Caitlin Clark leads Iowa back to Final Four, scoring 41 points in 94-87 win over defending champ LSU

Yappi

Yappi

Go Buckeyes
Caitlin Clark put up another sensational performance to carry Iowa to its second straight Final Four.

The Hawkeyes' superstar guard, whose record-breaking exploits have brought unprecedented attention to women's basketball, made nine 3-pointers and finished with 41 points and 12 assists as Iowa knocked defending national champion LSU out of the NCAA Tournament with a 94-87 victory on Monday night.
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Irwin20 said:
First time watching a complete women’s basketball game. It was quite entertaining. May watch the final.
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So what did you think of LSU's strategy vs. Clark? Remember Kim Mulkey has won national championships and been a coach for a long time. I didn't watch alot, but in just seeing highlights, what does Clark do really well? Shoot 3's right? LSU's defender got screened, didn't even hedge the screen and sometimes the defender backed off 8-10 feet like they were more worried about her driving??? I mean what kind of gameplan is that?
 
14Red said:
So what did you think of LSU's strategy vs. Clark? Remember Kim Mulkey has won national championships and been a coach for a long time. I didn't watch alot, but in just seeing highlights, what does Clark do really well? Shoot 3's right? LSU's defender got screened, didn't even hedge the screen and sometimes the defender backed off 8-10 feet like they were more worried about her driving??? I mean what kind of gameplan is that?
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Great point, 14. On a larger scale of the season, Hailey Van Leith was a 20ppg scorer at Louisville by being an off ball guard on offense. Kim put her at the PG. Some baffling decisions by Mulkey this year.
 
Orin Swift said:
Great point, 14. On a larger scale of the season, Hailey Van Leith was a 20ppg scorer at Louisville by being an off ball guard on offense. Kim put her at the PG. Some baffling decisions by Mulkey this year.
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And maybe that just goes to show you the mess she had there with players who just did their own thing. I mean I can't imagine an accomplished coach like her would play it that way. Isn't it pretty basic to think while Clark is a great passer, you'd rather make the other Iowa player beat you than letting her get 41 points??
 
14Red said:
And maybe that just goes to show you the mess she had there with players who just did their own thing. I mean I can't imagine an accomplished coach like her would play it that way. Isn't it pretty basic to think while Clark is a great passer, you'd rather make the other Iowa player beat you than letting her get 41 points??
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That or maybe Mulkey was more interested in playing the villain and her off the court antics than what was going on the court. She’s vocal and not afraid to call out her players. If they were just doing their own thing, she would have said something to the media.
 
Orin Swift said:
Great point, 14. On a larger scale of the season, Hailey Van Leith was a 20ppg scorer at Louisville by being an off ball guard on offense. Kim put her at the PG. Some baffling decisions by Mulkey this year.
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And to you point on VanLeith, there's no way she plays in the WNBA, unless it's way down the bench. You have to at least be able to guard and she not only small, but not real quick and agile. You could easily see the difference in talent from her and Clark.
 
14Red said:
And maybe that just goes to show you the mess she had there with players who just did their own thing. I mean I can't imagine an accomplished coach like her would play it that way. Isn't it pretty basic to think while Clark is a great passer, you'd rather make the other Iowa player beat you than letting her get 41 points??
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The other players did beat them. One had 21 and another had 18
 
I like how someone in the NCAA or the media has really promoted some stars in women's basketball. More people talking about women's basketball than NBA or men's NCAA basketball. Angel Reece, Clark and Dawn Staley have become household names.
 
Brownsfan19 said:
I like how someone in the NCAA or the media has really promoted some stars in women's basketball. More people talking about women's basketball than NBA or men's NCAA basketball. Angel Reece, Clark and Dawn Staley have become household names.
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The NCAA doesn’t promote, they are a governing body. It’s the media and the fact Clark and Reese are super stars in their sport (which will always drive visibility), have beef, there’s finally some parity in WCBB, and I can’t believe you left off Juju Watkins!
 
Orin Swift said:
The NCAA doesn’t promote, they are a governing body. It’s the media and the fact Clark and Reese are super stars in their sport (which will always drive visibility), have beef, there’s finally some parity in WCBB, and I can’t believe you left off Juju Watkins!
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Agreed. With Clark leaving now juju will get more attention. The UConn guard was getting a lot of hype last night too. I think angel stays for another year. We shall see.
 
Brownsfan19 said:
Agreed. With Clark leaving now juju will get more attention. The UConn guard was getting a lot of hype last night too. I think angel stays for another year. We shall see.
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Yes, Paige is a hell of a talent as well. The top of the 2020 recruiting class was very much a hit for WCBB.

I hope the media plays up the “UConn didn’t offer Clark” bit. Basketball is always more entertaining with some of the side drama added in.
 
