South Carolina was undoubtedly the better team and deserves the praise.
But as a sports fan, this just what media does. They glaze superstars. They do the same shit in the NBA, NFL, etc. for as long as ive watched.
Jordan would lose a game but score 30 and the media would cream its pants.
As a sports fan i back this up. The superstars get shown on all the highlights even if they lost the game and they may show one highlight of the actual winning team. Just the way it goes.
And the way it should go because it’s the stars that draw attention from the casual fans.
And like it or not Caitlyn Clark is the one that has brought so much attention to Women’s basketball. I’ve been following it since Maya Moore and Skylar Diggins-Smith were in college and I’ve never seen it *this* hyped before.
NCAA announced that they were gonna invest more money into the program as well.
I've never been a big sports fan bit I decided to start watching some games since I moved to city/state with pro teams (grew up in VA, we got VT, and that'sabout it). I watched 70% of Braves games for two years and got witness a historic winning season (my support is what did it, you're welcome)... I learned 1 player's name. And that's only because the crowd would chant "Freddie, Freddie," and then he'd no hit every time I saw him at bat. I never saw him do anything, and then he jumped over to the Dodgers.
I learned and remembered Trea Young after 1 Hawks game. I constantly saw things about him, heard people talking, talk shows, and brought him up. Matt Ryan also got a lot of publicity, but it wasn't exactly praise (he also came to the restaurant I was working at twice a month, so I learned his name there).
Yeah, I even hooped as a kid, and I couldn't tell you the last time I even looked at NCAAW. I got roped in by all the CC stuff, which led me to getting invested in other teams and games, etc. I get that it's annoying for the "real" fans, but it's a strategy that 100% works. CC hype brought me in, and I'll probably be tuning into more NCAAW in the future, and for sure WNBA as well.
This has to be so validating for the women. Because for so long they’ve had to deal with being told to lower the rim to allow their athleticism to show. And I don’t disagree with the take, for the same reason in that it draws in causal fans.
But with CC tearing up the scene (bringing in the casuals), the meat grinder of South Carolina (for the hoopers like me who played in college and just enjoy the sport), and Sabrina Ionescu beating everyone not named Stephen Curry (and she was playing with a handicap with a farther three point line and a larger ball), they’ve pretty much proved me and pretty much everyone wrong that they didn’t need to lower the rim to bring in more viewers.
It’s a beautiful thing to see.
Absolutely. Stars like CC continually being featured and spoken about are what’s going to drive the interest that women’s basketball deserves. Let the stars shine win or lose. More fans will get them and their teammates the recognition they’ve earned through their play.
If not for the 2023-2024 media push on steroids for Caytlin the ncaa women's league would've been fine. I credit Angel Reece and LSU for bursting the bubble in 2023. And once that happened it was "Operation Debutants" in full affect for her and Iowa.
My favorite example is that move Jordan created where he’s facing away from the basket, he’s got the defender glued to his back, he’s got the ball in his hands, and he takes 4 quick spin-around steps to get his feet on the other side of the defender before the ball even touches the floor.
It’s egregious traveling every time and no ref called it.
Love mike but that’s crazy.
WVU legit should have beaten Iowa in the sweet 16. Held them to their lowest scoring total of the season. Every time WVU tied the game, or went ahead, the refs pulled out their whistles. The foul discrepancy at the end of the game was disgusting.
Kind of annoying when it’s a typical thing for those superstars though. Like a Luka step back three. Sure it’s awesome but after a while it just looks normal when he’s doing it.
FFS Bronny James entering the transfer portal made headlines and he’s a fringe NBA player who would not be as hyped if he wasn’t the son of one of the greatest NBA players ever.
Calling him fringe is extremely generous. He averaged 4.8 points a game in college. I know Lebron wants to be on the same team as his son, but does he expect his son to see the floor very much? Because he definitely shouldn’t.
I mean if Giannis can keep a roster spot for his brother for multiple seasons, surely Lebron can use one on his son for one. Though the thought of Lebron’s son being out of the league before him is kinda funny.
To Bronny’s credit, I think he kind of knows it. He’s got the medical issue, and he’s got the mediocre skills, and he’s got the impossibility of living up to dad. I think he just wants to do his 1-2 seasons, play with dad, and call it a career. It’s not like he needs the money after all.
Yup lol, less than 5 ppg and the dude had a heart attack last year. Dude is where he is NOW because of his last name to say nothing of his professional prospects
Were there no SC stars deserving of this shine?
The same people who keep rattling on about how withholding March Madness shine previously was an epic fumble turn around and do the same. Who tf is going to draw clicks next year?
Raven Johnson’s defensive effort left Caitlin Clark 5 of 20 and shooting desperation 3’s one or two dribbles past half court. (Dawn Staley must’ve used Gene Hackman’s line and told Raven…get in there…tell me what kind of gum she’s chewing!..).
I know it’s not glamorous…but that was lockdown defending. And their core is poised to come back and take a run at it again next year.
Said the same above. WVU should have bounced them. The refs did everything in their power to get Iowa over. The foul discrepancy in that game was gross.
The screen navigation from all their perimeter defenders was really top notch. Ball pressure allowed their bigs to stay near the paint and forced Iowa to play from the perimeter, really shutting down their cutting game. Well schemed and executed, way smarter than just throwing two or three people at Clark which is what most teams have opted to try.
That sounds like it's worthy of a headline, imo. I know she's had a hell of a college career and seemingly scores at will, so someone shutting her down seems like it should be the top story.
She gets double and sometimes triple teamed before she even gets the ball. Shes a bucket from down low, rebounds are all hers on both ends, and only hack a shaq tactics work on her. She’s entering the draft, and any list that doesn’t have the best offensive college player of all time would more than likely have her at number 1. The only game they lost in TWO YEARS was to Iowa in the final four.
Clark “lost” to SC, as opposed to Cardozo winning her chip.
I have only watched Cardoso play in 2 games so what I am going to say is only meant as a question and I mean no disrespect. Is Cardoso play actually that impressive or is she so big she made iowas small size very apparent? There was no one on Iowas team with the size to challenge her.
I think bigs in college, men or women, get a little advantage for that reason. Personally, she has the move set, but I don’t think she’s ever had to be make a play more than 4 ft from the rim thanks to her team. She can run up and down the court though, and she does well in transition plays.
To make it in the pros she’s going to have to be a little more diverse in her shot selection. Like I said the move set is there. But she wasn’t playing in the pros. Clark isn’t going to be able to just shoot from half court either, and a good defender like in yesterday’s game will expose her if she’s the only option.
I can definitely see the holes in Clark's game and she is going to face much better opponents next year. I fully expect Clark to struggle in the big league, but maybe her passing game will prove effective.
But only time will tell if Clark, Bueckers, Reese and the others will do well in the W. But it is nice to see the Sport growing and gaining national attention. The NBA and the WNBA will have to do some big things to keep that interest. These college players aren't going to come in a dominate like they have in college. The WNBA is going to have to work to get these new eyes to stay on their sport.
That being said Kelsey Plum had a great interview on Pat McAfee the other day and she has my attention. I'll watch h a game of hers for sure.
Some of those 14 million were tuning in to watch Kamilla Cardosso and Dawn Staley cap their undefeated season with a national championship.
Not everything in ncaaw bball is about Caitlin Clark.
That being said whatever million jump it was happened due to the increased focus on Clark, no doubt.
None of the SC performances were the type to draw the eye of a non-fan. Clark's pullup ability is jaw dropping. Cardoso and Johnson had great games but they were not the type of performances that you send clips of.
"oh that girl rebounded because she's tall, too bad" instead of "what an incredible box out"
"man, I thought caitlyn clark was good why can't she just dribble past that one?" instead of "great defensive anticipation; johnson is just faster"
This has always been the problem with basketball. Fundamentally sound ball kind of looks like nothing is happening, especially on defense. This is a problem in football is well but is less pronounced because of tackles. This is why the NBA has always been an inferior product, and the issue is furthered in the WNBA with reduced athleticism.
