The double standard in sports 

Women’s basketball championship eclipsed by media criticism 

Amara Brooks / Sports Editor / The USD Vista

Louisiana State University (LSU) defeated Iowa to become the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball champions. The win marked the program’s first ever national title just two years after head coach Kim Mulkey joined the program. The LSU team truly accomplished the impossible with 15 new transfer students appearing on the program’s roster at the beginning of the season. In just a short span of time, they proved the media wrong and showed they had chemistry on and off the field to achieve record-breaking stats. The team’s impressive season and championship win was unfortunately outshined by an outpour of media criticism surrounding power forward Angel Reese’s celebration toward Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.

Like many women basketball players this season, Clark has been all over the media for her impressive offensive skills. Her shooting ability has fans comparing her to power shooter Stephen Curry, as she is consistent in her completion of far field three point shots. Radio talk show host Dan Patrick claims she’s the best shooter the game has ever seen. 

“If you want to watch the best shooter in college basketball, men or women, it’s Caitlin,” Patrick said. “There’s nobody like her.” 

Clark’s stats back up the claims. She is tied for the fastest to collect over 2,000 career points – in just 75 games – in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. She’s  also the first player in division history to record 900 points and 300 assists in one season. She made history again by becoming the first player in NCAA women’s March Madness history to score a triple-double. Alongside her amazing achievements, Clark is known for her savage trash talk and celebrations against her opponents. Clark became a trending topic as viewers tuned in not just to see her captivating game play but her tenacity against opponents. 

One moment that grabbed media attention occurred during the Iowa game against South Carolina in the Final Four round of the tournament. Clark and her team were on defense and when Clark was supposed to guard Carolina point guard Raven Johnson, she didn’t. Not only did she decide not to guard one of the best in the NCAA tournament, she accompanied it by hand waving Johnson off, as if she couldn’t be concerned enough to defend her. 

The hand wave to Johnson isn’t the only time Clark has physically shown her feelings toward opponents during the tournament. Just before the game against South Carolina, Clark adopted John Cena’s infamous “you can’t see me” hand wave in the Elite Eight round against Louisville. After dropping her sixth three-pointer of the night, Clark celebrated with the iconic gesture. Twitter responses came flooding in with John Cena himself tweeting, “even if they could see you… they can’t guard you.”

That particular game against Louisville involved more than just elaborate celebrations as Clark and Louisville’s Haley Van Lith began to trash talk each other on the court as well. Clark told guard Van Lith, “You’re down 15 points. Shut up.”

The trash talk and celebrations in this year’s Women’s March Madness had many people tuned in, with viewers claiming the games were more fun to watch than WNBA and the Men’s March Madness tournament as well. According to an ESPN report, the championship game against LSU and Iowa garnered 9.9 million views, making it the most streamed sporting event to date on ESPN+. The game itself kept many tuned in until the end, with a final score of 102-85, the game also marked the highest-scoring championship game to date. In contrast, the men’s championship game was the lowest viewed March Madness final on record. However, despite all of the excitement surrounding the game, all of it was overshadowed by the heavy outpour of criticism toward Angel Reese. 

Reese, alongside Clark, has been in the media for her incredible game play and exciting game day celebrations. Most notably, Reese first trended on Twitter and TikTok when she made an impressive one-handed block while holding one of her sneakers in the other hand. Reese made history in the game by making her 34th double-double, which is the most made in a single season in NCAA women’s history. Reese ended the game with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Award. 

Right before the game was finished, Reese adopted the same John Cena “you can’t see me” hand wave and directed it toward Clark, followed by pointing to her ring finger. The latter is a commonly used gesture by sports legends, including Tom Brady and LeBron James to indicate the placement of a championship ring.

Reese’s “you can’t see me” gesture toward Clark sparked public debate over Twitter, with many criticizing Reese. Sports journalist Jose de Jesus Ortiz called her actions “classless,” while former ESPN host Keith Olbermann called her an “idiot.” Public figures like Barstool Founder and CEO Dave Portnoy tweeted that she was a “classless piece of sh–t.” 

The public debate continued with many coming to Reese’s defense, pointing out that there was no public outrage when Clark did the gesture earlier in the tournament. The only difference between the two situations is one of the players is white and the other is black. 

USD sophomore Sarah Evans from the women’s soccer team touched on the pressures Black athletes experience when expressing themselves in games.

“It’s out of passion,” Evans stated. “No matter how the media portrays it, I think that you kind of have to watch a little bit more about what you do, and say, because of how it can be perceived.”

Shortly after the victory, Reese addressed the criticism and ongoing debate about the incident in a press conference. 

“All year, I was critiqued for who I was; I don’t fit the narrative,” Reese said. “I don’t fit the box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto. Y’all told me that all year. But when other people do it, and y’all don’t say nothing. So this is for the girls that look like me.”

The double standard is clear. It wasn’t only okay when Caitlin Clark did it, it was celebrated. Clark’s actions were met with support and excitement as viewers claimed this year’s tournament showed that women’s basketball has the same amount of grit and trash talk as men’s. As Reese mentioned in the press conference, players who  look like her receive harsher treatment because they don’t fit the narrative the media wants to box them in. In women’s sports female athletes are expected to contain their emotions, both on and off the court.  

Tennis champion Serena Williams has frequently caused media controversy for her anger during matches and has been labeled “emotional” by the media. 

In an ESPN interview, Clark responded to the debate and came to Reese’s defense regarding the issue. 

“I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all,” Clark stated. “Everybody knew there was going to be a little trash talk in the entire tournament. It’s not just me and Angel. We’re all competitive. Men have always had trash talk … You should be able to play with that emotion … That’s how every girl should continue to play.”

Clark addressed another double standard at play, not just in regards to how race was at the forefront of the public’s outrage, but how women are expected to act a certain way during games. 

Clark’s statements regarding the game came a day after First Lady Jill Biden added more fuel to the fire by stating that she believed that both teams should be able to come to the White House. 

“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come,” she said. “But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

Reese responded on Twitter calling the remark, “a JOKE” with people questioning if LSU would have been invited if the roles had been reversed. Many brought attention to the fact the comment comes along with the fact that LSU is a team of majority Black players and Iowa is a team of majority White players. It is tradition for the champions of the tournament to be invited to the White House and meet the President and The First Lady in celebration of their accomplishments, not the runner ups.

 The First Lady put out another statement backtracking on her previous remarks,  claiming it was an effort to applaud the work the teams have done for women’s sports. 

It is unfortunate that an event like the March Madness tournament, which has brought so much light and viewership to women’s sports, has been outshined by public criticism over a simple hand gesture. 

The 2023 tournament will be one that many will call a turning point in women’s sports history. The record number of viewers portrays this idea that women athletes are only now putting on a good show, but the truth is they always have. This new generation of players are now pushing against this narrative about how female, and especially Black female athletes are expected to behave on the court.