NCAA Tournament 2022-23

Caitlin Clark needs to improve his decision-making, but she's an amazing player.

Aliyah Boston isn't anywhere near her caliber. I don't understand why people think Boston is so great.
I hope Boston goes 1 if she declares so Lynx don't get stuck with her. Absolutely below average for wnba potential
 

I hope Boston goes 1 if she declares so Lynx don't get stuck with her. Absolutely below average for wnba potential
I agree. She has big bust potential with above average starter upside. She's not any kind of perennial all-star. I see her as an average starter at her peak.

Clark has HOF potential.
 


I agree. She has big bust potential with above average starter upside. She's not any kind of perennial all-star. I see her as an average starter at her peak.

Clark has HOF potential.
Clark also has potential to force WNBA to reconsider its marketing and expand teams if she stays 5 years at iowa
 

Iowa is favored by 1.5 points over LSU in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Game, Sunday.

"Caitlin" and her team vs "Bayou Barbie" and her team.


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SEC vs Big Ten.

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Lisa Bluder vs Kim Mulkey.

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Clark also has potential to force WNBA to reconsider its marketing and expand teams if she stays 5 years at iowa
She's the first women's player I've seen who has the ability to bring in casual, non-women's basketball fans in huge numbers. She's appointment viewing.

She could completely change the WNBA and truly put it on the map, a true face for the league. She'll be underpaid from Day 1 in the WNBA.

Apologies to Paige Bueckers, but Clark is the best thing to happen to college ball since Cheryl Miller. It's not even a question.
 

High ratings and mainstream press will raise the profile of women's basketball. A player like Clark is once in a generation.



DALLAS -- No way the Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark Showdown could live up to the hype. Not after two years of anticipation and sky-high expectations.

Turns out, it was even better.

Clark met the moment and then some with a performance for the ages Friday night.






Caitlin Clark had another sensational game with 41 points to help Iowa spoil South Carolina’s perfect season with a 77-73 victory on Friday night in the Final Four.

The spectacular junior guard, who has back-to-back 40-point games, now has the Hawkeyes in a spot they’ve never been in before – one victory away from a national championship.

“This is incredible, I don’t even know what to say,” she said after the game. “I just love these girls so much.”





Can you do more for your sport, your team and yourself than Clark did Friday night at American Airlines Center in Iowa’s 77-73 semifinal victory over No. 1 seed South Carolina? No, you can’t. And it wasn’t just about the hunt for championship metal and crystal. The stakes were broader than that.






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High ratings and mainstream press will raise the profile of women's basketball. A player like Clark is once in a generation.



DALLAS -- No way the Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark Showdown could live up to the hype. Not after two years of anticipation and sky-high expectations.

Turns out, it was even better.

Clark met the moment and then some with a performance for the ages Friday night.






Caitlin Clark had another sensational game with 41 points to help Iowa spoil South Carolina’s perfect season with a 77-73 victory on Friday night in the Final Four.

The spectacular junior guard, who has back-to-back 40-point games, now has the Hawkeyes in a spot they’ve never been in before – one victory away from a national championship.

“This is incredible, I don’t even know what to say,” she said after the game. “I just love these girls so much.”





Can you do more for your sport, your team and yourself than Clark did Friday night at American Airlines Center in Iowa’s 77-73 semifinal victory over No. 1 seed South Carolina? No, you can’t. And it wasn’t just about the hunt for championship metal and crystal. The stakes were broader than that.






Below subscription required.



clark is her generation’s Bird - great all around player and can get her shot whenever she wants it.

On PTI IIRC, they said the women’s FF tickets were selling for more than the Men’s on the secondary market - I would think that would be a first.
 



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Monika Czinano said she badly wanted to play for Minnesota, but the Gophers never offered her. This was before Lindsay Whalen was coach.



"“Even when I was little, there were a lot of tournaments I played there [at Williams Arena]. I had birthday parties there,” said Monika, who will celebrate another birthday there on Thursday, when she turns 22.

“I was always thinking how cool it would be to play there (for the Gophers). I saw the locker rooms, it was like ‘oh gosh.’”

However ...

“(Minnesota) didn’t offer me. They didn’t recruit me.”

And it stung...

“I know she feels, ‘They didn’t want me.’ She wants to rub it in. She wanted to be wanted.”

Things didn’t turn out so bad....




“She was always tall,” Theresa [her mother] said, “but at first, she didn’t like it. She wanted to quit. She became a varsity manager in fourth or fifth grade, and she started to like it.”

“Going to Williams Arena, that was my go-to. When in doubt, I took the kids to basketball games.”"
 


Don’t know if Clark is the best player in BIG history (Katie Smith and 2-3 others in conversation), but Clark is already the most decorated player in BIG history.
 



Clark is so fast on her drives to the basket that the help defense not only can't stop her they can't even get near her. South Carolina has elite rim protectors who knew that they had to focus on her. It didn't matter. She was still getting uncontested layups.
 