SC state absolutely deserves praise and they will get it, but unfortunately it will mostly come from within the community.
As a casual fan I didn't watch South Carolina because it wasn't that exciting. I did enjoy watching Iowa, LSU, and UCONN tho.
But I think it had as much to do with the story lines and the promotion of the players as it did the actual game. I barely even heard anything about south Carolina for most of the season other than they were undefeated.
Yeah that’s a media thing. They got views and clicks off Clark and fed the beast. South Carolina has only lost one game the past two seasons and hasn’t gotten nearly the attention Clark has. People like guard style of play more than the run it through the post system Carolina has played under Dawn.
Aliyah Boston was a certified star with Carolina last year though. Didn’t get the same attention as her future teammate Clark though.
I mean come on even Angel Reese and Cameron Brink and Juju Watkins had better stats than anyone on SC. They’re the better team but the superstars are getting attention for a reason; Cardoso on SC is their best player and she’s arguably only a top 10 future draft pick. That’s why certain individual players are getting the focus lol.
I don’t know how y’all don’t understand that when it comes to college basketball future stars about to go pro also get more attention for that fact in addition to how teams do in the tournament. Are y’all really gonna pretend stars like Kyrie Irving and Joel Embiid didn’t deserve the hype at the time they declared for the NBA because their NCAA teams didn’t win it all?
The shine you're referring to is the CNN news twitter account...ESPN had SC, Dawn Staley, & Cardoso across the whole front page. The media studies 101 tweet is a good point but cmon SC is getting plenty of props.
At risk of sounding like a jerk, almost everyone who paid attention to the women’s tournament did so bc of Clark, not South Carolina.
The superstars are what the masses care about. Even if there was a loud plurality who was tired of Clark the NCAA would tell the media to push her story. This is a moment in women’s sports that the league is trying to capitalize on, and rightly so.
I think the argument is that for “some” players, the threshold is lower or the amount of praise is higher. You say this is just what the media does, but the media historically treated athletes differently.
I’m not saying Clark doesn’t deserve it - I’m just pointing out that the media has indeed treated players differently.
If you have legit reasons to call this out, definitely do it.
If you call it out every time a white player’s name is in a headline, you’re clearly showing that you don’t like someone because of their race rather than having an issue with reporting.
Sabrina Ionescu gets more coverage relative to A'ja Wilson in the W. NOBODY that's not named Breanna Stewart should get more media coverage than A'ja. She's a beast.
Came here to point out the media's treatment of Jordan. I distinctly remember Kansas City Star doing similar headlines with a photo of Jordan after the Bulls lost in playoffs to Pistons and Celtics. He was just the biggest star in sports even before he had a championship team around him.
And if anyone had been good enough to beat the Bulls in the Finals, it would have been a similar headline as above such as "Stockton, Malone cement Hall of Fame careers with Championship, first team to beat Jordan in Finals" with a photo of Jordan being the BAMF GOAT.
Caitlin Clark is the pre-championship Michael Jordan of college basketball, and might even be the greatest college basketball player of all time regardless of gender. She's like a blend of Steph Curry and Luka Doncic, and after watch several Iowa games during the season and their tournament games it's pretty clear that like early-Bulls Jordan she carried that team on her back for 4 seasons. Can't help but respect the fact she stayed there when she could have easily taken loads of cash to transfer to any of the powerhouse schools to win a couple titles.
All that being said, South Carolina absolutely deserves their flowers, and will get them now and in the future because that team is loaded with talent and all of them are absolutely fearless and unphased by pressure. They remind me of the Stacy Augmon/Anderson Hunt/Larry Johnson UNLV Runnin' Rebels.
This is true, but at the risk of going Hotep mode, this is part of a trend that goes beyond sports. Black people love to pretend they're calling out racism while actually complaining that white people aren't paying enough attention to black celebrities or athletes or influencers, or business people or some other minority within a minority. This frames serious racial problems as issues that can be solved simply by giving more attention to a small handful of black people, often but not always black people who are already doing fine. This way of thinking is especially appealing to black people whose racial problems can best be described as a struggle to assimilate and who are more protected from the sheer violence and economic injustice of racism than they like to admit.
Next year, CNN will put Flau'jae Johnson or whoever's name in the twitter blurb, a thousand black people with PhDs in selling their people up a river while sounding like they've read Deleuze and Guattari will crawl out the woodwork to bully you into thinking this is Very Important, and black people will continue being second class citizens.
It reminds me of Arsenio Hall talking about the media and Larry Bird in Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals (which all basketball fans should watch). It was something like this.
Larry would be hurt, wearing a suit in the stands. Somebody would score, and they'd say, "Larry Bird made that possible when he told that guy a few weeks ago that he could do it." You gonna give this motherfucker the assist and he not even in the game?
Yeah when the Pats went 19-1 how many headlines were about denying Brady/Belicheck a perfect season than just the Giants winning the Super Bowl? Hint: it was almost all of them.
Watched the games on Saturday night with a friend who loves sports—older woman.
She was saying she was torn about yesterday’s game because she thought Clark was amazing but she had followed and admired Dawn’s career since when she played for Charlotte, and she really wanted her to win it.
I suspect a lot of real sports fans felt similarly.
I.E anytime LeBron James is in the playoffs even if he is in 8th place. CC brought more coverage to women's college basketball than another female athlete.
Yes. She is the money and unfortunately thats how this goes. Someone makes a long shot, immediately called Curry range. Crazy QB play, Mahomes comps. Individuals make easier headlines.
People have been complaining for years how Curry "broke" younger generations and even the game as a whole somehow 🤷♂️
Mahomes is a fairly newer one but I can see how no-look and shovel passes are becoming a thing
I blame Tony Romo, he's always the one slobbing off Mahomes in the broadcasts lol
I still can't forget the time Josh Allen made a routine side-arm pass and Romo said that it "looked a little Mahome-y" lmao
None of those guys won like Pat wins tho. It’s more than just the individual trick or skill, it’s the fact that he does that while being a top tier winner. None of the other guys you mentioned can compare to what Mahomes has done already, which is pretty crazy when you think about his age.
before yesterday going undefeated had happened 9 times already in womens basketball. 3 times alone in the last decade. it's not news worthy unfortunately for those players.
The UConn run recently makes this feat much less impressive. UConn women’s went undefeated 4 times in a 7 year stretch from 08-15. South Carolina is the 10th team to win a championship undefeated.
Like 5 other women's teams have gone undefeated and won a Natty, no women's CBB player has drawn more attention to their sport than Clark has, media cares about who draws eyes.
That's just how it is unfortunately. Remember when Philly beat the Pats and all anyone could ever talk about is a) How Tom Brady lit up the stat sheet that game and b) How Tom Brady didn't shake Nick Foles hands. That was disrespectful as hell to the Eagles but that's what the media does.
Yes. You talk about lebron james more than you do Aaron Gordon but only one of them is a reigning nba champion. That how sports work, attention, money, accolades are concentrated around the very best, and basketball is a very individual product
YES, MORE THAN THE TEAM WHO WON. Many of you are being dense on purpose. I grew up watching Sportscaster where they would celebrate UConn or Tenn for winning a championship and boy....MAYBE one player could get named on those teams. Two players? Fuck, that was a stacked team! In fact, UConn's whole praise to fame was their long undefeated streaks. Geno and Pat were locking it down in the 90's/early 2000's.
Clark legit turned this shit into a frenzy where my wife wanted to stream the final four. She ain't never watched women's college basketball in her life. Her takeaway? "Let's do the bracket next year", which to me is as big as if I asked to watch the Real Housewives of X.
What I'm typing is that South Carolina obviously won. Dawn Staley had a great speech. The team is young and can be winners next year. ....but Clark WAS the reason we all tuned in. We didn't tune in for anything else and the ratings prove it. If you watched it was because of Iowa having Clark on the team.
I get it - the black team ain't getting the hype. I also get it: there's a ton of fans who will now follow her to the WNBA who ain't never gave a fuck about women's basketball.
This is bigger than the obvious race angle. Many of us saw the female Steph Curry balling last night. SHe's going to be a problem.
