UNCASVILLE, Conn. >> Caitlin Clark sat on the bench during the final quarter of Monday night's WNBA game against the Connecticut Sun. She had four fouls, the Indiana Fever lost by double digits and it was clear she wouldn't play again.
Still, fans at Mohegan Sun Arena chanted, “We want Kaitlyn! We want Kaitlyn!”
This is similar to the outcry of injustice that erupted across the country when Clark was not selected for the 12-man U.S. Olympic team. The team was announced today, but multiple sources, including Christine Brennan of USA Today, reported Friday night that Clark will not be selected but could be a replacement if a player who was selected is injured.
Clark reiterated Monday, as he did last weekend, that he's just grateful to be on the list.
“I guess it's just a dream and a goal, and I just graduated college so to be in that conversation is big,” Clark said after the Sun beat the Fever 89-72 on Monday. Clark finished with 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting in 22 minutes of play.
“To the women who were selected, if you look at the roster, they're a really talented group of athletes. I hope that talk will be told about these 12 women and how they got an opportunity that most people never get in their lifetime. I'm rooting for them. I'm rooting for them. I hope that they go out there and win a gold medal.”
But the national conversation has not been about these 12 women, but only about Clark.
Brennan, a “US basketball veteran with decades of experience in women's basketball,” two sources told USA Today Sports on Friday, said concerns about how Clark's millions of fans would react to a player pool that would likely receive limited playing time “factored into the decision.”
Dick Vitale tweeted that Clark's failure to make the national team was “absurd and disgusting.” Colin Cowherd tweeted that Clark was “TV gold. Wasted opportunity.” Mike Lupica said the decision was “monstrously stupid.” One headline was “WNBA Stars Don't Want to Play with Kaitlyn Clark at 2024 Paris Olympics.”
Clark said Monday that he doesn't look at social media.
“I'm sure there would have been a big fuss, but that would have happened regardless of whether I was on the team or not,” Clarke said Monday. “I don't know what exactly was talked about. I know it was talked about. I just hope that the focus is on those 12 girls and what they're going to do in Paris.”
Jen Rizzotti, chair of the selection committee and president of the Connecticut Sun newspaper, told The Associated Press today that the committee was aware of the overwhelming public opinion that Clark should be selected, but felt she did not have enough USA Basketball experience that all the other players selected had.
“Here's the basketball criteria we're given as a committee. How do you evaluate players based on that,” Rizzotti said in an interview with The Associated Press. “When you make a decision based on criteria, some players are harder to cut because they fit more criteria. And then sometimes it comes down to position, (coach) Cheryl (Reeve)'s style of play and then sometimes it comes down to voting.”
ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo, a 1996 Olympian herself, said she thought Clark had handled the turmoil well.
“My question is, does Kaitlyn deserve to be on the USA basketball team,” Lobo said. “Of course she does. Not because there's any flaw in her game. But who do you leave out?”
“When I saw the roster, I didn't read the headline, 'Kaitlin Clark was left out,' but my first thought was, this is a great team. This is a great roster. Every woman on here is deserving. If there was one player who was overlooked, it would be WNBA All-Star Areek Ogunbowale. She's been a force to be reckoned with throughout her WNBA career. This roster is built to win gold medals.”
The 12 players named today are: Taurasi, who at age 42 is seeking her sixth Olympic gold medal; Phoenix Mercury teammates Brittany Griner (two-time Olympic gold medalist) and Karly Cooper (three-time All-Star and third-leading scorer in the league); last year's WNBA MVPs and four-time NCAA champions from the University of Connecticut, Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty; Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, A'ja Wilson and Jackie Young of the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces; former University of Connecticut star Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx; Jewel Loyd of the Seattle Storm; and Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun.
Lobo noted Monday that Clark's limited time with the national team likely played a factor in the decision, since she was either in college or playing in the Final Four each of the past two years. Rizzotti told The Associated Press' Doug Feinberg in April that the start of the WNBA season would be Clark's tryout window.
“I think that's also important. Some will say Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart were on the Olympic team the summer after they graduated from college. Yes, Sylvia Fowles and Candace Parker, but all of these examples are women who had the opportunity to play and train with the national team before the Olympic team was announced,” Lobo said. “Stewart and Candace both played at the World Championships during their college years and had some training experience with the national team.
“Kaitlyn, through no fault of her own, has not had the opportunity to do so due to scheduling conflicts and other reasons.”
But back to the Lobo question: what player would you take out to get Clark on the roster?
“It's easy to say, 'Kaitlyn has to be on the team,' but then who of those talented women do we take off the team?'” Lobo said. “No one wants to get into the argument of, 'She can help grow the sport,' because she's already helped grow the sport in incredible ways. If Kaitlyn wasn't on the team, would the sport stagnate or stagnate during the Olympics? No, it won't.”
But Clark's defenders will point to attendance, TV ratings and merchandise sales figures released by the WNBA on Monday, all of which are from the Caitlin Clark era. Nearly 400,000 fans attended WNBA games in the first month of the season, the most in 26 years. Merchandise sales have soared, and arenas across the league have reached 94% capacity. That included Friday night at Washington's Capital One Center, where the Fever played against the Washington Mystics and drew the largest crowd in WNBA history, more than 20,000 people, with Clark making seven 3-pointers and Indiana winning 85-83.
But the Olympics are a different story, ESPN analyst Debbie Antonelli, who serves as a broadcast commentator for the Fever games, said Monday.
“That's how I look at it. Generally speaking, they're looking to win,” Antonelli said of the Olympic team. “(Olympic coach) Cheryl Reeve and the committee are putting together a Best 12 that gives us the best chance of winning.”
“Representing your country is the most pressure you'll ever feel in your life. You have to go with the people you think can help you win. No disrespect to Kaitlyn or Alike or any of the others. The most compelling thing that no one talks about is winning. What does it take to win?”
