the first player in WNBA history to record a 40-point, 10-assist game after her historic performance against the Seattle Storm in July. But Cohn’s frustration is less about one social media post and more about a pattern she believes is becoming difficult to ignore.

Just two months ago, the WNBA celebrated its 30th anniversary with a commemorative poster featuring several of the league’s biggest stars from past and present. A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Breanna Stewart and Sheryl Swoopes were among the faces that were featured. Clark, however, was nowhere to be found.

Then, a few weeks later, another promotional decision brought the same conversation back.

When the Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever met on August 14, the league had an obvious marketing opportunity with college rivals Bueckers and Clark facing each other. Yet the promotional graphic that was published by ION ahead of the game featured Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale for Dallas, while Lexie Hull and Raven Johnson represented Indiana.

None of those players are undeserving of being promoted. But the question is why arguably one of the biggest attractions in women’s basketball continues to be left out of promotional moments where her presence would seem almost impossible to overlook.

“You don’t promote other stars instead of Caitlin Clark. You promote them through Caitlin Clark,” Cohn said.

She even took to X and posted, “You got to be kidding me. You don’t have to ignore and exclude the game’s biggest star in Caitlin Clark in order to praise others? Why can’t you do both!?!?!?”

The Fever guard entered the league with a massive fandom behind her, and women’s basketball has an opportunity to use that enormous reach to elevate everyone around her. So leaving her out, especially when the post itself involves records she currently owns, will only continue to raise eyebrows.