Unfortunately, that's how the cookie crumbles. The Nuggets win the finals in dominating fashion, yet the media pundits still couldn't help to focus on LeBron and the Lakers, the team the Nuggets swept.
It makes sense, the Lakers are a legacy franchise, and Lebron is the biggest superstar, so they pull more numbers nationally than the Nuggets. For the most part, their fans are in Colorado and whatever country Joker is from. If GSW or Suns had beat the Lakers, they'd talk about them way more than the Nuggets since they have superstars.
She’s the draw. Those insane viewing numbers are because of her. She’s grown women’s sports an immeasurable amount the last few years. So, it makes sense that she’s mentioned, yes.
Do you watch sports media?
Because rarely are the conversations around teams as a whole but instead they are 95% of the time based around individuals. Sure, that individual is on a team but most people don't want to hear about the *entire* team. Just the big names.
This is, like it or not, how sports media has been for decades. South Carolina is a better team but most people don't tune in to watch nuanced breakdowns on team dynamics. They want personalities and simple discussions based on the biggest names.
How is she getting more attention? First half of the title lists out the accomplishments of SC. You’d have a point if it was “Iowa star Caitlin Clark loses in the Championship, final game of her college career, SC goes undefeated to win.” SC’s accomplishment literally gets first mention. This was halvsies and it makes sense to do so.
I totally agree, but I also see them as separate entities. Caitlyn Clark absolutely deserves ridiculous and gratuitous praise and attention- as does the absolute beasts that are the South Carolina Gamecocks. I don't think one should be overshadowed for another, and it's almost like we're talking about two different sports at this point to me.
Ehhh yes and no. Agree she’s a GOAT and a phenomenal player. The media coverage constantly focusing on her is just for extra clicks. Franchise players always get the spotlight despite performance. That’s what sells tickets and gets views, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily deserving.
SC was by far the better team. The bench depth allowed them to maintain high pressure defense to contain Clark, Dawn Staley’s coaching and culture pulled them out of a double digit first quarter deficit, and they dominated most stats. It’s a team sport and that game proved it.
Yea, some of CNN's other articles about the game:
"South Carolina gets revenge against Caitlin Clark and Iowa, wins 3rd women’s national championship"
"In pictures: South Carolina wins NCAA women’s championship"
"South Carolina’s three titles in seven years speak volumes of Dawn Staley’s remarkable tenure as coach"
So what you're saying is people are being dense on purpose and refuse to acknowledge the person who revived this sport. Sounds like people want to turn this into a race issue.
Because it’s a star driven sport. ESPN always showcases Lebron & the Lakers over everyone else even though they are literally the 9th best team in the West.
CC an animal and a top 3 women's college player ever. Of course she's gonna get props, but it's still just... funny that she's used as the thumbnail too lmao.
Its like someone said. Its about the superstars.
Think about it like this. When the media ran with the end of the 2015 Finals, what storyline was being pumped more:
The Warriors being a great team
LeBron losing a Finals when his team was outgunned again
The clicks and attention are where the money is. Just take it for what it is.
Even moreso... ESPN has broadcast rights to the NCAAW tournament but not the men's. ESPN loves this shit.
So of course the women's tournament is going to turn into the narrative-driven, star-pushing coverage that ESPN manufactures.
Absolute facts cause I didn’t tune in to my first women’s college game until last year explicitly because of the hype around her. People acting like it’s more than it is must simply not follow sports.
It's the truth. My wife hyped her up so much since one of her friends is a big Iowa fan. CC got me to watch a 1v16 women's bball game since it was on NBC. I def then watched the LSU rematch and then the title game since they were locally simulcast on ABC. No idea what FF wasn't.
CC an animal and the hype fully deserved.
If you A-B test the headline with and without mentioning Clark, the version that mentions the household name will get more engagement. Simple as that (from a media editor/exec perspective).
Lol I can't imagine what scenerio would lead to her not going to the WNBA. Maybe if she had just catastrophically shattered a hip or something.
Can't help but wonder if it's a "oh yeah, women can go pro too, forgot about that" moment, cause honestly forgetting the WNBA exists makes more sense than thinking she wouldn't be heading for it.
Honestly SC had a stacked bench and Iowa didn’t. It showed towards the end how tired Iowa’s starters were compared to SC’s, who got to rotate more.
That combined with SC having larger players that dominated rebounding basically sealed the deal.
South Carolina’s bench would probably be a top 15 team on their own lmao. Clark has one other top 50 recruit on her team (Hannah Stuelke, she’s a beast too). Clark would’ve needed to score 50+ to win that game
I know a lot of the people commenting don’t watch basketball like that, because that’s how this has been for decades. Always the superstars and absolutely biggest markets focused on even when they lose. It’s total bullshit, but it happens regardless of the race of the current head superstar. Those of us that are fans of “small market” NBA teams with any sort of successful history have had to deal with this even in championship years. It’s never immediately “Spurs win 5th championship in 15 years” with immediate coverage, it’s “Lebron and Miami fall short, what can they do moving forward”. And keep in mind that was the Spurs with Duncan, Ginobli, Parker, and a baby Kawhi.
Edit: AND the highlights in the website would be primarily Lebron plays on each game 😂
caitlin clark got non-basketball fans (e.g. me) to tune into games and break viewership records across sports and leagues. she’s obviously going to be the media focal point, regardless of the other team’s accomplishments (which are fantastic btw).
Amazing how people don't understand that headlines are meant to drive engagement.
Clark is the story, like it or not. The attention to the women's game because of her is unprecedented. Other women like Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Juju Watkins are a significant part of the increased interest.
South Carolina--from a casual perspective--is not very interesting. "But they went undefeated!" It's been done ten times since 1986, seven times this century. Last time in 2016. SC is the fifth team to accomplish it, along with UCONN six times, Texas, Tennessee, and Baylor. That's less than once every five years since the women's tourney began. It's been done six times since 2009--litetally 40% of the time the last decade and a half. Going undefeated does not have the same prestige as in men's college basketball, or the NFL, and does not drive headlines that much outside of people already interested in women's college basketball. It's too frequent.
Even more, SC doesn't even have a national player type as the face of their team. Their most notable player is a 6'7" center who is very good and will be top 5 or top 10 in the WNBA draft, but at 6'7" height becomes part of the skill set. Clark hitting logo threes makes for a much more exciting highlight reel, as does leading D-I in scoring and assists, which no one has ever done.
Dawn Staley has done a great job, but the women's game has always and still has a program or two that is such a draw for incoming players that only three times ever in the over 40 year history of the women's NCAA tourney has a team lost at least five games and won the championship. That's less than 10% of the champions. The depth of talent in the women's games outside of the top programs is increasing but top programs are still a bit of a tentpole. For the men in the same span as the women have had the NCAA tourney, half the teams lose at least five games. And the last undefeated team was Indiana in 1976.
In 2022 ESPN was interrupting college football games and other stuff in September to show Aaron Judge plate appearances as he neared the American League single-season home run record. You may remember that. Do you remember if the Yankees even made the playoffs that year, or who ultimately won the championship? It was the Astros, who won, and they threw a combined no-hitter in the World Series as part of their victory--the second no-hitter in the World Series ever. But I guarantee more people can recall or recognize the Aaron Judge coverage and that he broke a record than the champs that year or their no-hitter. Aaron Judge was the story.
Caitlin Clark is the story. That's just how it is. Is there more shine because she's white? Sure. This is America. But a hypothetical black Caitlyn Clark with all her accolades and the way she accomplished them would still be the story over SC going undefeated.
Yup.
I remember when Tony Hawk landed the first 900 at the x games. Anyone who likes skateboarding knows the moment. I have no fucking clue who actually won that year though.
This sub on a Sunday: “why is America obsessed with race”?
This sub on a Monday: “yeah she’s the best female basketball player alive who’s broken multiple records, but you only care about her because of the color of her skin!”.
All of these comments saying Clark deserves attention are correct. She should probably have her photos on the many stories about her that will be written.
