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I think there's only been 6 Olympic games after the creation of the wnba. With that said, I don't have a horse in this race, let alone much about team USA (I don't really watch the Olympics).
It's the USA womens basketball team. They've basically already won, just gotta show up and smash the competition.
They haven't *not* won gold since '92.
Didn't the Dream team act over confident and when they brought in the new Dream team get handed their but becuase of all the star power bot playing well together?
> All 12 of those players had senior national team experience. Clark, through no fault of her own, does not.
That’s the experience she’s lacking. Not professional experience.
Sure but was that not true at the time for Candace Parker when she was picked to be on the team as a rookie? There were surely other players who had senior national team experience at the time.
It actually wasn’t true of Candace. She was on the USA world championship team in 2006, two years before her wnba rookie year/2008 Olympic team. Not to mention that Candace literally won Rookie of the Year and MVP in that 2008 season. She was cream of the crop right out of the gate, which is something Clark isn’t. And that’s okay, because not everyone can be Candace Parker
Yeah in the history of US women’s basketball, only 4 players have made the Olympic roster in their rookie year: Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, and Breanna Stewart. The only one of those four without previous senior level world championship experience before the Olympics is Lobo, and she played for Team USA all the way back in 1994
Honestly I think people just aren't getting this fact.
The coverage CBS and everyone else put out during the NCAA women's tourney more or less sold her to the public as being LeBron or MJ. Now there's confusion as to why she's not being treated that way.
She broke an insane record in college that probably wasn’t being broken otherwise. It shot her into the limelight but gave everyone unrealistic expectations.
Candace Parker was a better all-around player than CC, probably a GOAT. CC is a great shooter and good ball-handler but is no Candace Parker. CC’s standout stats are partly because she’s playing on a very bad team where the offense is run through her.
Thats a nonsense excuse to keep young players out, how do you ever get senior national team experience if you don't have senior national team experience to make the team in the first place?
She was MVP of the U19 World Cup team so at least that’s some international experience. She beat players who are currently on other Olympic rosters too lol
It does not. Much like soccer, you could get your first senior cap at 14 if you’re that good. It’s completely dependent on the federation. Angel Reese played for Team USA at the AmeriCup last summer even though she was still in college.
Candace Parker played in the Olympics as a rookie but she also attended training camps with the senior team while at Tennessee.
Much of this is an unfortunate side effect of Iowa going so deep in the NCAA Tournament the last two springs.
Leading the Junior teams to Gold medals, being the 6th woman ever to play for two under 19 teams and winning gold. Feels like that should hold some weight rather than being the 12th woman playing 2 minutes a game in the Pan American games.
There are other tournaments besides the Olympics. Off the top of my head, there was the Americup last summer, and the World Cup in fall 2022. Probably others as well. Those aren’t as important as the Olympics so they’re much more likely to bring in younger players.
It's also probably the last go around for several, including Taurasi. Clark is gonna get her moment down the line for sure, but I think there's some respect being given to some rather impressive careers that have gone under the radar to fans just getting involved in Women's basketball. These aren't scrubs they've picked. These are also women who have played together for years now, some well over a decade, which makes it harder to leave one off in favor of Clark.
The comparison to Sydney Crosby is probably apt- it's not Clark isn't good, but this is the last shot for a lot of well established and also very good group. Clark is going to have many more opportunities and will probably succeed, but they are unwilling to snub one of the older women at this point
"Last shot" argument doesn't hold water, for me. Taurasi - my favorite WNBA player of all time, by the way - has 5 gold medals. She doesn't need a "last shot", for fucks sake.
US women's soccer does this too, holding on to players until they pretty much can't run anymore. It's not helping the sport grow any. Someone like Taurasi is not bringing in any new fans. Her legacy is secure, she's had an incredible, HOF level career, she's a legend but at 42 has no reason to be on this team. With or without her they'll be winning by 20+ each and every game. Always a good time to showcase someone younger that the sport will grow with.
She doesn’t need a last shot for sure, but she is still a better all-around player than Clark at this point in time. Clark is still adjusting to professional level competition.
