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Let’s make clear one thing from the beginning: Caitlin Clark is a supernova. When she’s on a basketball court docket, unprecedented issues occur. This season, Clark broke the NCAA Division I data for three-pointers in a season, all-time scoring, women’s all-time scoring, ladies’s factors in a single season, and so forth. However data had been solely there for Clark to interrupt due to the ladies who existed earlier than her — from pioneers like Cheryl Miller and Lynette Woodard to contemporaries like A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, and Clark’s childhood idol, Maya Moore. Clark is one-of-one, however she shouldn’t be the one one. She was by no means the one one.
Behind an over-my-dead-body recreation from Clark, No. 1 seed Iowa’s 64-54 win over No. 8 West Virginia attracted 4.9 million viewers on ESPN, as per The Athletic, on March 25. The skyrocketing fascination with the ladies’s recreation, nonetheless, isn’t unique to Clark and her Hawkeyes. Girls’s March Madness set an all-time match document with 292,456 followers attending first- and second-round games, multiplying attendance by almost 5 from 2023 (60,799), in accordance with Front Office Sports.
Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson, and LSU are the reigning champions, lest we overlook, after beating Iowa. South Carolina head coach Daybreak Staley had a brand-new beginning 5 this season, they usually casually logged a second consecutive undefeated 12 months. USC freshman JuJu Watkins shattered a number of data, together with Miller’s USC single-season scoring record that had stood since 1986. Niele Ivey, who seamlessly changed Muffet McGraw as head coach at Notre Dame in 2020, has saved the Preventing Irish as one of many high packages within the nation behind Hannah Hidalgo. The actual fact I’ve gotten this far with out mentioning UConn is illustrative sufficient for the booming state of ladies’s faculty basketball, though UConn is all the time price noting, particularly now that Paige Bueckers is again — like again, again — from an ACL tear.
From time to time, one participant captures the zeitgeist and monopolizes the nation’s consideration, however a number of gamers — Clark’s friends — have the facility to carry it. To contextualize the Caitlin Clark phenomenon throughout the ever-changing narrative round ladies’s basketball, I spoke to Emmy Award-winning journalist Jemele Hill (creator of Uphill, contributor to The Atlantic, and host of Jemele Hill Is Unbothered).
Caitlin Clark is underneath no person’s shadow at Iowa like she can be at different storied packages like UConn, South Carolina, or Tennessee. Her taking part in fashion is electrical and simply interprets to viral social clips. She’s white. In different phrases, via no fault of her personal, she’s a simple entry level for folks to get in on ladies’s basketball with out having to confront conversations inherent to ladies’s basketball — and all ladies’s sports activities. Do you sense the Caitlin Clark fandom is translating to extra ladies’s basketball protection exterior of her orbit?
I do assume she is stoking general curiosity about ladies’s basketball, and [her fans aren’t just getting] uncovered to her fashion of play. They’re getting uncovered to various nice groups, an amazing convention within the Large Ten, and different nice gamers. I don’t know if the media protection is essentially following that very same sample. I believe the media may be very centered on centering Caitlin Clark in every thing and pouring an enormous share of the protection behind her, which is unquestionably comprehensible. As a result of if she is the lightning bolt that’s hanging every thing, then after all it is smart to essentially cowl the lightning bolt.
However I believe the media is treating it as if there’s simply this anomaly that’s come alongside, and all we now have to do is take note of an anomaly — and never general the truth that the game, earlier than she actually started catching the attention of the nationwide public, was gaining an incredible quantity of traction. All the pieces about this sport has been trending up for years now. It didn’t simply begin with Caitlin Clark, however they’re trending it prefer it did. And so it’s already making a false narrative that’s doing the general public a disservice.
Should you take a look at WNBA rankings or ladies’s faculty basketball rankings, they’ve been exploding for at the least the final seven to 10 years — or I might even say 5 to seven if you need a shorter window. And so, it’s been confirmed that individuals actually benefit from the sport. They benefit from the stars within the sport, however they benefit from the sport itself. And I’m not utterly satisfied that the media understands the distinction.
Will Ferrell, Cheryl Miller, Kevin Hart, Saweetie, LeBron, and Kehlani have all been to JuJu Watkins’ USC video games as nicely. However “Travis Scott Flew His Ass All The Manner To Iowa To See Caitlin Clark” hits totally different as a headline than “LA-based Celebrities Attend Basketball Recreation In Southern California.”
Right.
Caitlin Clark would have been unimaginable no matter the place she performed as a result of she is an unimaginable participant. However do you assume the phenomenon round her would have hit the identical wherever aside from Iowa?
