University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma expected Caitlin Clark to struggle in the WNBA, but he claims her fanbase made the situation even worse.
Clark’s treatment in the league has been the subject of debate lately after she took a hard foul from Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter last weekend. It’s led to some members of the media theorizing that WNBA players are jealous of Clark’s immediate popularity.
While Auriemma didn’t agree with that, he said Clark’s fans didn’t make it any easier for her when they predicted she’d join the league and immediately be one of the best players.
“If you’re a college player and you’re a great college player like Caitlin was,” he said on The Dan Patrick Show, “the delusional fanbase that follows her disrespected the WNBA players by saying, ‘She’s gonna go in that league and tear it apart.’
“There were actually odds — 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. So the kid was set up for failure right from the beginning… They were tremendously disrespected; and none of them are gonna say it, but human nature is, ‘OK, this kid’s coming into the league,’ and [Diana Taurasi] said it best. ‘This kid’s in for a rude awakening.’”
Diana Taurasi on Caitlin Clark coming to WNBA “Reality is coming….you look superhuman playing against some 18 years olds but you’re going to come play with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time” pic.twitter.com/fxBxGoRZCS
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) April 6, 2024
Auriemma also argued Clark was on the wrong team and that her skillset isn’t compatible with the physicality of the WNBA. Still, he believes she’s handling the pressure “great.”
“I think she talks a lot of shit and she gets a lot of shit back,” he said. “So she deserves everything she gets because she gives it as good as she gets it.”
Watch above via The Dan Patrick Show.
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