Caitlin Clark, Anthony Edwards and the power of our stars

In 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope produced stunning, never seen before images of our vast universe, giving scientists the opportunity to study the cosmos in new ways.

One of the most brilliant images produced was of a star-forming region inside the Carina Nebula. The official name of this relatively nearby area -- a mere 7,600 light years away -- is NGC 3324.

The image produced from the Webb telescope looked like a mountain landscape -- even though in reality NASA explained it is the byproduct of “blistering, ultraviolet radiation from the young stars” -- and so the region was given an unofficial but much better name: The Cosmic Cliffs.

This is where stars are born.

Although their bios say Caitlin Clark and Anthony Edwards were born in Iowa and Georgia, respectively, I would not be surprised to learn someday that they are actually from The Cosmic Cliffs.

They do not seem to be of this world. Though they are just two of several stars shining brightly in sports right now, they are demanding our attention in this moment with their brilliance -- as I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

Edwards was the talk of the NBA on Thursday after willing the Timberwolves to a 113-111 victory over Indiana. On a night when the Wolves would officially announce fellow star Karl-Anthony Towns will miss at least four weeks with a knee injury, Edwards had 44 points -- many of them in the clutch.

But it was his defensive play at the end, an audacious game-clinching blocked shot during which he hit his head on the rim -- Edwards’s officially listed height is 6-foot-4, while the rim’s official height is 10 feet -- is what brought the performance into otherworldly territory. This compilation of everything he did down the stretch says it all:

Clark will take over Target Center on Friday evening, as she has done countless times in countless gyms. We don’t know yet what she has in store during the Big Ten Tournament.

What we do know is that she will enter the building already having set a record for points scored by any player at the top level of women’s or men’s college basketball. Clark will be playing in front of a sold-out crowd as the headliner, and she will continue to do things we have never seen before even though it seems like she’s done everything already.

The reason we gravitate toward stars like Edwards and Clark does not require the benefit of rocket science. They are the very best of the very best, capable of the extraordinary.

They show us the physical outer limits of what humanity can accomplish, boundaries that continue to expand like the information we now have of what was once a vast, unknowable outer space.

And we don’t need the most powerful telescope ever made to witness their brilliance; it’s all there for us to see with the naked eye.

What a time to be alive.

Here are four more things to know today:

*Also on Friday’s podcast, I talked to Gophers men’s basketball beat writer Marcus Fuller. Ben Johnson’s team has made big strides in Year 3. An NCAA bid seems unlikely at this point, but there is plenty to play for still as the Gophers look to make another step toward next season.

*It’s hard to fathom all that White Bear Lake boys’ hockey has endured in losing 20 straight times in the opening round of the high school hockey tournament.

*The Wild won a game and made a trade Thursday. Is there more to come before this afternoon’s trade deadline?

*Buckle up for Monday. That’s when pending NFL free agents can start officially negotiating with other teams, which means early next week should be very interesting for the Vikings and Kirk Cousins.