I do assume her phenomenon has a whole lot of components going for it that, say, JuJu Watkins doesn’t. JuJu Watkins is in LA. That’s already a celeb tradition. Celebrities displaying as much as Juju Watkins’ video games shouldn’t be an enormous deal as a result of celebrities all the time present up at sporting occasions in LA. It’s LA. However there’s a Center America high quality that attracts in a whole lot of totally different folks. Iowa doesn’t get to be thought-about a cool place. It’s simply not positioned that approach.
You already know what I evaluate it to? I believe the most effective comparability is what we simply noticed occur with Colorado and Deion Sanders. In Boulder, Colorado, it’s barely three Black folks there. And as quickly because the Deion phenomenon arrived in Colorado, you bought all these mega celebrities coming to see Deion Sanders and the Colorado soccer staff. A part of the fascination isn’t just with Deion and his persona — and the persona that a few of his greatest gamers have — however you will have this concept of tradition taking place in a spot the place tradition shouldn’t be speculated to occur.
You in all probability noticed Stanford’s Cameron Brink seem to say “f*ck you” towards a ref or the Iowa State bench. My first thought was, Think about if Angel Reese did that. And I noticed Ohio State’s Cotie McMahon tweeting she’d have a tech “in a heartbeat” if she interacted the identical approach Caitlin had with a referee in her recreation towards Holy Cross. I like it when any athlete shows uncooked emotion. I need that uncensored cockiness from ladies, however I don’t get the sense that’s the majority opinion, particularly when non-white gamers are concerned. What’s your response to the disparate perceptions and portrayals?
These variations and what we enable — “enable,” I put in air quotes — from sure athletes versus others very a lot has every thing to do with how we usually understand race in society. LSU has two villain components going for them. They’ve Kim Mulkey, after which they’ve Angel. For individuals who like to hate-watch, each time LSU performs is like their Tremendous Bowl. I imagine ESPN posted a clip of Angel Reese [baiting] a Center Tennessee participant right into a foul, after which she waved goodbye to her when she fouled out — as this woman was crying. The feedback had been loopy. They’re hitting on all the correct racial notes relating to Angel Reese, whereas it’s a bit of bit totally different while you take a look at what [Brink] did as a result of then it’s like, “Oh, she was very passionate.”
What we really feel like athletes are entitled to do may be very a lot tied to and related to what we consider that individual athlete. And for that matter, what we consider what that athlete represents. We see this on a regular basis with social points. LeBron James will get informed to close up and dribble, however when Tim Tebow and his mom cut up a Pro-life Super Bowl ad [in 2010], no person was telling Tim Tebow to close up and throw a soccer. There has all the time, sadly, been this undercurrent relating to athletes of coloration. There may be this concept that they simply should be comfortable and keep of their place and solely be outspoken within the ways in which make the bulk really feel snug. As quickly as they don’t try this, they face backlash and criticism. So I believe these double requirements — folks assume they wouldn’t exist for feminine athletes or in ladies’s sports activities. They’re simply as prevalent as they’re in males’s sports activities.
You’ve been granted assured entry to embed for months with anyone in ladies’s basketball or ladies’s sports activities. Who’re you selecting?
Daybreak Staley. I imply, Caitlin Clark can be my high three, for certain. However I believe I picked Daybreak Staley as a result of she is the gold normal, in some ways, in that sport proper now. While you take a look at her personal trajectory as a participant [and then] as a coach — I imply, what she constructed at South Carolina is extraordinary. It took her 16 years to construct it. When she began off there, no person ever thought that South Carolina can be within the form of conversations they’re in now. We see the nationwide championships. The gamers that she’s placing within the WNBA. Nobody ever imagined that they’d be capable of, at the least for the final decade, surpass UConn.
To construct one thing from scratch, after which on high of that, be as outspoken as she’s been in supporting different Black ladies who’re teaching in ladies’s basketball, but additionally about pay fairness. She’s been very vocal about that problem. There are such a lot of layers to Daybreak Staley, and for lots of us who got here to like ladies’s basketball in the course of the time that she performed, she represents … even essentially the most misogynistic dude liked Daybreak Staley. She’s no-nonsense. I imply, she’s fairly easy, nevertheless it’s one thing about her that’s enigmatic, charismatic, and clearly, she’s rattling good at what she does.
Three years in the past, Paige Bueckers used her ESPYs speech to name for extra protection for her Black friends and acknowledge that she’s succeeding in “a Black-led sport.” Do you assume we’ve seen an enchancment?