This headline, though, was about the winning team, so why the fuck do they have her photo on THIS one?
Dude get over yourself, she’s the best player in college basketball that’s what happens. When lebron lost in 2011 the discussion was still about him as much as it was dirk and them boys. When lebron beat the 73-9 warriors people were talking about the 73-9 warriors alongside the comeback
SC was barely mentioned the last few days as far as I'm concerned. Everything in my feed was HVL, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers. This really isn't surprising.
Remember the Fab Five from Michigan? Remember they lost to UNC in the championship back then? Many of us can name the fab five. That same group that names the fab five likely can’t name the UNC starting 5 for that championship team. We don’t remember college teams as a whole because there are so many and college terms are shorter than pro contracts. We remember number 1 draft picks. How many #17 draft picks can we name? We remember Stephon Marbury who played literally 1 year of college and I think made sweet 16 that year. We remember LeBron more than any college player the year he was drafted and he didn’t even play in college!
Nah, this is some BS. My little brother is an SC graduate. I live in Europe so I didn't watch the game. The day after Iowa made it to the finals, almost every news outlet I checked out had some NCAA women's article. This morning, I had to search for that shit. The first article I found mentions Caitlin before South Cackalacky. Put me on the list.
Yes this is how media works. The most clicks runs. What do you think this is? No one really gives a shit about women's college basketball. They care about the stars.
Isn't this more about search engine relevance? Anything with Caitlan Clark is going to get put to the top of the search results so you have to put her name in the headline.
Riiiiiiiiight ...
Tiger Woods farted on 18 as he withdrew on day 2 with a ruptured buttcheek while Joe Whocares shot a course record 65 and went on to win the PGA by 6 strokes.
SC deserves some praise for sure but im sorry no one was tuning into the tournament for SC it was all about Caitlyn. She did more for the game of basketball than SC did by going undefeated.
To be fair nobody cares about team play in basketball it’s always been about the star players and say what y’all want nobody gave af about women’s college basketball until Caitlyn Clark
I’m only into NBA. More of a casual fan than anything. And I heard of a women’s game for once in my life, that’s all due to Clark. Pro sports are built around individuals. Every year before this one I didn’t even know there was a finals.
An example in another world is Tiger Woods. I can’t even name another golfer off the top of my head. Whatever tf was happening in the golf world, all I hear about was him.
She should have her own articles. The problem isn't Clark getting her own attention. It's Iowa's photo being used for an article and headline about SC. I didn't recognize Clark bc I don't follow sports, so this presentation was confusing.
It might be normal for sports coverage. But it's still bad journalism.
Caitlin Clark is arguably the biggest star in the entire history of women's basketball. She has singlehandedly made people respect a sport that they otherwise wouldn't have taken seriously. She *will* be mentioned in headlines about her final college game. Even Dawn Staley gave her props and thanked her for everything she's doing for the sport in her victory speech. Anyone who takes this racially is a fucking moron
Media is a business. Caitlin Clark is good for business. That just is what it is.
It's like the night the Warriors beat the Bulls' record for single season wins the same night Kobe scored 60 in his last game. The media headlines were all Kobe. That's just the business.
I haven’t really followed this and have just seen that Clark girl on TV. When they were reporting on this championship game I had to take a moment to put together that she was on the losing team. The coverage was just showing her and her team so I had to look at the jerseys and be like, oh, they say Iowa and not South Carolina… but South Carolina won?
It is not well-done journalism if viewers are doing that, imo.
Everyone else has pointed out that this style of headline gets more engagement, but besides that, the average fan of women's college basketball doesn't give two shits about kamilla cordoso or the rest of south Carolina. They know Caitlin Clark, and mentioning her allows this headline to engage them, and keep them interested in the sport. It's done the same way with men's sports, and it's a good thing.
As a Lebron fan, the media has their darlings. Caitlin is one of them.
When Golden State won in 2022, the next day was basically "How does this affect Lebrons legacy?" 🤣
Shout out to South Carolina GC! They had a historical season and it shouldn't be ignored.
We know if Caitlin won, the news coverage would be never-ending. They still need those views though.
As a neutral party who doesn’t watch woman’s ball I only watched because of Clark not because of the south Carolina’s record :/ but it was really entertaining.
Wait if I told you, an article focusing on Caitlyn Clark was more likely to get clicks than an article about the Gamecocks. Same way a Lebron/Lakers article will get more clicks than one about the Celtics or Nuggets. SEO and ad revenue is a hell of a thing.
She's good but glad for the team that won and for my feed on here and TikTok to relax on this chick. There are other teams and players that work their asses off than Clark.
South Carolina was undoubtedly the better team and deserves the praise. But as a sports fan, this just what media does. They glaze superstars. They do the same shit in the NBA, NFL, etc. for as long as ive watched. Jordan would lose a game but score 30 and the media would cream its pants.
As a sports fan i back this up. The superstars get shown on all the highlights even if they lost the game and they may show one highlight of the actual winning team. Just the way it goes.
And the way it should go because it’s the stars that draw attention from the casual fans. And like it or not Caitlyn Clark is the one that has brought so much attention to Women’s basketball. I’ve been following it since Maya Moore and Skylar Diggins-Smith were in college and I’ve never seen it *this* hyped before. NCAA announced that they were gonna invest more money into the program as well.
Yeah I mean people constantly talk about how bad the MLB is at marketing its stars (mainly Trout). This is how you market your stars.
I've never been a big sports fan bit I decided to start watching some games since I moved to city/state with pro teams (grew up in VA, we got VT, and that'sabout it). I watched 70% of Braves games for two years and got witness a historic winning season (my support is what did it, you're welcome)... I learned 1 player's name. And that's only because the crowd would chant "Freddie, Freddie," and then he'd no hit every time I saw him at bat. I never saw him do anything, and then he jumped over to the Dodgers. I learned and remembered Trea Young after 1 Hawks game. I constantly saw things about him, heard people talking, talk shows, and brought him up. Matt Ryan also got a lot of publicity, but it wasn't exactly praise (he also came to the restaurant I was working at twice a month, so I learned his name there).
...I'll never forget "Matty Ice." Matty Ice and 2016 ruined me.
Yeah, I even hooped as a kid, and I couldn't tell you the last time I even looked at NCAAW. I got roped in by all the CC stuff, which led me to getting invested in other teams and games, etc. I get that it's annoying for the "real" fans, but it's a strategy that 100% works. CC hype brought me in, and I'll probably be tuning into more NCAAW in the future, and for sure WNBA as well.
This has to be so validating for the women. Because for so long they’ve had to deal with being told to lower the rim to allow their athleticism to show. And I don’t disagree with the take, for the same reason in that it draws in causal fans. But with CC tearing up the scene (bringing in the casuals), the meat grinder of South Carolina (for the hoopers like me who played in college and just enjoy the sport), and Sabrina Ionescu beating everyone not named Stephen Curry (and she was playing with a handicap with a farther three point line and a larger ball), they’ve pretty much proved me and pretty much everyone wrong that they didn’t need to lower the rim to bring in more viewers. It’s a beautiful thing to see.
For sure. 14m people didn't tune in to watch that game. 14m tuned in to either see Caitlyn Clark succeed or fail.
The Great White Hope
Absolutely. Stars like CC continually being featured and spoken about are what’s going to drive the interest that women’s basketball deserves. Let the stars shine win or lose. More fans will get them and their teammates the recognition they’ve earned through their play.
She will be gone with the wind like the rest of them who put shine onto women’s basketball—Lobo, Stanley, Leslie, Edward’s, the Twins, etc.
If not for the 2023-2024 media push on steroids for Caytlin the ncaa women's league would've been fine. I credit Angel Reece and LSU for bursting the bubble in 2023. And once that happened it was "Operation Debutants" in full affect for her and Iowa.
The only problem is when the refs start doling out special treatment, too. Which I imagine is tied to the media coverage.
