Caitlin Clark is undoubtedly the biggest star in women’s basketball…even with the inclusion of the WNBA.
Caitlin Clark seems to be sparking feelings of jealousy.
WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes was a guest on Gilbert Arenas podcast…and Sheryl Swoopes made some interesting comments about Caitlin Clark.
We reveal and react to several Sheryl Swoopes segments with Gilbert Arenas. We criticize Gilbert Arenas for failing to correct the falsehoods presented by Sheryl Swoopes. We also question why the mainstream media isn’t coming to the defense of Caitlin Clark.
Some just can’t hide their jealousy of Caitlin Clark
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Caitlin Clark apparently has reached the stage in her incredible rise to sports icon in which trying to minimize what she has accomplished, or is about to accomplish, is pleasing to some.
And the reason is simple.
They’re jealous.
Instead of praising and thanking Clark for helping women’s basketball to evolve as a sport, and for inspiring the next generation of young girls, and boys, to want to be great, some feel a need to take veiled shots at her, or to spread misinformation.
There is video of former Texas Tech legend and retired WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes that has gone viral on X in which she falsely accuses Clark, who needs just 66 points to break Kelsey Plum’s NCAA all-time scoring record, of benefitting from having played in more games than Plum because of the free Covid year.
“If you’re going to break a record, to me, if it’s legitimate, you have to break that record in the same amount of time that that player set it, right,” Swoopes said in an interview with former NBA player Gilbert Arenas. “So, if Kelsey Plum set that record in four years, well, Caitlin should have broken that record in four years.
“But because there was a Covid year, and then there’s another year, she’s already had an extra year to break that record. So, is it truly a broken record? I don’t know. I don’t this so.”
Everything in that statement is false and is rooted in jealousy.
Yes, Caitlin Clark does have a free Covid year.
But she hasn’t used it yet, and she might never use it.
Caitlin Clark is a 22-year-old fourth-year senior, and one of many 22-year-old, fourth-year seniors playing college sports.
Swoopes was either grossly misinformed, didn’t do her research, or just knowingly was spewing nonsense to push a narrative that Clark is over-hyped and over-rated.
Either way, it just looks horrible.
Now back to reality.
Caitlin Clark is a fourth-year senior and she played in her 123rd collegiate game this past Saturday against Maryland, and as you would expect, she played extremely well, finishing with 38 points and 12 assists in a 93-85 victory.
She also played before yet another sellout crowd on the road, proving again that she is without question the biggest draw in collegiate sports, both men and women.
Fans on the road now stand in line for hours, and in some cases, spend an outrageous amount of money just to see the 6-foot Clark play in person.
Clark now has scored 3,462 points, while Plum scored 3,527 points in 139 games for Washington from 2013-17.
Former Kansas star Lynette Woodard holds the women’s major college basketball record with 3,649 points from 1978-81 — before the NCAA took over women’s sports from the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.
Clark, who leads the nation with a 32.4 per-game scoring average, should break the record in the next two or three games.
So, that would mean Clark would have broken the record despite having played in at least a dozen fewer games than Plum played in college, and despite not averaging 40 shots per game.
The 40 shots per-game reference is in response to what Louisiana State head coach Kim Mulkey recently said about her team, which has struggled at times this season.
“We don’t have any players shooting 40 times a game like you see around the country. That’s not us,” Mulkey said.
Mulkey never mentioned Caitlin Clark, but it was widely assumed that Clark was who she was targeting.
The problem with Mulkey’s comment if she was referring to Clark is that it’s false.
Clark was averaging about 22 shots per game when Mulkey made that comment, and Clark has never come close to averaging 40 shots per game as a Hawkeye. She is currently averaging 19.7 shots per game.
So, what Mulkey said was just more misinformation to push a narrative, assuming she was referring to Clark.
Iowa and LSU obviously have a history after having met in the NCAA title game last season.
Caitlin Clark is all smiles as she heads to the bench late in the Maryland game. Photo courtesy of Hawkeyesports.com.
LSU won convincingly over the Hawkeyes 102-85, but even in defeat, Clark was by far the biggest draw at the Final Four.
And that seems to bother some people still to this day.
Sheryl Swoopes should be thrilled with and grateful for what Clark is doing for the game that has helped to change both of their lives instead of trying to minimize what Clark has accomplished.
Swoopes is a legend in her own right and has so much to be proud of with what she accomplished as a player, and yet, she almost seems threatened by Clark’s greatness.
Caitlin Clark is a generational talent and without question one of the greatest players in the history of women’s collegiate basketball.
Clark is the only player in the country with 720-plus points, 170-plus assists, and 150-plus rebounds this season.
She is also the first Division-I player to record at least 3,300, points, 900 assists, and 800 rebounds in a career.
If you were to build Mount Rushmore for women’s college basketball, Caitlin Clark would deserve to be on it.
As great as Clark is as a shooter, she’s arguably a better passer and she has the assists to prove it.
Her court vision and her no-look passes are just as impressive as her logo threes.
Clark is carving her legend at a time when social media is soaring and that makes it easy for her to push her brand and to gain national exposure, while older players such as Swoopes didn’t have that luxury in college.
So, maybe that’s part of it.
But the exposure also makes Clark an easy target for jealous critics.
Clark’s personality on the court might rub some people the wrong way because she isn’t shy about showing her emotions, or about protesting a call as she expects a lot from herself and from the officials because that is just how she is wired.
But as far as interacting with fans and setting the right example with her work ethic and promoting the game of women’s basketball, Caitlin Clark is close to perfect in those roles.
She genuinely cares about her fans, and she will go out of her way to sign autographs and take pictures after home games and road games to show her appreciation.
Clark also goes out of her way to praise and share the spotlight with her teammates when she is being celebrated. She understands that basketball is a team sport and that winning takes a group effort.
And while her individual statistics are certainly a big part of Clark’s legend, they wouldn’t carry as much weight without the team’s success.
Clark also excels in the classroom, a true student-athlete.
Yet, some still get satisfaction in trying to tear her down because they’re jealous.
And that’s sad.
