Caitlin Clark blocks out uproar in rookie year. ‘All the external noise doesn’t faze me.’

INDIANAPOLIS – After Caitlin Clark was the target of Chennedy Carter’s flagrant foul in Saturday’s game between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, discussions of the play and Clark’s treatment by opponents have taken over the WNBA landscape.

The topic has been discussed ad nauseam on ESPN shows, national newspapers, and even non-sports entities like “The Today Show.” Clark’s name has become the hottest topic in the WNBA and the sports world as a whole. Through it all, the Fever rookie says she hasn’t paid much attention to what’s been said about her.

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“I don’t really hear the noise,” Clark said after Indiana’s practice on Wednesday. “I just come here and play basketball every single day and that’s what I focus on. This is my job, so everything else — all the external noise — doesn’t faze me.”

Clark has remained in the media’s eyes for months now. From breaking NCAA all-time scoring records, to leading Iowa to a national championship game, to being drafted first overall by the Fever, to the start of the season, Clark has been the focus of women’s basketball while not getting much time away from the game. The Fever have made a collective effort to put their arm around Clark throughout the madness.

“She’s a human, and I think that this world should treat her as such,” veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell said. “I think she deserves to give herself some grace and I think a lot of people around this world should too. At the end of the day, not only is she human, she’s a 22-year-old kid, technically.

“I think that she’s going to transition and there’s gonna be things that she’s just gonna experience that comes with time. And I think that the world should give her some grace. I really do.”

Despite being the WNBA Rookie of the Month in May, Clark and the Fever are off to a 2-9 start. She’s leading the team in scoring (15.6 points per game) and assists (6.4 apg), but that hasn’t yet led to wins for the Fever.

“We got keep our blinders on and our ear plugs in, and just try to focus on what we can control,” Fever coach Christie Sides said Wednesday.

Much of the dialogue around the Fever and the WNBA will remain centered around Clark. No matter what, Clark will continue to be the subject of many columns, debates and online conversation.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Caitlin Clark blocks out uproar, noise in hectic WNBA rookie year