Brownsfan19 said:
I like how someone in the NCAA or the media has really promoted some stars in women's basketball. More people talking about women's basketball than NBA or men's NCAA basketball. Angel Reece, Clark and Dawn Staley have become household names.
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Ummmmm, kinda, kinda not. ESPN/ ABC bought the rights to broadcast the women's games and they certainly have fed the machine. ESPN is the sports networks for their work over the last 40 years, it's in nearly every home. The NCAA mens' tournament is with CBS/ Turner sports now, so if you've noticed, ESPN doesn't promote the men's tournament much. Heck the first two weekends after the games I'd switch over to ESPN after the games and they had auto racing and UCF on? No postgame coverage or anything until the bottled sportscenters they run continuous the rest of the night.
So ESPN, and I'll give them credit for this, they've completely changed their business model. They've gone by way of the 1960's and 1970's when the networks had a gigantic TV audience during the day of housewives. The programming? Games shows and soap operas. ESPN has transformed in 20 years from mainly a male viewing network to mostly females. And not to get political, but also kinda left leaning. Just look at the number of men who are not longer working at ESPN? So are we talking about women's basketball because of the games, or because it's highly promoted by ESPN? I think it's at least some of both.
 
14Red said:
Ummmmm, kinda, kinda not. ESPN/ ABC bought the rights to broadcast the women's games and they certainly have fed the machine. ESPN is the sports networks for their work over the last 40 years, it's in nearly every home. The NCAA mens' tournament is with CBS/ Turner sports now, so if you've noticed, ESPN doesn't promote the men's tournament much. Heck the first two weekends after the games I'd switch over to ESPN after the games and they had auto racing and UCF on? No postgame coverage or anything until the bottled sportscenters they run continuous the rest of the night.
So ESPN, and I'll give them credit for this, they've completely changed their business model. They've gone by way of the 1960's and 1970's when the networks had a gigantic TV audience during the day of housewives. The programming? Games shows and soap operas. ESPN has transformed in 20 years from mainly a male viewing network to mostly females. And not to get political, but also kinda left leaning. Just look at the number of men who are not longer working at ESPN? So are we talking about women's basketball because of the games, or because it's highly promoted by ESPN? I think it's at least some of both.
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Kinda Left leaning?

It's funny that during the height of men's March Madness, you look at ESPN.com to look at scores, and you had to scroll pretty far down to find anything about men's sports.
 
OldSoulon said:
Kinda Left leaning?

It's funny that during the height of men's March Madness, you look at ESPN.com to look at scores, and you had to scroll pretty far down to find anything about men's sports.
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Has less to do with left leaning (although they are) and more to do with the fact ESPN has a vested financial interest in the women’s tournament and gets exactly $0 out of the men’s tournament.
 
Orin Swift said:
Has less to do with left leaning (although they are) and more to do with the fact ESPN has a vested financial interest in the women’s tournament and gets exactly $0 out of the men’s tournament.
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Oh, I get it...but in the news business, you gotta give the people what they want to see and read.

I guess that's really not true anymore, though.
 
OldSoulon said:
Kinda Left leaning?

It's funny that during the height of men's March Madness, you look at ESPN.com to look at scores, and you had to scroll pretty far down to find anything about men's sports.
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Well and it's also funny, have you noticed that the scores are reported as college basketball not men's or womens. You have to kind of know your team and schedule. Can't tell you how many times I double looked at a score, say Boston College 74, Duke 54 thinking it was guys only to figure out it was the women's score. It's just that blurring of lines of the genders as we see so much of now.
Orin Swift said:
Has less to do with left leaning (although they are) and more to do with the fact ESPN has a vested financial interest in the women’s tournament and gets exactly $0 out of the men’s tournament.
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No doubt, but it's part of the game plan and with the explosion of women's sports over the last 20 years, it's not going away. I'm surprised women's hoops never moved the rim down so dunking would be common. That's the biggest draw back for most. I mean people love the high flying dunks and playing above the rim. Although you see a few female who can actually dunk, the game is still largely played below the rim. Clark's attraction has more to do with there's never been a player shoot the long ball like she does. For a player like Angel Reese, the appeal of a 5 foot bank shot and put backs just isn't there and never will be.
 
Irwin20 said:
First time watching a complete women’s basketball game. It was quite entertaining. May watch the final.
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I watched as well (although I don't think it was my first complete women's NCAA game). And then I ended up watching the UConn - USC game as well, also very entertaining.
 
So far UConn is handcuffing Clark and Iowa. The place is sold out and the crowd is pumped. I wonder if the final will draw the same crowd without Iowa and Clark?
 
Iowa is outmanned tonite and finally facing a team who can play disciplined defense.

Turning to something else now.
 
cjb5656 said:
So far UConn is handcuffing Clark and Iowa. The place is sold out and the crowd is pumped. I wonder if the final will draw the same crowd without Iowa and Clark?
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No.
Probably about half.
Was a good run but it's over.
 
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