No. 22 bears a special significance to Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, who has donned the number ever since her college days at Iowa.<\/p>\n
Clark originally picked No. 22 because she was born on Jan. 22\u2014a simple but practical reason. The number became fused with her identity on the Hawkeyes, as she led Iowa to two national title games and surpassed Pete Maravich<\/a> as the all-time leading scorer in both men\u2019s and women\u2019s Division I basketball.<\/p>\n Her No. 22 jersey has even been hung up in the rafters<\/a> at Carver-Hawkeye arena. So, why is Clark changing it to No. 12 for Team USA? <\/p>\n Why Caitlin Clark is wearing No. 12 for Team USA<\/p>\n Clark, who will make her national team debut against Senegal on Wednesday in Team USA\u2019s FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup opener<\/a>, will don No. 12, but not because she wants to. One of USA Basketball\u2019s longstanding rules is that players can only choose a jersey number between 4 and 15. The requirement originally stemmed from FIBA\u2019s rules for international competition, which implemented the 4-15 jersey number selection to help referees more easily communicate foul calls. Though FIBA has since thrown the rule out, USA Basketball has stuck to tradition. <\/p>\n Clark sported jersey No. 17 during Team USA training camp last year and spoke about the \u201cweird\u201d feeling of wearing a new number.<\/p>\n