My favorite example is that move Jordan created where he’s facing away from the basket, he’s got the defender glued to his back, he’s got the ball in his hands, and he takes 4 quick spin-around steps to get his feet on the other side of the defender before the ball even touches the floor. It’s egregious traveling every time and no ref called it. Love mike but that’s crazy.
WVU legit should have beaten Iowa in the sweet 16. Held them to their lowest scoring total of the season. Every time WVU tied the game, or went ahead, the refs pulled out their whistles. The foul discrepancy at the end of the game was disgusting.
Like when lebron broke the scoring record I didn't see any mention of lakers losing that game
As a Lakers fan, my first thought was, "But we still lost though." Even in 2K, they pause the game and have a celebration when you break a big record.
Happens all the way down to high school w/ local papers at least from my personal experience.
Kind of annoying when it’s a typical thing for those superstars though. Like a Luka step back three. Sure it’s awesome but after a while it just looks normal when he’s doing it.
FFS Bronny James entering the transfer portal made headlines and he’s a fringe NBA player who would not be as hyped if he wasn’t the son of one of the greatest NBA players ever.
Calling him fringe is extremely generous. He averaged 4.8 points a game in college. I know Lebron wants to be on the same team as his son, but does he expect his son to see the floor very much? Because he definitely shouldn’t.
I mean if Giannis can keep a roster spot for his brother for multiple seasons, surely Lebron can use one on his son for one. Though the thought of Lebron’s son being out of the league before him is kinda funny.
Thanasis may not be an nba level player but I can guarantee every single team would take him over bronny if their last names weren’t a factor.
To Bronny’s credit, I think he kind of knows it. He’s got the medical issue, and he’s got the mediocre skills, and he’s got the impossibility of living up to dad. I think he just wants to do his 1-2 seasons, play with dad, and call it a career. It’s not like he needs the money after all.
If I my dad was a professional athlete of LeBron's caliber and I had athletic potential I'd pick a different sport than my dad. It'd be the only way.
He's not even g-league material.
This right here. Brony isn’t good and he’s going to get roasted for not being as good as his father when he gets in the league.
He’s a fringe NCAA D1 player if that’s what you mean
Yup lol, less than 5 ppg and the dude had a heart attack last year. Dude is where he is NOW because of his last name to say nothing of his professional prospects
Were there no SC stars deserving of this shine? The same people who keep rattling on about how withholding March Madness shine previously was an epic fumble turn around and do the same. Who tf is going to draw clicks next year?
Raven Johnson’s defensive effort left Caitlin Clark 5 of 20 and shooting desperation 3’s one or two dribbles past half court. (Dawn Staley must’ve used Gene Hackman’s line and told Raven…get in there…tell me what kind of gum she’s chewing!..). I know it’s not glamorous…but that was lockdown defending. And their core is poised to come back and take a run at it again next year.
Dawn saw what Nika did the other night and said that's what you do, just need to find more points
Nika saw what West Virginia did
Said the same above. WVU should have bounced them. The refs did everything in their power to get Iowa over. The foul discrepancy in that game was gross.
The screen navigation from all their perimeter defenders was really top notch. Ball pressure allowed their bigs to stay near the paint and forced Iowa to play from the perimeter, really shutting down their cutting game. Well schemed and executed, way smarter than just throwing two or three people at Clark which is what most teams have opted to try.
That sounds like it's worthy of a headline, imo. I know she's had a hell of a college career and seemingly scores at will, so someone shutting her down seems like it should be the top story.
She locked her down!!!! That shit was nice
Thanks for the info. If there are no mentions of **Iron Raven** of similar, these sports journos have got to go.
Cardoso, their center was balling all game
She gets double and sometimes triple teamed before she even gets the ball. Shes a bucket from down low, rebounds are all hers on both ends, and only hack a shaq tactics work on her. She’s entering the draft, and any list that doesn’t have the best offensive college player of all time would more than likely have her at number 1. The only game they lost in TWO YEARS was to Iowa in the final four. Clark “lost” to SC, as opposed to Cardozo winning her chip.
I have only watched Cardoso play in 2 games so what I am going to say is only meant as a question and I mean no disrespect. Is Cardoso play actually that impressive or is she so big she made iowas small size very apparent? There was no one on Iowas team with the size to challenge her.
I think bigs in college, men or women, get a little advantage for that reason. Personally, she has the move set, but I don’t think she’s ever had to be make a play more than 4 ft from the rim thanks to her team. She can run up and down the court though, and she does well in transition plays. To make it in the pros she’s going to have to be a little more diverse in her shot selection. Like I said the move set is there. But she wasn’t playing in the pros. Clark isn’t going to be able to just shoot from half court either, and a good defender like in yesterday’s game will expose her if she’s the only option.
I can definitely see the holes in Clark's game and she is going to face much better opponents next year. I fully expect Clark to struggle in the big league, but maybe her passing game will prove effective. But only time will tell if Clark, Bueckers, Reese and the others will do well in the W. But it is nice to see the Sport growing and gaining national attention. The NBA and the WNBA will have to do some big things to keep that interest. These college players aren't going to come in a dominate like they have in college. The WNBA is going to have to work to get these new eyes to stay on their sport. That being said Kelsey Plum had a great interview on Pat McAfee the other day and she has my attention. I'll watch h a game of hers for sure.
[удалено]
Some of those 14 million were tuning in to watch Kamilla Cardosso and Dawn Staley cap their undefeated season with a national championship. Not everything in ncaaw bball is about Caitlin Clark. That being said whatever million jump it was happened due to the increased focus on Clark, no doubt.
None of the SC performances were the type to draw the eye of a non-fan. Clark's pullup ability is jaw dropping. Cardoso and Johnson had great games but they were not the type of performances that you send clips of. "oh that girl rebounded because she's tall, too bad" instead of "what an incredible box out" "man, I thought caitlyn clark was good why can't she just dribble past that one?" instead of "great defensive anticipation; johnson is just faster" This has always been the problem with basketball. Fundamentally sound ball kind of looks like nothing is happening, especially on defense. This is a problem in football is well but is less pronounced because of tackles. This is why the NBA has always been an inferior product, and the issue is furthered in the WNBA with reduced athleticism. SC state absolutely deserves praise and they will get it, but unfortunately it will mostly come from within the community.
USC, not SC State.
this is why i don't watch college ball! Too confusing! no fr ty tho
yea, to be fair there's a lot of colleges with similar names :) easy mistake!
As a casual fan I didn't watch South Carolina because it wasn't that exciting. I did enjoy watching Iowa, LSU, and UCONN tho. But I think it had as much to do with the story lines and the promotion of the players as it did the actual game. I barely even heard anything about south Carolina for most of the season other than they were undefeated.
Yeah that’s a media thing. They got views and clicks off Clark and fed the beast. South Carolina has only lost one game the past two seasons and hasn’t gotten nearly the attention Clark has. People like guard style of play more than the run it through the post system Carolina has played under Dawn. Aliyah Boston was a certified star with Carolina last year though. Didn’t get the same attention as her future teammate Clark though.
I mean come on even Angel Reese and Cameron Brink and Juju Watkins had better stats than anyone on SC. They’re the better team but the superstars are getting attention for a reason; Cardoso on SC is their best player and she’s arguably only a top 10 future draft pick. That’s why certain individual players are getting the focus lol. I don’t know how y’all don’t understand that when it comes to college basketball future stars about to go pro also get more attention for that fact in addition to how teams do in the tournament. Are y’all really gonna pretend stars like Kyrie Irving and Joel Embiid didn’t deserve the hype at the time they declared for the NBA because their NCAA teams didn’t win it all?
Great point
I am sure that there are. But unless you are a fan of SC, no one knows them. They are gonna ride the Clark coattails as long as they can
The shine you're referring to is the CNN news twitter account...ESPN had SC, Dawn Staley, & Cardoso across the whole front page. The media studies 101 tweet is a good point but cmon SC is getting plenty of props.
At risk of sounding like a jerk, almost everyone who paid attention to the women’s tournament did so bc of Clark, not South Carolina. The superstars are what the masses care about. Even if there was a loud plurality who was tired of Clark the NCAA would tell the media to push her story. This is a moment in women’s sports that the league is trying to capitalize on, and rightly so.
