The digits $2, 0, 2,$ and $3$ are placed in the expression below, one digit per box. What is the maximum possible value of the expression?

$\textbf{(A) }0 \qquad \textbf{(B) }8 \qquad \textbf{(C) }9 \qquad \textbf{(D) }16 \qquad \textbf{(E) }18$
First, let us consider the case where $0$ is a base: This would result in the entire expression being $0.$ Contrastingly, if $0$ is an exponent, we will get a value greater than $0.$ $3^2\times2^0=9$ is greater than $2^3\times2^0=8$ and $2^2\times3^0=4.$ Therefore, the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(C) }9}.$