Caitlin Clark

Beasts of the East said:
Too hot a subject to rationally discuss from any side. What's clear is that more than likely, pretty soon the fan interest generated will be killed and the wnba can go back to obscurity.
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Would be interested to hear why you think this?

I have never seen more excitement for the WNBA than I have this year. And there are things they can improve upon. Like why are their playoff games and WNBA finals games being played on Sundays? That needs to be fixed for next season. Play these games on nights where this is no football. Or better yet, since ESPN has the rights, schedule games for 6PM on Mondays so people can check it out before Monday Night Football. Anything would be better than trying to go directly against a full slate of NFL games.

The NFL will always be king and squash anything that is going against it. Just ask the NBA, who used to consider themselves the owners of Christmas Day sports. They have had their chain snatched in the past couple of years by the NFL and they aren't getting it back.

If the WNBA can shift their schedule around, I see the game only trending upward. They have a good set up where we get to see college stars actually develop over the course of 4 years before entering the league, unlike the NBA now. Even with Clark and Reese being huge this year, we have Bueckers and Juju Watkins coming up behind them, with room for more stars as well.

I'll also add that sports betting on phone is so widespread now, a lot of sports fans are taking to WNBA for that reason as well. It is another thing to bet on and watch. Just feels like the league is approaching a golden era and I am happy for them.
 
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Amazing graphic to see to get a sense of how popular Clark is. Don't think it's a one year thing, but curious to see what the ratings are next year for women's college basketball.
 
Marillac2 said:
The attention in general. I can't stand her. She's a good player on the court, but the mania extends well beyond that. I just don't get it.
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Yeah some of the nonsense around it is way too much. But I think “good” is a crazy downplay. I’m not a big woman’s basketball fan, but she’s far and away better than any other female player IVE ever seen IMO.
 
Marillac2 said:
The attention in general. I can't stand her. She's a good player on the court, but the mania extends well beyond that. I just don't get it.
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Are you joking?

She is a great player, highly marketable, and a great ambassador of the sport.

I've attached a long screenshot of her accolades. Much like Larry Bird, she has taken a losing Indiana team and made them very good. She has been cheap shotted, flagrantly fouled, and shoved by players and female opponents (I won't call them ladies) snickered and high fived the perpetrator.

She is singlehandedly building a fan base across the country that was formerly largely an LBGTQ demographic.

Star players in the league are extremely jealous of her because of the attention she gets. Mych like Jackie Robinson in this regard, she takes the cheap shots to a large extent without whining. Indiana should put an enforcer on the roster the way hockey teams do, just to protect her.


The thing is, she is going to make everyone more money by the attention she brings to the league.

Oh, yea. She's the all time leading scorer in NCAA D1 history. She's not one dimensionsl as a player. Off the she is a great brand ambassador who resonates with key puchasing demographics.


Crazy to not understand all this. If just a few of her opponents stood up for her, their star would surely rise. Like Bird tho, she doesn't need them to, and handles it all just fine. Her bashers look as stupid as Isaiah Thomas did when he bashed Bird.
 

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dk423 said:
Clark's skillset stands out compared to anyone on the floor. WNBA games get crowded in the paint and are ugly. From a play style perspective, she opens it up like Steph Curry. No one else in the league can do that.
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Wish there were the same nationwide uproar among both fans and media about all the calls Curry doesn't get.
 
Marillac2 said:
Kelsey Plum just set the scoring record a few years and there wasn’t a peep.
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I did not say she was the best player ever. I'm not aware that she is gay because she does have a long term boyfriend. But you may be plugged in to that community more than me.
That Kelsey Plum is relatively unknown underscores the value of Caitlin Clark to the league. How much more attention did Mickey Mantle get in his prime years than Hank Aaron? Willie Mays also. The interest margin wasn't commensurate to the talent gap. Same here.

Before the Knicks lit upnthe nba, the final game was previously televised on saturday afternoon on abc wide world of sports days after the game was played. You cpuld argue the same thing - that the Knicks werent as good as those prior celt teams but they increased nba coverage for everyone.
 
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I am not a fan of her on court behavior. Talks a lot of trash, showboats, makes faces Bobby Hurley never dreamed of. She has great floor vision and hits shots from the logo at center court. Habitually.

She’s been dating Butler assistant coach Connor McCaffery for 2 years. Was at the Butler game here.

Don’t know anything about Kelsey Plum, but she probably wasn’t hitting shots from the logo.

I am all for physical play, but she’s the face of the league. The WNBA powers that be would be out of their minds to not issue an edict to lighten up on the physicality. Opposing players might not like losing to her on the court, but she’ll help them win at the bank.

There are rumors that the WNBA might strike before the 2026 season. They are millions of dollars in the red over the years. The players are pointing to the Unrivaled league as proof of their popularity. That league “almost” broke even, whatever that means. A strike might end the WNBA, they need to realize that Clark’s star power and potential for future gains in fan base (aka $) is the only bargaining chip they have.
 
Spocky Ramone said:
The WNBA powers that be would be out of their minds to not issue an edict to lighten up on the physicality.
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I watch a lot of the W. The style of play is tremendous, the desire and effort of the players is tremendous, and there are absolutely tremendous players all over the league. It is a fabulous league to watch if you love the game.

My primary criticism of the league for a long time has been that it is far too physical. There is no question in my mind that this is intentional and that the league allows the physicality because they are trying to offset the idea that women's basketball is "soft."

Like you I have no trouble with physical play but the W has been over the line in that regard even before Clark and it has not gotten any better. Instead it has predictably gotten worse because whatever you let players get away with, they are going to take another step. And at this point that extra step is a plethora of "not a basketball play" events that will eventually wind up with someone getting seriously injured.

Long story short this is not a Clark issue, it is a W issue that preexisted her and is just (like many things in the W) getting more attention because of her. And it's an issue the league needs to fix - to the extent they ever needed to allow that degree of physicality to "legitimize" the league, it has outgrown its usefulness and needs to be reined in.
 
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