2023 NCAA Womens basketball tournament

patinorange

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Aug 27, 2006
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Looks like LSU was the better team. But that was a sad display of officiating. The whole country is talking about an electric superstar, and they take her out of the game immediately. Damn shame.
 

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
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It was disappointing to see. She outright taunted Clark after the buzzer. Many LSU players didn’t join the “good game” line either. Not a good look.
I think I'm glad I turned it off before the end.
The better team won. The other team didn't quit .
The refs weren't close to as good as the players.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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It was disappointing to see. She outright taunted Clark after the buzzer. Many LSU players didn’t join the “good game” line either. Not a good look.
Eh. Clark reminds me of Bird and I've seen many others saying the same. The viral moment of Clark dismissively waving off the SC player on the perimeter, "I don't need to guard you," ie "you suck," that was straight out of the Bird playbook - not that specific gesture maybe, but Bird showed disdain for his opponents in similar ways. Karma's a bitch.

Not joining the handshake line is classless, I agree.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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I have no problem whatsoever with Mulkey. I hope to be as good at what I do someday as she is at what she does. And I'd like to be able to wear a purple and gold lame tiger pantsuit but I'm too old, fat, poor, and bald to get away with it.
 

amh03

Tippi Hedren
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Wow…anyone remember Garnett?

Leading up to this game it was all about Caitlin Clark…everything was about her…here, on ESPN…everywhere. So a 20 year old plays some confidence card. This happens. Did you see Clark just waving her hand on Friday, dismissing who she was guarding like that player didn’t count? See the 21 second mark -

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8VhQNvCHXj8
 

CFB_Rules

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Wow…anyone remember Garnett?

Leading up to this game it was all about Caitlin Clark…everything was about her…here, on ESPN…everywhere. So a 20 year old plays some confidence card. This happens. Did you see Clark just waving her hand on Friday, dismissing who she was guarding like that player didn’t count? See the 21 second mark -

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8VhQNvCHXj8
It’s not “confidence” when it happens after the game. Nobody would have thought Babe Ruth was nearly as cool if he had pointed to the stands while he was running the bases
 

bosox188

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Jan 11, 2008
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I'm not personally one to clutch pearls too much over trash talking.

But since it's a discussion point now, I'll say I can see a difference as well. I mean, getting into your opponent's head on the court during a game like Jordan or Garnett liked to do, or that Clark example basically daring that girl to try a three is one thing. If that girl decided to shoot and bricked a three then I guess it worked as intended.

Following Clark down to her bench for 10 solid seconds to taunt her, while the rest of your teammates are together literally celebrating the national title you just won, I feel like you could reasonably say that's a clear difference.
 

ekim colorwaterpit

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I'm not personally one to clutch pearls too much over trash talking.

But since it's a discussion point now, I'll say I can see a difference as well. I mean, getting into your opponent's head on the court during a game like Jordan or Garnett liked to do, or that Clark example basically daring that girl to try a three is one thing. If that girl decided to shoot and bricked a three then I guess it worked as intended.

Following Clark down to her bench for 10 solid seconds to taunt her, while the rest of your teammates are together literally celebrating the national title you just won, I feel like you could reasonably say that's a clear difference.
This 100%. There is a grand canyon size gap between talking shit during a game and doing it once it had been decided.

And honestly Reese did the refs a favor because now people are talking about that when that was the absolute worst display of officiating I have ever seen in any sport at any time. And I was just rooting for a good game.
 

worm0082

Penbis
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Sep 19, 2002
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The LSU coach walking all over the court all game long was ridiculous. At one point she was near the end of the on court logo in front of the coaches box feet away from the 3 point line.
 

amh03

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Bummed it played out this way and garnered attention…don’t know what gets said during games, but the attention on Clark ahead of the game was so biased…capped off by ABC’s graphic of Clark being a planet around which everyone else just floated, ahead of the game (did folks see that?). I’ve been enormously impressed w Clark’s skill but was disappointed to see the way she dismissed that S. Carolina player on Friday. From interviews, seems like the LSU players were as well.

So, on this topic, I’ll end w putting this in here for documentation -

All year I was critiqued about who I was, I'm too hood, I'm too ghetto, y'all told me that all year," Reese said. "But when other people do it y'all don't say nothing. This was for the girls that look like me, speak for what they believe in, and being unapologetically you.
View: https://twitter.com/EmmanuelAcho/status/1642651280211603456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1642651280211603456%7Ctwgr%5E31654ec2cfc520a045ddeb241a7fc63a1857b57f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nola.com%2Fsports%2Flsu%2Fwomens_basketball%2Flsus-angel-reese-taunts-iowa-star-caitlin-clark-in-dallas%2Farticle_ee630558-d1ad-11ed-8edf-a7410e18e2f9.html


As for the coach - I agree with all you’ve said about the relationship with/treatment of Griner from 2012. No idea if she’s evolved since then (would hope so)…but bottom line, I’m psyched for a team of young women who really weren’t given much credit ahead of this game but came out and played like a true team. Points were spread around and it truly took all of them to pull this off. They should be very proud of what they accomplished all season.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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That’s a shame, Mulkey is a garbage person.
She really is, which is a shame because in a vacuum LSU is a great story for women's basketball. On top of the shittiness with Griner herself, Mulkey "called the manager" at ESPN to try and get Kate Fagan (who is great) fired after Fagan interviewed Griner about Mulkey's treatment of her and wrote an article about it in 2013.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/kim-mulkey-lgbtq-brittney-griner-controversy/mv4el5ugzawqvnpwv03v2mv7
 

CFB_Rules

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Sounds like Reese has much bigger issues than just Clark "disrespecting" players during a game. She made that very apparent with her post game remarks.