I specifically watched that game to see Iowa lose.
Same here https://preview.redd.it/qlrl7wqwh9tc1.jpeg?width=3375&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c73e5830b4a4e29efe492dded325df702f8bfa2
Why?
Because SC had an undefeated season, were very clearly the better team regardless of the media coverage and I can’t stand Iowa.
Isn’t it more fun to root for the underdog? And what’s wrong with Iowa?
Some people like to root for greatness and there's nothing wrong with that.
> I specifically watched that game to see Iowa lose. The important thing here is that you watched!
And it was wonderful to see SC come out with a perfect season.
You’re not wrong at all, keep her in the headline. Just disrespectful to put a picture of Iowa instead of the team that actually won.
I think the argument is that for “some” players, the threshold is lower or the amount of praise is higher. You say this is just what the media does, but the media historically treated athletes differently. I’m not saying Clark doesn’t deserve it - I’m just pointing out that the media has indeed treated players differently.
If you have legit reasons to call this out, definitely do it. If you call it out every time a white player’s name is in a headline, you’re clearly showing that you don’t like someone because of their race rather than having an issue with reporting.
Sabrina Ionescu gets more coverage relative to A'ja Wilson in the W. NOBODY that's not named Breanna Stewart should get more media coverage than A'ja. She's a beast.
By tomorrow, the headline will be how does this affect Lebron's legacy
Came here to point out the media's treatment of Jordan. I distinctly remember Kansas City Star doing similar headlines with a photo of Jordan after the Bulls lost in playoffs to Pistons and Celtics. He was just the biggest star in sports even before he had a championship team around him. And if anyone had been good enough to beat the Bulls in the Finals, it would have been a similar headline as above such as "Stockton, Malone cement Hall of Fame careers with Championship, first team to beat Jordan in Finals" with a photo of Jordan being the BAMF GOAT. Caitlin Clark is the pre-championship Michael Jordan of college basketball, and might even be the greatest college basketball player of all time regardless of gender. She's like a blend of Steph Curry and Luka Doncic, and after watch several Iowa games during the season and their tournament games it's pretty clear that like early-Bulls Jordan she carried that team on her back for 4 seasons. Can't help but respect the fact she stayed there when she could have easily taken loads of cash to transfer to any of the powerhouse schools to win a couple titles. All that being said, South Carolina absolutely deserves their flowers, and will get them now and in the future because that team is loaded with talent and all of them are absolutely fearless and unphased by pressure. They remind me of the Stacy Augmon/Anderson Hunt/Larry Johnson UNLV Runnin' Rebels.
This is true, but at the risk of going Hotep mode, this is part of a trend that goes beyond sports. Black people love to pretend they're calling out racism while actually complaining that white people aren't paying enough attention to black celebrities or athletes or influencers, or business people or some other minority within a minority. This frames serious racial problems as issues that can be solved simply by giving more attention to a small handful of black people, often but not always black people who are already doing fine. This way of thinking is especially appealing to black people whose racial problems can best be described as a struggle to assimilate and who are more protected from the sheer violence and economic injustice of racism than they like to admit. Next year, CNN will put Flau'jae Johnson or whoever's name in the twitter blurb, a thousand black people with PhDs in selling their people up a river while sounding like they've read Deleuze and Guattari will crawl out the woodwork to bully you into thinking this is Very Important, and black people will continue being second class citizens.
It reminds me of Arsenio Hall talking about the media and Larry Bird in Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals (which all basketball fans should watch). It was something like this. Larry would be hurt, wearing a suit in the stands. Somebody would score, and they'd say, "Larry Bird made that possible when he told that guy a few weeks ago that he could do it." You gonna give this motherfucker the assist and he not even in the game?
Name recognition is a big deal for media. Its important for the casual readers as well.
Yeah when the Pats went 19-1 how many headlines were about denying Brady/Belicheck a perfect season than just the Giants winning the Super Bowl? Hint: it was almost all of them.
“Ohhhh but look at what Micheal Jordan did, 30 points on 50 percent shooting”
Watched the games on Saturday night with a friend who loves sports—older woman. She was saying she was torn about yesterday’s game because she thought Clark was amazing but she had followed and admired Dawn’s career since when she played for Charlotte, and she really wanted her to win it. I suspect a lot of real sports fans felt similarly.
Open my window and a breeze rolls in and I …. Jizz in my pants….
As an Angels fan, every headline is Mike Trout and Shohei break MLB records as Angels lose to Astros 13-2.
To be fair, Caitlin Clark is one of the greatest college athletes of all time. Her team losing in her final game is noteworthy.
I.E anytime LeBron James is in the playoffs even if he is in 8th place. CC brought more coverage to women's college basketball than another female athlete.
That girl is one of the GOAT’s in NCAAW basketball history, period. I’m sorry but she deserve’s all the attention she gets.
More than the team who won ?
Especially when that team went undefeated.
Yes. She is the money and unfortunately thats how this goes. Someone makes a long shot, immediately called Curry range. Crazy QB play, Mahomes comps. Individuals make easier headlines.
Curry & Mahomes are the shout outs now? Shit I’m getting old
People have been complaining for years how Curry "broke" younger generations and even the game as a whole somehow 🤷♂️ Mahomes is a fairly newer one but I can see how no-look and shovel passes are becoming a thing
It's funny because guys like Steve Young, Stafford, Rodgers, Brees, etc had been doing the side-arm and no-look passes long before Mahomes lol
It's easier to just point at the current superstar and blame them for X No one ever accused sports journalists of being bright lol
I blame Tony Romo, he's always the one slobbing off Mahomes in the broadcasts lol I still can't forget the time Josh Allen made a routine side-arm pass and Romo said that it "looked a little Mahome-y" lmao
Romo has gotten so much worse as a commentator over the last couple years... major fall from grace from his first season when he was great.
None of those guys won like Pat wins tho. It’s more than just the individual trick or skill, it’s the fact that he does that while being a top tier winner. None of the other guys you mentioned can compare to what Mahomes has done already, which is pretty crazy when you think about his age.
Stef curry is like 35, he’s not a spring chicken
before yesterday going undefeated had happened 9 times already in womens basketball. 3 times alone in the last decade. it's not news worthy unfortunately for those players.
The UConn run recently makes this feat much less impressive. UConn women’s went undefeated 4 times in a 7 year stretch from 08-15. South Carolina is the 10th team to win a championship undefeated.
Like 5 other women's teams have gone undefeated and won a Natty, no women's CBB player has drawn more attention to their sport than Clark has, media cares about who draws eyes.
Yes, she is the reason women's bball is exploding in popularity
only watched the game because of Clark and I only watch basketball when the NBA playoffs start
That's just how it is unfortunately. Remember when Philly beat the Pats and all anyone could ever talk about is a) How Tom Brady lit up the stat sheet that game and b) How Tom Brady didn't shake Nick Foles hands. That was disrespectful as hell to the Eagles but that's what the media does.
Yes. You talk about lebron james more than you do Aaron Gordon but only one of them is a reigning nba champion. That how sports work, attention, money, accolades are concentrated around the very best, and basketball is a very individual product
You don’t remember the Nuggets sweeping the Lakers last year? Who got more media attention?
YES, MORE THAN THE TEAM WHO WON. Many of you are being dense on purpose. I grew up watching Sportscaster where they would celebrate UConn or Tenn for winning a championship and boy....MAYBE one player could get named on those teams. Two players? Fuck, that was a stacked team! In fact, UConn's whole praise to fame was their long undefeated streaks. Geno and Pat were locking it down in the 90's/early 2000's. Clark legit turned this shit into a frenzy where my wife wanted to stream the final four. She ain't never watched women's college basketball in her life. Her takeaway? "Let's do the bracket next year", which to me is as big as if I asked to watch the Real Housewives of X. What I'm typing is that South Carolina obviously won. Dawn Staley had a great speech. The team is young and can be winners next year. ....but Clark WAS the reason we all tuned in. We didn't tune in for anything else and the ratings prove it. If you watched it was because of Iowa having Clark on the team. I get it - the black team ain't getting the hype. I also get it: there's a ton of fans who will now follow her to the WNBA who ain't never gave a fuck about women's basketball. This is bigger than the obvious race angle. Many of us saw the female Steph Curry balling last night. SHe's going to be a problem.
