Triple-double history in Women's March Madness: Will Caitlin Clark join Sabrina Ionescu on the list?

David Suggs

Triple-double history in Women's March Madness: Will Caitlin Clark join Sabrina Ionescu on the list? image

Three, that's the magic number...

March Madness offers athletes the grandest possible stage to showcase their talents, a gleaming ballroom of sorts where players capture the hearts and minds of even the most cynical fan.

It's a team game, after all; units are highly specialized. Versatility — a much-desired trait in the professional game — can take a backseat, spurned in favor of reliability in a set role.

Sometimes, though, supernovas burst through the confines arbitrarily imposed on their style of play. In those moments, magic happens. Seemingly one-dimensional talents become full-blooded contributors under the NCAA Tournament glow.

No feat exemplifies such development more than the triple-double. It's the most complete showcase of individual basketball wizardry in the game.

There have been precious few trifectas in the sport's history. Even fewer of those have come when the lights are at their brightest.

Without further ado, The Sporting News takes a look at March Madness triple-doubles, from Cassandra Lander and Anne Donovan to Sabrina Ionescu.

WOMEN'S MARCH MADNESS HQ
Live NCAA bracket news | TV schedule | Printable PDF

NCAA Tournament triple-doubles

There have been 17 triple-doubles in March Madness history, with the first one occurring in 1982 and the latest one happening in 2019.

The players to have recorded such a feat make up some of the biggest names in the sport's history, including WNBA 25th-Anniversary Team member Ticha Penicheiro and four-time All-WNBA First Teamer Skylar Diggins-Smith.

Ionescu is the most recent addition to the exclusive collection, having recorded two triple-doubles during her Oregon career, one in 2018 and one in 2019.

Here's a closer look at those special 17 performances during the NCAA Tournament:

History of triple-doubles at NCAA Tournament (NCAA)
Player Opponent Year Points Rebounds Assists Blocks Steals
Cassandra Lander (Arizona State) Georgia 1982 17 11 10
Anne Donovan (Old Dominion) Penn State 1983 20 13 12
Joni Davis (Missouri) LSU 1984 14 11 10
Katie Meier (Duke) Manhattan 1987 16 11 10
Pauline Jordan (UNLV) Colorado 1989 22 17 11
Sonja Henning (Stanford) Cal State Fullerton 1991 19 10 10
Niesa Johnson (Alabama) Duke 1995 28 12 14
Tracy Henderson (Georgia) Louisville 1995 14 13 10
Ticha Penicheiro (Old Dominion) Saint Francis (PA) 1998 22 15 14
Nicole Powell (Stanford) Weber State 2002 20 11 10
Nicole Powell (Stanford) Tulane 2002 16 10 10
Kristin Haynie (Michigan State) Vanderbilt 2005 13 10 10
Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame) Maryland 2012 22 10 11
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (UConn) St. Joseph's 2014 20 10 10
Samantha Logic (Iowa) Baylor 2015 13 10 14
Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon) Seattle 2018 19 10 11
Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon) Indiana 2019 29 10 12

Will Caitlin Clark record a triple-double during March Madness?

It's certainly anybody's guess whether Iowa's Caitlin Clark — the queen of the triple-double since making her debut back in 2020 — could record a famous trifecta during March. However, it seems plausible that Clark could join Ionescu, Diggins, Penicheiro and the countless other icons who have hit the mark in a tournament game.

MORE: What seed is Iowa in Women's March Madness 2024?

For starters, Clark is perhaps the sport's most all-around talent. Yes, her sharp shooting draws plaudits. But her playmaking is similarly fearsome: Clark finished the year as by far the most prolific passer in the country, totaling 294 assists in 33 regular-season games, an average of 8.9 per night.

Couple that with her impressive rebounding — Clark nabbed 7.3 boards per game — and it seems very realistic to believe that she could rack up the necessary stats needed to produce at least one tournament triple-double. She certainly has the pedigree, having led the country in triple-doubles during the regular season with six, three more than any other player.

For what it's worth, Clark is one of the college game's most notorious triple-double enthusiasts. She has 17 in her career, second-most in the history of the sport, men or women. The only person she's trailing? That would be Ionescu, who finished her Ducks career with 26 such performances.

Rank Player School Triple-doubles Career
1. Sabrina Ionescu Oregon 26 2016-2020
2. Caitlin Clark Iowa 17 2020-present
3. Kyle Collinsworth BYU 12 2010-16
4. Chastadie Barrs Lamar 9 2015-19
5. Suzie McConnell Penn State 7 1984-88
6. Louella Tomlinson Saint Mary's 7 2007-11

Six players are tied with six career triple-doubles — three men's players (Michael Anderson, Shaquille O'Neal, LSU; Shawn James, Northeastern/Duquesne) and four women's players (Danielle Carson, Youngstown State; Samantha Logic, Iowa; Nicole Powell, Stanford; Alyssa Thomas, Maryland.)

It will take a lot of work for Clark to put together such a display. But given her proclivity for it in the past, she has as good a chance as any to join Ionescu and her fellow collegiate legends in the Pantheon of tournament play with an all-around showcase this season.

David Suggs

David Suggs Photo

David Suggs is a content producer at The Sporting News. A long-suffering Everton, Wizards and Commanders fan, he has learned to get used to losing over the years. In his free time, he enjoys skateboarding (poorly), listening to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and D’Angelo, and penning short journal entries.