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/angel-reese-caitlin-clark-twitter-classless-lsu-iowa/durpzfxtno6svg9suckmrukd
Twitter is abuzz that people can’t handle her “confidence”, but this all just screams insecurity to me. Which is fine, she’s a college kid. Hope the moment passes for her soon.
 

strek1

Run, Forrest, run!
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Jun 13, 2006
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Twitter is abuzz that people can’t handle her “confidence”, but this all just screams insecurity to me. Which is fine, she’s a college kid. Hope the moment passes for her soon.
That's too dismissive. She's a young adult acting like a middle schooler. I think it will stay with her.
 

mauidano

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Aug 21, 2006
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That's too dismissive. She's a young adult acting like a middle schooler. I think it will stay with her.
It will be synonymous with her the rest of her career. She will never be the star or money maker Clark will be. Clark took the high road during the post game conference and Reese took the low road. To the victor go the spoils I suppose. Just not a good look upon winning a championship. Very distracting from the team victory.
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

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It will be synonymous with her the rest of her career. She will never be the star or money maker Clark will be. Clark took the high road during the post game conference and Reese took the low road. To the victor go the spoils I suppose. Just not a good look upon winning a championship. Very distracting from the team victory.
Maybe, but doesn't Reese already have a huge number of social media followers?
 

Ale Xander

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Oct 31, 2013
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Reese has more than twice as many IG followers as Clark. Among the 8 FF teams (M+W), only her teammate Flau’Jae Johnson has more (but that’s because FJ is also a rapper)

(Along the 8 teams, the 6 players with the most followers are all women)
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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It will be synonymous with her the rest of her career. She will never be the star or money maker Clark will be. Clark took the high road during the post game conference and Reese took the low road. To the victor go the spoils I suppose. Just not a good look upon winning a championship. Very distracting from the team victory.
Disagree
Clark will most likely have a higher PPG in the WNBA, but Reese is going to have more endorsements and be a higher off the court star.
 

luckiestman

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Jul 15, 2005
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This should be a nothing story. Clarke talks a lot of shit, people are going to talk back.
 

amh03

Tippi Hedren
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This should be a nothing story. Clarke talks a lot of shit, people are going to talk back.
Exactly…

Truth is, players of color are treated very differently in this regard…Reese refers to it in that article but if there’s doubt read up on Dawn Staley’s (South Carolina’s coach) comments about how playing against her team has been described in the media or online.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/gamecocks-coach-dawn-staley-pushes-back-style-play-critics-following-loss-iowa-were-not-thugs.amp
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Yup the Clark-Reese thing in is a non story, but sucks that it is being argued in racial terms online. One side is rightfully defensive (see: all of American history) of how Reese is being portrayed versus a player of the pale persuasion doing similar things, and the other side is being intentionally obtuse and non-empathetic. I think the two actions are not EXACTLY the same since one occurred in the flow of the game while the other was a good long chase down after the game, but none of this means all that much in the grand scheme. Although I thought based on NBA twitter that kids this young would be "sub-tweeting" after the game instead (hand/face/ring emojis).
 

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
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There were 9 officials assigned to these 3 games. I hope that they were ranked in the women's game (there is little or no crossover between men's and women's officials at the college level) 1-9. From what I saw, I'm a little skeptical of that. They didn't have great control of that ballgame yesterday.

Only noted because ESPN put it on the ticker on Friday- first time all officals for the Final 4 were women.
 
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CFB_Rules

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There were 9 officials assigned to these 3 games. I hope that they were ranked in the women's game (there is little or no crossover between men's and women's officials at the college level) 1-9. From what I saw, I'm a little skeptical of that. They didn't have great control of that ballgame yesterday.
The NCAA for whatever reason has dictated that only women are eligible to officiate the Final Four games. It's been that way for the finals for years, and has recently expanded to all games. Considering probably 80%+ of NCAA women's basketball officials are men, they're drawing from a smaller pool.

Most guys that work NCAAW ball are fine with it, under the attitude that "We knew what we were getting in to when we signed up". But I still think it's bullshit for a few reasons.

First, the players who make it to the final game deserve to have the best graded officials work that game. Not the best graded officials that happen to be a certain gender or race, or who happen to be retiring that year, or who is young and has a bright future ahead of them and needs to check a box to move up.

Second, you want to give everyone incentives to improve. If you are a bottom-tier official, you always have an incentive to improve because you'll be fired if you don't. Middle-tier officials would typically want to improve so they can work the big games. But if you are a middling male NCAAW official, who gives a shit? You're ineligible. Show up, collect your check, get some beers and go home.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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My buddy refs NCAAW, but generally D2 and below with some lower-level D1 games from time to time. He also worked the NJCAA women's national tournament down in Lubbock recently.

I wonder about his thoughts on that.
 

Bleedred

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Feb 21, 2001
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The Reese/Clark contretemps is boring to me. What bothers the hell out of me is that both Reese and Clark were assessed fouls when replays clearly showed neither of them touched their opponent. The technical given to Clark, her 4th PF, was egregious and indefensible. In a game of this magnitude, where Reese and Clark are the bona fide stars, to put them in foul trouble and cause them to alter their games based on shitty officiating is just a damn shame.
 
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Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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Just watching the game yesterday it was kind of jarring to see the National Championship game be played between basically an all White team and an all Black team.
 

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
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Someone at work who is, at best, a casual fan, mentioned that she was startled over the second week of the tournament by how much attention the LSU coach got - as compared to the LSU players -- as opposed to Iowa's coach and players. (I am not sure how that plays into any of the points raised in the last few posts, though.)