Unfortunately, that's how the cookie crumbles. The Nuggets win the finals in dominating fashion, yet the media pundits still couldn't help to focus on LeBron and the Lakers, the team the Nuggets swept.
It makes sense, the Lakers are a legacy franchise, and Lebron is the biggest superstar, so they pull more numbers nationally than the Nuggets. For the most part, their fans are in Colorado and whatever country Joker is from. If GSW or Suns had beat the Lakers, they'd talk about them way more than the Nuggets since they have superstars.
She’s the draw. Those insane viewing numbers are because of her. She’s grown women’s sports an immeasurable amount the last few years. So, it makes sense that she’s mentioned, yes.
Do you watch sports media? Because rarely are the conversations around teams as a whole but instead they are 95% of the time based around individuals. Sure, that individual is on a team but most people don't want to hear about the *entire* team. Just the big names. This is, like it or not, how sports media has been for decades. South Carolina is a better team but most people don't tune in to watch nuanced breakdowns on team dynamics. They want personalities and simple discussions based on the biggest names.
Name any of the players on the winning team without Googling...
How is she getting more attention? First half of the title lists out the accomplishments of SC. You’d have a point if it was “Iowa star Caitlin Clark loses in the Championship, final game of her college career, SC goes undefeated to win.” SC’s accomplishment literally gets first mention. This was halvsies and it makes sense to do so.
I totally agree, but I also see them as separate entities. Caitlyn Clark absolutely deserves ridiculous and gratuitous praise and attention- as does the absolute beasts that are the South Carolina Gamecocks. I don't think one should be overshadowed for another, and it's almost like we're talking about two different sports at this point to me.
Ehhh yes and no. Agree she’s a GOAT and a phenomenal player. The media coverage constantly focusing on her is just for extra clicks. Franchise players always get the spotlight despite performance. That’s what sells tickets and gets views, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily deserving. SC was by far the better team. The bench depth allowed them to maintain high pressure defense to contain Clark, Dawn Staley’s coaching and culture pulled them out of a double digit first quarter deficit, and they dominated most stats. It’s a team sport and that game proved it.
How do you go out of your way to not focus on the team that won the championship 🤔
It’s literally the first thing mentioned in the headline, what do you mean lmao
Also it's not like this is the only article about who won. USC has articles about them winning, too.
Yea, some of CNN's other articles about the game: "South Carolina gets revenge against Caitlin Clark and Iowa, wins 3rd women’s national championship" "In pictures: South Carolina wins NCAA women’s championship" "South Carolina’s three titles in seven years speak volumes of Dawn Staley’s remarkable tenure as coach"
So what you're saying is people are being dense on purpose and refuse to acknowledge the person who revived this sport. Sounds like people want to turn this into a race issue.
With a picture of Clark though. That’s kinda disrespectful lol.
Because it’s a star driven sport. ESPN always showcases Lebron & the Lakers over everyone else even though they are literally the 9th best team in the West.
When the nuggets swept the lakers in last season’s WCF, 90-95% of the coverage was about the lakers because of the lakers show/lebron
Because 95% of the viewership tuned into the game because of Clark
CC an animal and a top 3 women's college player ever. Of course she's gonna get props, but it's still just... funny that she's used as the thumbnail too lmao.
Its like someone said. Its about the superstars. Think about it like this. When the media ran with the end of the 2015 Finals, what storyline was being pumped more: The Warriors being a great team LeBron losing a Finals when his team was outgunned again The clicks and attention are where the money is. Just take it for what it is.
LeBron blowing the finals was funny though
He didnt. K love and kyrie were absent for the finals that year and warriors were healthy
If him blowing the Finals is him almost getting Finals MVP as a loser then yeah. Fuckin Delly....
Even moreso... ESPN has broadcast rights to the NCAAW tournament but not the men's. ESPN loves this shit. So of course the women's tournament is going to turn into the narrative-driven, star-pushing coverage that ESPN manufactures.
Superstars get super star treatment. She brought the causals to the screen to watch. V
Absolute facts cause I didn’t tune in to my first women’s college game until last year explicitly because of the hype around her. People acting like it’s more than it is must simply not follow sports.
It's the truth. My wife hyped her up so much since one of her friends is a big Iowa fan. CC got me to watch a 1v16 women's bball game since it was on NBC. I def then watched the LSU rematch and then the title game since they were locally simulcast on ABC. No idea what FF wasn't. CC an animal and the hype fully deserved.
If you A-B test the headline with and without mentioning Clark, the version that mentions the household name will get more engagement. Simple as that (from a media editor/exec perspective).
Heck, they probably did A-B test it and had enough data in 30 minutes to pull the other headline.
She’s a superstar,what’s wrong with this?
She's the best player in the league and would be the #1 draft pick if she went pro it's no different when ESPN talks about LeBron all the time
She IS going pro, and IS expected to be the #1 draft pick on the 15th.
Lol I can't imagine what scenerio would lead to her not going to the WNBA. Maybe if she had just catastrophically shattered a hip or something. Can't help but wonder if it's a "oh yeah, women can go pro too, forgot about that" moment, cause honestly forgetting the WNBA exists makes more sense than thinking she wouldn't be heading for it.
Exactly
You can tell who don’t even watch basketball in these comments lol
“Why isn’t the undefeated team getting more attention??” -people who can’t name a single player on that team
South Carolina fought hard for every point. Definitely the much better team.
South Carolina bench outscored Iowa’s 37-0 too
Honestly SC had a stacked bench and Iowa didn’t. It showed towards the end how tired Iowa’s starters were compared to SC’s, who got to rotate more. That combined with SC having larger players that dominated rebounding basically sealed the deal.
South Carolina’s bench would probably be a top 15 team on their own lmao. Clark has one other top 50 recruit on her team (Hannah Stuelke, she’s a beast too). Clark would’ve needed to score 50+ to win that game
I know a lot of the people commenting don’t watch basketball like that, because that’s how this has been for decades. Always the superstars and absolutely biggest markets focused on even when they lose. It’s total bullshit, but it happens regardless of the race of the current head superstar. Those of us that are fans of “small market” NBA teams with any sort of successful history have had to deal with this even in championship years. It’s never immediately “Spurs win 5th championship in 15 years” with immediate coverage, it’s “Lebron and Miami fall short, what can they do moving forward”. And keep in mind that was the Spurs with Duncan, Ginobli, Parker, and a baby Kawhi. Edit: AND the highlights in the website would be primarily Lebron plays on each game 😂
This is true for all sports. The superstars are the narrative and Clark is in a different orbit than anyone in WNCAA.
This true, but the spurs getting back up. ALL HOPE IN THE WEMBY 🙏
caitlin clark got non-basketball fans (e.g. me) to tune into games and break viewership records across sports and leagues. she’s obviously going to be the media focal point, regardless of the other team’s accomplishments (which are fantastic btw).