I don’t assume we now have. Partly it’s as a result of, general, the media does a horrible job of overlaying ladies’s sports activities. After which the occasions once they do resolve that ladies are worthy of their protection, they’re going to overload in a single route. As a result of it’s all they know. And I used to be very, very comfortable — comfortable in all probability is a substandard phrase — nevertheless it was simply very encouraging to see Paige Bueckers acknowledge that, particularly given how younger she is. That’s not one thing that essentially needs to be in her social consciousness, however she understands, “Hey, this sport is sort of half Black ladies.”
A study I cited lately for a bit I wrote in The Atlantic [found that] while you evaluate [the coverage] of, say, somebody like Bueckers, Sabrina Ionescu, or Caitlin Clark to A’ja Wilson, who has dominated basketball at each single degree. She’s in all probability the most effective participant on the planet proper now. And I’m not attempting to behave like she will get no protection, however the protection that typically non-white ladies get, or particularly Black ladies get, shouldn’t be even shut. It’s two-to-one.
I imply, Aliyah Boston was the most effective participant in faculty simply a few years in the past. And she or he didn’t get even a tenth of this media protection that Caitlin Clark did. Now, some folks would say, “Oh, it’s her recreation.” However I don’t assume it was that. She’s great on tv, and I’m pondering, What a missed alternative for the nationwide media to essentially elevate who she was as an individual. Caitlin Clark appears to be an amazing character, however it’s not like Caitlin Clark is strolling round saying loopy stuff. They’re simply overlaying her excellence, and that’s adequate. Whereas it appears like for Black athletes to get the identical quantity of protection and even honest protection, there has to be something extra [beyond basketball].
Caitlin has dealt with her outsized fame in addition to you can anticipate from a 20-, 21-, 22-year-old. As her time wraps up as a deified illustration of Iowa and faculty basketball, what would you like to see her do along with her WNBA platform?
I might like to see the fashion that she performs actually translate to the subsequent degree. And I believe it’s going to, by the best way. There’s going to be a pure studying curve when she makes the leap to the WNBA. I believe the individuals who don’t watch ladies’s basketball commonly don’t perceive that there aren’t a whole lot of roster spots within the WNBA. The individual on the finish of the bench might legitimately have been averaging 31 in faculty. Sabrina [Ionescu] struggled, and he or she was nice. Everyone goes via it. Lots of people don’t perceive that expertise is insane within the WNBA. However I’m hoping that as a result of there’s such a fascination along with her, as a result of she has created such a staunch fan base, that fan base not simply follows her however begins to fall in love with the whole thing of the league. And I believe that can occur.
To me, Caitlin Clark was all the time Steph Curry. It was all the time him. And even for those who take into account LeBron to be the best participant of this technology, which might be correct, the most important impact on basketball at each degree was Steph Curry. I really feel like Caitlin Clark’s going to proceed that as a result of even the rationale she performs, the best way she performs, is due to Steph Curry. I can solely think about the variety of little ladies and younger feminine athletes who’re attempting to repeat every thing she’s doing, and I believe that’s an amazing factor for the game.
It’s not particular to ladies’s sports activities for one participant to get outsized publicity like Caitlin. We see sure gamers in any league change into media darlings and different nice gamers be semi-anonymous. But when any participant might be given the identical degree of publicity, who do you assume has the potential in post-Caitlin Clark faculty hoops to draw this degree of nationwide intrigue?
MiLaysia Fulwiley. Effectively, for those who give me two solutions, I’m going to say JuJu and MiLaysia. I truly lean towards Fulwiley extra due to fashion. Model issues relating to basketball, and MiLaysia Fulwiley can do issues with the basketball I at present haven’t seen a whole lot of ladies capable of do. The behind-the-back passes, the no-looks. Her recreation is rounding out, and he or she’s only a freshman. It’s scary to consider the place she’s going to be two years from now.
One of many huge parts as to why Clark was in a position to attract so many followers is as a result of she performs the sport with aptitude and confidence. Whereas the boldness half isn’t essentially distinctive to the ladies’s recreation, I believe the aptitude, the artistry of it, is totally different. And I see the identical factor with Fulwiley. She’s a spotlight clip day by day. She’s going to do one thing that’s going to make ESPN’s top-10 performs. I noticed it myself in Paris after I went to [South Carolina and Notre Dame’s game], and he or she did that behind-the-back transfer, and I used to be like, “I’ve by no means seen that.” She’s additionally received the good thing about the monstrous nationwide platform that South Carolina has constructed.
I’m hoping one thing like what occurred with South Carolina can also be in Iowa’s future as a result of this has received to be extra than simply about supporting one generational athlete. It’s received to be about supporting this system. Followers have confirmed that they may help. And so, I hope that after Caitlin Clark is gone, Iowa is ready to create an environment the place they’re constantly within the dialog for having the most effective gamers and the most effective staff within the nation.
This interview has been evenly edited for readability and size.
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