Mycampusplug
Breaking News: Caitlin Clark Praises Team USA Coach Despite Olympic Selection Snub
Caitlin Clark was full of praise for legendary WNBA coach Cheryl Reeve and the Minnesota Lynx, who snapped Indiana’s five-game winning streak with a 99-88 victory on Friday.
Reeve is currently pressing all the right buttons in Minneapolis, transforming a Lynx squad that was 19-21 last season into the WNBA’s second-best team, but this summer she coached the Team USA Olympic squad that Clark was controversially left off of.
“I think they’re the hardest team in the league to guard, probably. I think their movement is incredible, the way they play is incredible, it’s how basketball should be played. Our matchup is just great for basketball.”
“If you want to watch two teams that play basketball the right way, it’s this. You play up-temp, you share the ball. It’s not sets all the time, but they run great action, they run great ball screen stuff, they space the floor, all five of them can shoot at all time. It’s hard to guard.”
Despite the comfortable scoreline, it was a nervy finish for Minnesota after Kelsey Mitchell splashed her fourth 3-pointer capped off a spirited 20-8 Fever spurt with 4:03 remaining, pulling Indiana within one. Clark paced Indiana all evening long against the WNBA’s most efficient defense, scoring 25 points on a respectable 50 percent effective shooting percentage, while also providing eight assists.
Her performance continues a historic run for the Fever dynamo, as she entered Friday’s matchup riding a five-game stretch where she directly contributed to the most points in WNBA history. Should she continue her torrid pace over the final six games, she’ll break the record for this metric over an entire season.
Clark’s early season outings were much more mercurial, struggling more acutely with turnovers with several alarmingly inefficient box scores. By the June 12 deadline, Clark was not among the 12 players named to the hyper-competitive Olympic squad, and while Reeve has no formal role in the selection process her style was a consideration for the committee.
Here’s the basketball criteria that we were given as a committee and how do we evaluate our players based on that?” USA Basketball selection committee chair Jen Rizzotti said. “And when you base your decision on criteria, there were other players that were harder to cut because they checked a lot more boxes. Then sometimes it comes down to position, style of play for (Reeve) and then sometimes a vote.”
Clark clearly exudes respect for Reeve’s coaching, but her legion of fans has come into conflict with the former WNBA fans throughout the Indiana star’s rookie year. Reeve expressed her frustration that her team’s preseason game was not televised at the expense of Clark’s exhibition clash and offered a gruff answer when asked about an attendance boom during the Fever’s trip in June.
“I don’t give two s–ts,” she said about Clark’s collegiate popularity in the region. When pressed further, she added, “(I don’t give) not even one s–t.”