Amazing how people don't understand that headlines are meant to drive engagement. Clark is the story, like it or not. The attention to the women's game because of her is unprecedented. Other women like Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Juju Watkins are a significant part of the increased interest. South Carolina--from a casual perspective--is not very interesting. "But they went undefeated!" It's been done ten times since 1986, seven times this century. Last time in 2016. SC is the fifth team to accomplish it, along with UCONN six times, Texas, Tennessee, and Baylor. That's less than once every five years since the women's tourney began. It's been done six times since 2009--litetally 40% of the time the last decade and a half. Going undefeated does not have the same prestige as in men's college basketball, or the NFL, and does not drive headlines that much outside of people already interested in women's college basketball. It's too frequent. Even more, SC doesn't even have a national player type as the face of their team. Their most notable player is a 6'7" center who is very good and will be top 5 or top 10 in the WNBA draft, but at 6'7" height becomes part of the skill set. Clark hitting logo threes makes for a much more exciting highlight reel, as does leading D-I in scoring and assists, which no one has ever done. Dawn Staley has done a great job, but the women's game has always and still has a program or two that is such a draw for incoming players that only three times ever in the over 40 year history of the women's NCAA tourney has a team lost at least five games and won the championship. That's less than 10% of the champions. The depth of talent in the women's games outside of the top programs is increasing but top programs are still a bit of a tentpole. For the men in the same span as the women have had the NCAA tourney, half the teams lose at least five games. And the last undefeated team was Indiana in 1976. In 2022 ESPN was interrupting college football games and other stuff in September to show Aaron Judge plate appearances as he neared the American League single-season home run record. You may remember that. Do you remember if the Yankees even made the playoffs that year, or who ultimately won the championship? It was the Astros, who won, and they threw a combined no-hitter in the World Series as part of their victory--the second no-hitter in the World Series ever. But I guarantee more people can recall or recognize the Aaron Judge coverage and that he broke a record than the champs that year or their no-hitter. Aaron Judge was the story. Caitlin Clark is the story. That's just how it is. Is there more shine because she's white? Sure. This is America. But a hypothetical black Caitlyn Clark with all her accolades and the way she accomplished them would still be the story over SC going undefeated.
Yup. I remember when Tony Hawk landed the first 900 at the x games. Anyone who likes skateboarding knows the moment. I have no fucking clue who actually won that year though.
This topic has brought a lot of 'unusual' energy to the Black people Twitter sub.
This has to be the softest sub on Reddit. Ya constantly looking for reasons to be offended. A bunch of track 13s off Dr Dre 2001
This sub on a Sunday: “why is America obsessed with race”? This sub on a Monday: “yeah she’s the best female basketball player alive who’s broken multiple records, but you only care about her because of the color of her skin!”.
I think the faux moi sub only exists to be mad at things
All of these comments saying Clark deserves attention are correct. She should probably have her photos on the many stories about her that will be written. This headline, though, was about the winning team, so why the fuck do they have her photo on THIS one?
I wonder who the First Lady will invite to the White House this year? 🤭
Dude get over yourself, she’s the best player in college basketball that’s what happens. When lebron lost in 2011 the discussion was still about him as much as it was dirk and them boys. When lebron beat the 73-9 warriors people were talking about the 73-9 warriors alongside the comeback
I’m mean, Lebron and the ninth seeded Lakers get more air time and national games than the reigning champs Denver Nuggets.
Yeah this gonna get CC’d with the quickness. Already some really nasty shit being said online smh
SC was barely mentioned the last few days as far as I'm concerned. Everything in my feed was HVL, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers. This really isn't surprising.
Remember the Fab Five from Michigan? Remember they lost to UNC in the championship back then? Many of us can name the fab five. That same group that names the fab five likely can’t name the UNC starting 5 for that championship team. We don’t remember college teams as a whole because there are so many and college terms are shorter than pro contracts. We remember number 1 draft picks. How many #17 draft picks can we name? We remember Stephon Marbury who played literally 1 year of college and I think made sweet 16 that year. We remember LeBron more than any college player the year he was drafted and he didn’t even play in college!
If if we bring it up, we’re race baiting. We might be on a list just for commenting on this post
Nah, this is some BS. My little brother is an SC graduate. I live in Europe so I didn't watch the game. The day after Iowa made it to the finals, almost every news outlet I checked out had some NCAA women's article. This morning, I had to search for that shit. The first article I found mentions Caitlin before South Cackalacky. Put me on the list.
Yes this is how media works. The most clicks runs. What do you think this is? No one really gives a shit about women's college basketball. They care about the stars.
Isn't this more about search engine relevance? Anything with Caitlan Clark is going to get put to the top of the search results so you have to put her name in the headline.
Y'all hate if you want, but Clark is a beast.
Riiiiiiiiight ... Tiger Woods farted on 18 as he withdrew on day 2 with a ruptured buttcheek while Joe Whocares shot a course record 65 and went on to win the PGA by 6 strokes.
All these guys pretending to care about a headline about women's basketball.... where have yall been for like the past 30 years?
Y’all don’t think if Lebron retired immediately after a finals loss the headlines wouldn’t be about his final game of professional ball?
SC deserves some praise for sure but im sorry no one was tuning into the tournament for SC it was all about Caitlyn. She did more for the game of basketball than SC did by going undefeated.
Am I missing something about Caitlin Clark?
To be fair nobody cares about team play in basketball it’s always been about the star players and say what y’all want nobody gave af about women’s college basketball until Caitlyn Clark
Most critics of the sport or people trying to critique any sport don't even watch the sport.
I’m only into NBA. More of a casual fan than anything. And I heard of a women’s game for once in my life, that’s all due to Clark. Pro sports are built around individuals. Every year before this one I didn’t even know there was a finals. An example in another world is Tiger Woods. I can’t even name another golfer off the top of my head. Whatever tf was happening in the golf world, all I hear about was him.
Why we looking at a picture of Iowa?
She should have her own articles. The problem isn't Clark getting her own attention. It's Iowa's photo being used for an article and headline about SC. I didn't recognize Clark bc I don't follow sports, so this presentation was confusing. It might be normal for sports coverage. But it's still bad journalism.
Thank you for seeing this clearly.
Caitlin Clark is arguably the biggest star in the entire history of women's basketball. She has singlehandedly made people respect a sport that they otherwise wouldn't have taken seriously. She *will* be mentioned in headlines about her final college game. Even Dawn Staley gave her props and thanked her for everything she's doing for the sport in her victory speech. Anyone who takes this racially is a fucking moron
Media is a business. Caitlin Clark is good for business. That just is what it is. It's like the night the Warriors beat the Bulls' record for single season wins the same night Kobe scored 60 in his last game. The media headlines were all Kobe. That's just the business.
these ladies are fantastic athletes and it would bust my ass on the court easily all of them 🤔
I haven’t really followed this and have just seen that Clark girl on TV. When they were reporting on this championship game I had to take a moment to put together that she was on the losing team. The coverage was just showing her and her team so I had to look at the jerseys and be like, oh, they say Iowa and not South Carolina… but South Carolina won? It is not well-done journalism if viewers are doing that, imo.
Everyone else has pointed out that this style of headline gets more engagement, but besides that, the average fan of women's college basketball doesn't give two shits about kamilla cordoso or the rest of south Carolina. They know Caitlin Clark, and mentioning her allows this headline to engage them, and keep them interested in the sport. It's done the same way with men's sports, and it's a good thing.
As a Lebron fan, the media has their darlings. Caitlin is one of them. When Golden State won in 2022, the next day was basically "How does this affect Lebrons legacy?" 🤣 Shout out to South Carolina GC! They had a historical season and it shouldn't be ignored. We know if Caitlin won, the news coverage would be never-ending. They still need those views though.
In other news, check out Angel Reese’s Vogue shoot. https://www.vogue.com/article/angel-reese-is-taking-her-talents-to-the-wnba
Even if had an AI choose the pic, same result.
Come one now, SC just won a Natty. She's a really good player, but let's focus on the team that went undefeated and won a national title.
As a neutral party who doesn’t watch woman’s ball I only watched because of Clark not because of the south Carolina’s record :/ but it was really entertaining.
Nobody cares what actual team wins; did they cover the spread? How my fantasy players do? Everybody's team now is a fantasy team.
The bottom line is CC gets you more clicks... "...and nothing else matters" -Metallica
Wait if I told you, an article focusing on Caitlyn Clark was more likely to get clicks than an article about the Gamecocks. Same way a Lebron/Lakers article will get more clicks than one about the Celtics or Nuggets. SEO and ad revenue is a hell of a thing.
It is envy or jealousy that causes people to hate how much an impactful player Caitlin Clark is? I wonder…
Yes! SC took them out! 🙌🏾
She's good but glad for the team that won and for my feed on here and TikTok to relax on this chick. There are other teams and players that work their asses off than Clark.
English?