NCAA Women's Basketball officially has more attention than it's ever had before, a massive win for the sport that less than three years ago, was a subject of a gender equality review due to obvious gaps in treatment between the Men's and Women's divisions.
Yet with all the positive strides comes the negative media press.
LSU's Angel Reese has already expressed how difficult its been for her to face all the criticisms, while her teammate Hailey Van Lith was a subject of trolls and memes all throughout their game against Caitlin Clark and Iowa.
"I just try to stay strong... I've been attacked so many times. Death threats, I've been sexualized, I've been threatened... I'm still human. All this has happened since I won the national championship & I haven't been happy since then."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 2, 2024
- Angel Reesepic.twitter.com/fIvQWtefnx
The stark difference in criticism that the men's and women's players receive is that many of the attacks against the women are sexualized.
But another narrative that was pushed after last year's championship game was the race factor. Reese and Clark were pitted against each other, and the former was billed to be the aggressor.
Race has been a storyline in sports rivalries throughout history, famously in the 1980s when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird went from college basketball stars to the faces of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, respectively.
But while they were pitted against each other, the two NBA Hall of Famers ended up becoming great friends.
Clark and Reese, both of whom have already declared for the 2024 WNBA Draft after Reese's announcement today, seem to be headed in the same direction. The two have squashed any assumptions of a feud and reports are that they have shown each other a lot of grace through the pressure of carrying the torch for the sport.
Congratulations @CaitlinClark22 KEEP BREAKING RECORDS & MAKING HER-STORY! 🖤💛🔥 https://t.co/jWn7QZZdkQ
— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) February 16, 2024
But that doesn't mean that the racial narrative isn't being pushed in other ways — which is what happened when another Celtics legend spoke on FS1's "Undisputed" following Iowa's win.
Paul Pierce, known for his outspoken takes, spoke to Skip Bayless and Keyshawn Johnson about Clark's incredible 41-point, 12-assist game and used race to exemplify why he thought her performance was impressive.
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"We saw a white girl in Iowa do it to a bunch of Black girls," Pierce said. "That gained my respect. She didn't do this to some other white girls that was over here in Colorado or wherever. She did it to some girls from LSU who we thought were some dogs, defending champs, and put them on their knees and spanked them. I didn't expect that."
"We saw a white girl in Iowa do it to a bunch of Black girls. That gained my respect...I didn't expect that." - Paul Pierce pic.twitter.com/StyugFiG67
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 2, 2024
Shockingly, social media did not react well to Pierce's statements — with many telling him to just stay away from talking about women's sports.
Paul Pierce needs to stay out of women’s business, respectfully. This take is horrible. https://t.co/h7H8U49NxF
— Khristina Williams (@Khristina) April 2, 2024
Pierce has rarely been shy to express his opinions, with him taking backlash in the past for saying he had a better career than NBA legend Dwyane Wade. His different antics led to him ultimately getting fired from ESPN in 2021.
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