UConn head women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma stopped by “The Dan Patrick Show” as a guest on Thursday.
Among the topics that were discussed on the radio program, Auriemma shared some of his thoughts on Indiana Fever rookie guard Caitlin Clark’s start to her WNBA career.
Auriemma said Clark’s fan base set unrealistic expectations for Clark’s rookie season and disrespected the WNBA in the process.
“I think you and I both know the landscape that we live in today, both sports wise and non sports wise, right. We are in a red-blue (world). And if you’re red, you can’t agree with blue and if you’re blue, you can’t agree with red. Whereas most things are in the middle. If you’re a college player and you’re a great college player, like Caitlin was, the delusional fan base that follows her, disrespected the WNBA players by saying she’s gonna go in that league and tear it apart.
“There were actually odds on, like she’s third or fourth in betting odds of being MVP of the WNBA. These people are so disrespectful and so unknowledgeable and so stupid, that it gives women’s basketball a bad name. Okay, so the kid was set up for failure right from the beginning,” Auriemma said.
“The delusional fanbase that follows her disrespected the #WNBA players by saying she’s going to go in that league and tear it a part… The kid was set up for failure right from the beginning.”
-Geno Auriemma talks Caitlin Clark pic.twitter.com/HkBwKuVS4E
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) June 6, 2024
Auriemma said that perceived disrespect toward the WNBA created a big target on Clark’s back.
“So, if you’re a WNBA player, and believe me I’ve coached the best, and I’ve pissed them off a lot and they let me know about it. But, they were tremendously disrespected. And none of them are going to say it. But, human nature is, okay, this kid’s coming into the league, and Diana (Taurasi) said it best. This kid’s in for a rude awakening. And they all jumped over her, but they didn’t read the whole thing that she said. But nobody’s printing ‘You know, Diana Taurasi was right.’
“This kid’s on the wrong team. She’s got the wrong skill set to handle the physicality of that league, and she’s a rookie. And if you’re a WNBA player, if you’re any kind of player, you’re gonna say I want to make a statement. Targeted. Targeted by society, targeted by her looks, targeted by her reputation, targeted by the disrespect that they’ve shown to the WNBA. There’s a huge target on this kid’s back,” Auriemma said.
But, Auriemma thinks Clark has handled the criticisms and target on her back well.
“I think she’s handling it great. I think she talks a lot of (expletive) and she gets a lot of (expletive) back. So, she deserves everything she gets, because she gives it as good as she gets. She’s just not built for the physicality of this league.
“And she’s not quick enough to get away from the physicality. So there’s a lot of learning curve like Diana said, and when she gets it, she has elite skills that are going to really help her, but she needs to be on a better team and she needs to be more experienced. And that will come, but for these ridiculous fans who had her slotted as the next Diana now, they’re out of their mind,” Auriemma said.
Clark is currently averaging 15.6 points, 6.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 35.7% from the field and 29.7% from 3-point distance. The 6-foot rookie guard was just recognized as the WNBA Rookie of the Month for May.
Still, Clark has had her fair share of ups and downs throughout the first 11 games of her WNBA career. The 6-foot rookie guard already has 59 turnovers on the season and just registered a career-worst three points in a blowout loss at the New York Liberty.
Clark and the Fever return to action on Friday at the Washington Mystics at 6:30 p.m. on ION.
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