Caitlin Clark

[Voltopia]

They are not dumb, but .....

1) They do have a very clear UConn bias.

USA Women's Basketball publicly stated that Pat Summitt was not eligible to be selected as the Olympic Head Coach in 2000, because she had already coached the team once before, in 1984. However, this did not stop them from allowing Geno Auriemma to coach the Olympic team twice, and in back-to-back Olympiads in 2012 and 2016. Nell Fortner was named the 2000 USA Olympic Women's Basketball Team Head Coach, instead. She has not had a bad coaching career by any means, but should she have been the Olympic Coach in 2000? I think that's debatable at best.

Also, a lack of experience was cited by USA Basketball recently as a reason for keeping Caitlin Clark off the 2024 roster, but both Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart were named to an Olympic team when they were WNBA rookies in 2004 and 2016 ..... Hmmmm. What was different about those two players? Where they played in college, perhaps?

Finally, would a player as good as Candace Parker was in 2016, have been left off the Olympic roster (that Geno Auriemma coached) if she was a former UConn player? I tend to doubt that, don't you?

and .....

2) They do not value having any diversity of talent from one Olympiad to the next.

There is no "spreading the wealth around," and giving different players a chance to represent their country in the Olympics. This is true, even though the United States has the deepest pool of women's basketball talent in the world to fill an Olympic roster with. The selection committee does not have to keep bringing back the same players for multiple Olympiads in a row in order to win the Gold Medal .... but that is exactly what they do.

and ....

3) They do not prioritize youth, and the development of the best young American talent in the international game.

Unless, of course, the best young American talent is fresh out of UConn .... but that was covered in line item #1.

Absolutely true. UConn's influence on the game, cultivated in part by ESPN as part of their marketing UConn as "the" team in women's basketball for over a decade, cannot be understated. They've had a very beneficial working relationship, those two. And no one in women's basketball wanted to rock the boat or risk jeopardizing the squeaky-clean image of the women's game, so they let UConn have their way, and even looked the other way whenever something questionable came up. Back to back Olympic coaching jobs for Geno, plus unlimited invites for UConn players, plus Geno got to pay Candace back for that dunk by keeping her off the 2016 team, plus plenty of other little nasty tidbits ... and somehow it all got stuffed into some overpriced handbags and shoved in the closet.

 

[SpookyAction]

I am not watching any of these games, so are CC's teammates making opponents pay for taking shots at her or not?
If not, they need to practice enforcing.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

I am not watching any of these games, so are CC's teammates making opponents pay for taking shots at her or not?
If not, they need to practice enforcing.

Baby steps….at least now they’re helping her up when she gets fouled and knocked to the ground, which according to Clay Travis should carry a low level felony charge for fouling her in the first place.

 

[n_huffhines]

Opening up all the nose bleeds. 2/3 of it is roped off when I've gone to games.

 

[volfanbill]

I think another huge factor is how much Caitlin has played in a year’s time. Not smart to risk anything. When Laettner was added to the original Dream Team his first NBA season wasn’t leading up to the Olympics

 

[Volfan1000]

The Clark/Reese battles remind me of Bird/Magic.

 

[n_huffhines]

The Clark/Reese battles remind me of Bird/Magic.

Except Clark is supposed to be MVP level and Reese probably maxes out as an over-qualified role player.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

The Clark/Reese battles remind me of Bird/Magic.

Bird and Kurt Rambis maybe.

 

[508mikey]

I could see how these two girls would be bad for drawing an audience...Not!

Bad news Cameron Brink tore her ACL

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Great game by Angel Reese, but I guess some people also get a special whistle?

 

[S.C. OrangeMan]

The Clark/Reese battles remind me of Bird/Magic.

More like Bird/Rodman

 

[GAVol]

Bird and Kurt Rambis maybe.

We would have also accepted AC Green.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

We would have also accepted AC Green.

That’s a good call. Basically any PF that was decent, but not that good. Now if we can just get Angel some RecSpecs, that would be perfect.

 

[n_huffhines]

Great game by Angel Reese, but I guess some people also get a special whistle?

Deadass serious, this and the flagrant are the only Reese plays I've ever seen posted on social media, and she's literally all over social media.

 

[n_huffhines]

More like Bird/Rodman

Rodman is pretty lofty, if you ask me, but I probably value Rodman way more than most people.

 

[Volunteer_Kirby]

Rodman is pretty lofty, if you ask me, but I probably value Rodman way more than most people.

Rodman, best rebounder of all time. Arguably the best defender as well.

I forget the details of his life but in HS he was something like 5'10 and was never a starter for his team. I think he even said he hated basketball. Then he hit a huge growth spurt after HS while working as a janitor and shot up to 6'7". It's all history after that.

To say he was a freak is an understatement. I believe Pippen also had a similar path, great player in HS but undersized at 6'0 and never offered a scholarship. Walked on a Central Arkansas, hit a growth spurt and you know the rest.

 

[n_huffhines]

Rodman, best rebounder of all time. Arguably the best defender as well.

I forget the details of his life but in HS he was something like 5'10 and was never a starter for his team. I think he even said he hated basketball. Then he hit a huge growth spurt after HS while working as a janitor and shot up to 6'7". It's all history after that.

To say he was a freak is an understatement. I believe Pippen also had a similar path, great player in HS but undersized at 6'0 and never offered a scholarship. Walked on a Central Arkansas, hit a growth spurt and you know the rest.

Rodman would probably be a bench player in this era* but he was a force in his own era. He was the best at defending positions 3-5 and he was the GOAT rebounder.

*He'd be a total 0 on offense, which teams have far less tolerance for today. IDK, maybe he would've learned to be a reliable 3p shooter. Also, team D is way more important than on-ball D and not sure how well his talent would translate. He wasn't really guarding guys coming off screens on the perimeter and that's an all-game affair for everybody now.

 

[Pepe_Silvia]

 

[KoachKrab127]

Congratulations to Caitlin Clark, becoming the first rookie in WNBA history to ever get a triple double. Quite an accomplishment!

Also, Angel Reese set a rookie record by recording her 13th straight double-double. Reese is also leading the entire league in rebounds. She is exceeding expectations. Good for her.

The race between Chicago (Reese) and Indiana (Clark) for that final playoff spot is something that’ll hopefully be tight until the end of the season.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

I watched about 2/3 of the game last night and about 1 quarter of the Iowa regional final. What stood out to me the most was Clark’s passing ability. It looks effortless . Her court “presents” and ability to find her teammates pushing the ball down floor was easily head shoulders above anyone else on the court .

Just sayin

 

[05_never_again]

Just sayin

I only watched 2 WBB games last year; the semifinal between Iowa and UConn and the final. I was even more impressed with her passing ability than her shooting, probably because you hear so much about her shooting.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

To borrow a phrase from Bobby Jones about Jack Nicklaus:

She plays a game with which i am not familiar.

Worth the price of admission just to watch her assists. Hope they beat LSU

Is she a wide receiver or a tight end?

 

[n_huffhines]

Rodman is pretty lofty, if you ask me, but I probably value Rodman way more than most people.

Maybe she is Rodman

 

[Sivad]

I only watched 2 WBB games last year; the semifinal between Iowa and UConn and the final. I was even more impressed with her passing ability than her shooting, probably because you hear so much about her shooting.

She didn’t have a good shooting game against UConn. The game before that was the big rivalry game against LSU and she was on fire

 

[LittleVol]

She’s hot…