Mark Montieth: Clark, Cignetti and Skenes mark great year in Indiana sports

The lap around the sun 2024 has nearly completed and will be remembered around here for the stars. It was a chapter when our humble state provided a stage for more elite, nationally recognized athletes and coaches than ever before.

Consider:

◗ The Rookie of the Year who elevated an entire league but was so popular she inspired resentment.

◗ The consensus national coach of the year who immediately made a big winner of a perennial loser.

◗ The two-time national player of the year who led his team to the brink of a national championship.

◗ The NBA All-Star and Olympian who flashed the potential to join the collection of retired jersey numbers hanging in the rafters of Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

◗ The pitcher who blew through town so fast the general public didn’t notice him but has obvious hall-of-fame potential.

Stars can dim, of course. Sometimes they even fall. But given good health, these appear likely to maintain their shine wherever they go.

In a league of her own

Nobody shone brighter than Caitlin Clark, whose popularity nearly overwhelmed a league that wasn’t wholly prepared for her. Joining the Indiana Fever as the first overall pick in the WNBA draft after becoming the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer at Iowa, her long-range shooting, pinpoint passing and, let’s face it, race, were a magnet for fans. The Fever’s attendance jumped from 4,067 per game in 2023 to nearly 17,000, just short of capacity. The season total of 643,343 set a league record, and it took the Fever just five games to surpass the previous season’s total over 20 games.

Clark’s impact, which became known as the “Caitlin Clark Effect,” was league-wide and widespread. Other teams set franchise single-game attendance records when the Fever came to town, television ratings improved 300%, and fans wearing a jersey in her honor were obvious in every venue. For the first time, the WNBA truly became regarded as family entertainment.

Clark largely lived up to expectations, setting WNBA rookie records for points and assists and becoming the first rookie to accomplish a triple-double. She was voted an All-Star and first-team all-WNBA, the league’s Rookie of the Year, the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year and Time magazine’s Athlete of the Year.

Clark gracefully levitated above all challenges on the court and off but still managed to inspire jealousy and generate controversy throughout the season. An Indianapolis Star columnist was suspended by the newspaper for inappropriate comments at her introductory press conference. She received cheap-shot fouls from opposing defenders during games. She became a topic of national debate after being left off the Olympic team, although she didn’t complain and benefited from the in-season break.

The Time honor wrapped up her rookie season appropriately. In the article accompanying the announcement, she acknowledged her “white privilege” and gave credit to the Black players who preceded her in the WNBA for helping establish the league. That drew harsh criticism from conservative political commentator Megyn Kelly, among others, but Clark reiterated her stance at the banquet at which she received the honor.

Meanwhile, Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson—whose franchise set a single-game WNBA attendance record with 20,711 fans in Clark’s last appearance there—declared the entire league should have received the honor, rather than just her.

The income generated by Clark’s popularity already has improved travel conditions for all teams, who were switched from commercial to charter flights by the league office and will lift all player salaries. It will take a couple of decades to learn the impact she had on young girls who have been inspired by her performance and personality.

She has, bottom line, had more impact on a professional sports league than any athlete in any sport. The men’s leagues of course were far more established when various superstars entered, leaving less upside. The WNBA, however, desperately needed a boost.

The only valid comparison in the sports world would be Tiger Woods for his impact on golf. That’s an individual sport, however. Clark, at 6-foot and 150-some pounds, has Atlas-like propped up an entire league, if not the entire women’s version of her sport.

IU football finds a savior

Curt Cignetti introduced himself to Indiana University’s beleaguered football fan base by insulting Purdue, Ohio State and Michigan, declaring that they “suck.” Then he backed up his bravado like no coach in school history.

Cignetti’s first team in Bloomington finished 11-2, winning two more games than the three previous teams combined. Its only regular-season loss was at Ohio State, which didn’t suck in its 38-15 victory over the Hoosiers, but Indiana qualified for the 12-team national playoff tournament. It was outmatched again in a 27-17 loss to Notre Dame but still finished with the most surprising season in school history aside from the miraculous Rose Bowl campaign of 1967.

It should be mentioned that IU had as remedial a schedule as a Big Ten team can have to ease his debut. But behind the boasts, Cignetti ran a highly organized and disciplined program focused more on fundamentals than on flair.

IU fans had never heard of Cignetti before he took over the program—unless they had reason to follow his teams at James Madison, Elon or Indiana-Pennsylvania. They’ll get to know him well in years ahead, though. He’s received an eight-year contract extension that will pay an estimated $8 million per season.