Coach Bluder's strategy to beat South Carolina down the stretch: hand the ball to Caitlin Clark. What's crazy is that the South Carolina defense is dominating.


 


Bar fight, or not.

DALLAS — After South Carolina women's basketball suffered its only loss of the season to Iowa in the Final Four on Friday, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley aired her frustration with the way her team's play style was described leading up to the game.

Staley specifically cited a comment made Tuesday by Iowa coach Lisa Bluder that described rebounding against the Gamecocks as "going to a bar fight." Bluder said Saturday that she had not seen Staley's postgame comments and brushed off the South Carolina coach's offense at the characterization of her team's physicality.

"If you know me, I speak tongue in cheek a lot, and I was saying an analogy of you've got to rebound like you're in a bar fight," Bluder said. "That's all. It doesn't say who's fighting, right? But that's fine. I've never been in a bar fight, by the way."
 


Bar fight, or not.
Bluder also said as quoted in the article: "There was absolutely no ill intent. I know coaches will take things and spin it to try to motivate their team. I've done that, I'm sure. So be it with that," Bluder said. "I really meant it as a compliment, like you are going to have to fight harder than you've ever fought in your life to get a defensive rebound against this team because they are so good."
 

Ratings are out!




5.5 millions viewers watched South Carolina vs Iowa -- ESPN's most-viewed semi-final on record and the 3rd-most WCBB on record. Peak was 6.6 million. That's a huge increase from last year.

LSU vs VT also generated 3.4 million viewers.

The most-viewed semis in ESPN history.
 

I wouldn't count out LSU. People may be a bit slow to catch onto LSU because so much talk has been on South Carolina and Iowa.

This feels like an upset risk sneaking up.

 




Monika Czinano said she badly wanted to play for Minnesota, but the Gophers never offered her. This was before Lindsay Whalen was coach.



"“Even when I was little, there were a lot of tournaments I played there [at Williams Arena]. I had birthday parties there,” said Monika, who will celebrate another birthday there on Thursday, when she turns 22.

“I was always thinking how cool it would be to play there (for the Gophers). I saw the locker rooms, it was like ‘oh gosh.’”

However ...

“(Minnesota) didn’t offer me. They didn’t recruit me.”

And it stung...

“I know she feels, ‘They didn’t want me.’ She wants to rub it in. She wanted to be wanted.”

Things didn’t turn out so bad....




“She was always tall,” Theresa [her mother] said, “but at first, she didn’t like it. She wanted to quit. She became a varsity manager in fourth or fifth grade, and she started to like it.”

“Going to Williams Arena, that was my go-to. When in doubt, I took the kids to basketball games.”"
One more strike against Stollings.
 

I wouldn't count out LSU. People may be a bit slow to catch onto LSU because so much talk has been on South Carolina and Iowa.

This feels like an upset risk sneaking up.

In a one game scenario, I'll take the team with the best player every time.
 



Zia Cooke of South Carolina won Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
 

And Clark won yet another player of the year award.

2023 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award -- National Player of the Year.

 



LSU’s Angel Reese Leads NCAA Basketball In NIL Deals​

  • The 2023 AP All-American has inked a total of 17 deals, according to SponsorUnited.
  • She ranks fifth in the entire NCAA, and first in D-I basketball.

Reese has an estimated earning potential of $392,000, which ranks sixth across D-I women’s basketball. She previously said her NIL earnings top the value of a WNBA contract.

In addition to more traditional sports partnerships with companies like Bose and JanSport, Reese has partnered with brands that reflect her image as the “Bayou Barbie,” like luxury fashion brand Coach.
 



LSU’s Angel Reese Leads NCAA Basketball In NIL Deals​

  • The 2023 AP All-American has inked a total of 17 deals, according to SponsorUnited.
  • She ranks fifth in the entire NCAA, and first in D-I basketball.

Reese has an estimated earning potential of $392,000, which ranks sixth across D-I women’s basketball. She previously said her NIL earnings top the value of a WNBA contract.

In addition to more traditional sports partnerships with companies like Bose and JanSport, Reese has partnered with brands that reflect her image as the “Bayou Barbie,” like luxury fashion brand Coach.
That's great! She's doing it the right way.

Clark should be getting some big national spokeswoman deals soon. I would expect her to be #1 soon enough. We see Olivia Dunn has a national television campaign with Vuori.

Hell, McDonald's should have her shill for Big Macs. Get fun with it and have her and Bueckers run back the HORSE commercials like Bird and Jordan had.
 


Kansas won the WNIT. I know some don't care but it's something.
 


Boston is headed to the WNBA.



Maryland's Diamond Miller projected to the Minnesota Lynx.

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Only reason I'm posting this is the Final Four and the broader landscape the Minnesota Gophers play in. I mean, the goal should be a Final Four against teams, dynamics, and players like this.
 





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