As the most promising day in the history of the WNBA arrives, the American cultural spotlight shines brighter than it ever has on a female athlete in a team sport, and on the possibility she brings to lift basketball and all women’s sports to a place they have never been.

But the glare of that bright and sometimes harsh light hasn’t fixed on the magical Caitlin Clark alone. Over the past couple of weeks, it has focused on the players who have come before her, some of whom strangely appear to be having trouble accepting and dealing with her fame, even as they will benefit greatly from it.

As Clark was leading Iowa to its second consecutive NCAA final, this one a loss to undefeated national champion South Carolina, and delivering massive TV ratings that for the first time ever beat the men, some of the biggest names in her sport were talking about her. Of course they were. How could they not? Everyone wanted to know what they thought about this generational talent, this household name, this college record-breaker — superstars like Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart in particular.

The question to Stewart, a four-time NCAA champion at UConn, two-time WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, came on SiriusXM radio before the Final Four games were played.

“Does Caitlin Clark need a championship to be considered one of the greats in women’s college basketball history?”

What a layup this was for Stewart. The question was not if Clark needed a championship to be the GOAT, the greatest of all time. No, the question was much broader and easier to answer: was Clark “one of the greats?”

There can be dozens of those, as many as you want, the more the merrier. One would certainly think the person who has scored the most points in NCAA Division I basketball history, male or female — that’s Clark — would be one of them.

Not for Stewart.

“Yeah, she does (need a championship),” Stewart said coolly, without hesitation. “I think so. Because then you’re gonna look 10 years back and you’re gonna see all the records she’s broken, and the points and stuff like that, but anybody knows your goal when you play college basketball is to win a national championship. So you need one.”

Needless to say, that created some news, and not in a good way for the 29-year-old Stewart. Her answer was downright strange, as if she didn’t want to acknowledge that this young woman, more than seven years her junior, was changing everything about how the nation looks at her sport. Stewart instead chose to keep her steely focus on her UConn roots, where she was fortunate to play on a roster full of future WNBA players to be able to win those four titles. Clark, it should be noted, played on a roster full of future non-WNBA players, other than herself, and somehow took Iowa to two consecutive NCAA finals.

Of course it’s Stewart’s right to say what she said, and brutal honesty is always notable. But I was intrigued, so, for the past week, I tried to find out what was going on. I asked Stewart’s agent, Lindsay Colas, several times if I could speak to Stewart, with no luck. Finally, at Colas’ suggestion, I texted two questions for her to send to Stewart, who Colas said was out of the country.

My questions:

1. Knowing the incredible college records and unprecedented historic impact Caitlin Clark has had on women’s basketball, do you regret your comment about her having to win a title to be “one of the greats?” It wasn’t to be the GOAT. It was “one of the greats,” which could encompass dozens of people. Even hundreds.

2. Had you gone to Syracuse or another school like that, like an Iowa, rather than UConn with so many future WNBA players as teammates, would you have been able to take that team to two consecutive NCAA finals?

Stewart’s reply came in a text message back to me from Colas Thursday night:

“Caitlin is a star and we are excited to have her in the WNBA. She is unquestionably great for what she has accomplished on and off the court.”

tewart’s fellow former UConn superstar Diana Taurasi, who at 41 is nearly 20 years older than the 22-year-old Clark, also joined in the chorus of less-than-flattering comments about Clark.

On her ESPN telecast with fellow UConn icon Sue Bird, the question was asked who they would take with the first pick in the draft if they were building a WNBA team: Clark or UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who isn’t even going to be in the draft this year.

After Bird picked Clark — “the fan energy behind Caitlin is going to be a game-changer for a WNBA franchise” — it was Taurasi’s turn, and she was vintage Taurasi, brusque and unyielding:

“I’m taking Paige, next question.”

Bird followed up.

“So you get the No. 1 pick this year, you would take Paige over Caitlin?”