There have been other rewards, too. He was voted national coach of the year by multiple organizations. IU has announced plans for a $10 million stadium renovation. Recruiting seems to be going well, too, so he should have plenty more to brag about if he can avoid crossing the line and tweaking karma too many times with his brash comments.

The next notable Pacer?

Tyrese Haliburton had one of the best years an Indiana Pacer has ever had—until the next season rolled around, anyway.

Haliburton put up unprecedented stats throughout the 2023-2024 season, combining gushers of scoring and assisting with droughts of turnovers. He had a career-high 43 points with 12 assists in one game. He had a triple-double of 26 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists without a turnover in another. He had 20 points and 20 assists without a turnover in the In-Season Tournament when he led the Pacers to the championship game. He had 20 points and 23 assists in another game, tying the single-game franchise record for assists.

All that propelled him to a starting position in the All-Star game, where he scored 32 points while hitting 10 3-pointers and fell two votes short of winning the game’s Most Valuable Player honors. His performance dropped off after the break, however, and he later admitted to exhaustion. He averaged 22 points and 11.7 assists on 40% 3-point shooting before the break and 17.3 points and 9.6 assists on 30% 3-point shooting after.

His performance in the Pacers’ run to the Eastern Conference finals was spotty, and he had to sit out the last two games against Boston—during which the Pacers frankly fared better without him. Still, he was voted third-team all-NBA and selected to the U.S. Olympic team. He rarely played in the team’s gold medal run but said that would be an inspiration for this season.

The max contract that will pay roughly $260 million over five years has kicked in, bringing in more than $42 million this season alone. But it hasn’t led to improved production. Through his first 31 games, Haliburton was averaging 17.5 points on 43% shooting, including 35% from 3-point range, and 8.7 assists.

The addition of Pascal Siakam has cut into Haliburton’s scoring opportunities and slowed the team’s pace. The smiling, skipping guard who once played with reckless abandon seems muted, whether by the changes around him or changes within.

Dealing with stardom is a challenge all its own. At 24, Haliburton has time to figure it out.

Purdue’s tower of power

Zach Edey provided one of the greatest stories in the history of college basketball last season, leading Purdue University to the championship game of the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history.

Edey didn’t begin playing basketball until he was 15 years old, spending most of his Canadian youth with hockey and baseball. Growing into a 7-foot-4 frame practically demanded a switch to basketball, but he was not heavily recruited.

He progressed rapidly at Purdue, finishing as the program’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Granted, he played more games than the holders of the records he broke, but his dominance was such that he won the Naismith College Player of the Year award each of his final two seasons. Nobody had accomplished that since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson in 1982 and 1983.

Purdue had not been to a Final Four since 1980 and to the championship game of the tournament since 1969. Edy took them there, while all along living up to the Canadians’ reputation for being nice. He remained humble and stayed after home games to accommodate every autograph request.

He’s quickly establishing himself as a star in the NBA as well, once again surpassing expectations.

Who was that guy?

Someday, Paul Skenes will be remembered locally as another Wayne Gretzky, a promising young athlete who passed through Indianapolis on the road to superstardom.

Skenes began last season with the Indianapolis Indians after their parent club, Pittsburgh, made him the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball draft. He was destined for a brief layover, given the pitching talent he flashed as the national player of the year at Louisiana State University.

He appeared in seven games for the Indians before he was called up on May 11. Kept on a pitch count to save his arm for the big show, he threw in 27-1/3 innings. He had no wins or losses but sparkled with a 0.99 earned run average and 45 strikeouts.

He was an immediate star with the Pirates, as well, compiling an 11-3 record and 1.96 ERA, the lowest for a rookie with at least 20 starts since 1920. He became the fifth rookie pitcher to start in the All-Star Game and threw a scoreless inning and went on to finish third in the Cy Young voting.

The shame of it for the Indians was that Skenes was snatched up by the Pirates before the weather turned warm enough to boost attendance. But he left a positive impression with those who caught him, including Indians Board Chair Bruce Schumacher, a veteran of 40-plus years with the franchise.

“I told everyone I talked to all spring to get out to Victory Field and see him because he won’t be an Indianapolis Indian for long,” Schumacher said.

“I was impressed with how he tried to give time to our fans. Every game he started at Victory Field, he would come out of the dugout postgame and sign autographs for everyone who wanted one.”

Those fans would be wise to hang on to those signatures, courtesy of a rising star.•

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Montieth, an Indianapolis native, is a longtime newspaper reporter and freelance writer. He is the author of three books: “Passion Play: Coach Gene Keady and the Purdue Boilermakers,” “Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis,” and “Extra Innings: My Life in Baseball,” with former Indianapolis Indians President Max Schumacher.