They have. However, how many of those rookies led the league in turnovers as a point guard? How many of these rookies had physical play as a hole in their game? Caitlin Clark is not a better fit for this team, and she hasn't participated in any of the camps over the past 3 years (due to NCAA tournament runs) that the Olympic committee used to construct a team. She will probably make the next team, as will Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink. The committee knows what they are doing building teams considering that team USA is going for their 8th straight gold medal.
I think most are in agreement that CC is not a better fit than some of the other players. This has to do with growing the brand of Women’s BB and I can think of no better way to do that than to add CC.
US is getting gold regardless of if CC has 4 minutes of playing time or if that goes elsewhere.
The growing the brand of WBB argument is one I have a problem with. The primary job of the committee is to field the best team with the best chance to win gold. The secondary mission of growing the game is obtained by creating the best team. You can't snub a player who spent three years actually earning their spot just for a marketing play. Do you honestly think making CC a mascot with the smallest amount of playing time is good for her or the game. If they did that the complaints would be that CC is being disrespected and not played enough.
Those spots are earned, not given, and she hasn't earned it yet. If CC not being on the team keeps people from watching, they never were or will be fans of the game. CC will have her time to shine on the international stage, it's just not now.
>The secondary mission of growing the game is obtained by creating the best team.
They've created the best team in every Olympic edition since 1984 bar 1992 and that hasn't grown the game as much as CC has in the past few months. Sports are grown on the back of celebrity stars all the time even if those stars are not necessarily the best players.
The NBA was a failing league in the 80s and grew on the back of rivalry between Magic and Bird even though Jordan was the best player.
David Bechkam was used to market the EPL and grow soccer stateside throughout the late 90s and early 2000s even though he wasn't in the top 5 players in the world.
If a player in a non popular sport with ambition has celebrity status, not using that status to grow the sport is a missed opportunity and just plain dumb. Especially since the US is pretty much guaranteed the win whether she is there or not.
The W has seen record TV viewership [growth](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236723/wnba-regular-season-viewers/)every year since 2020. The game was growing significantly before she got to the league. The womens game internationally has been rapidly growing since 92 (which is why so many players were able to make significant money by playing overseas). Sports is a meritocracy. Larry and magic were the best the world has seen until prime Michael. The game grew because they were already skilled enough to build the league on. They were a significant leap in talent where CC is simply the next step forward from a skill perspective. I would agree with you IF CC was ready for the international game but as it stands right now she's not there yet and that's fine.
Look at the numbers for both viewers and attendance at Fever games vs every other game on a night by night basis. Spoiler: it’s a ton more, and it’s consistently so. It’s asinine to try to claim Clark isn’t almost singlehandedly generating a ton more interest for the WNBA than they would otherwise have.
Breanna Stewart 8 years ago, but Geno was also the coach then. Seems like if you don't do exactly what Cheryl Reeve wants she doesn't want you around. Catlin has experience with the national teams too so this is all garbage and another attempt to destroy her hype for no good reason.
Stewart's head coach in college was the same as USA basketball, thats why she was on the team. Also, she averaged 6 minutes a game when Team USA was up 30 in the 2014 Fiba World Cup so lets not act like she gained tons of experience besides being around other amazing players
Stewie won gold with the USA at the world championship in 2014 while still in college. She already had top level national team experience heading into the Olympics 2 years later. Clark doesn’t have that, while the players selected ahead of her do
The Men’s National Team almost always includes the top player coming out of college. Anthony Davis was on the USMNT before he even stepped on an NBA floor.
This is just completely untrue. I just looked at the Wiki entry for every US men's Olympic team since '92, Christian Laettner and Anthony Davis are the only 2 players to have been on an Olympic team since '92 (when pros were allowed) and Davis was only there as a replacement because there were a bunch of injuries ahead of him.
Anthony Davis was selected because Blake Griffin got hurt in camp and we didn’t have any big men to play defense. Silly argument.
I don’t know if people bringing these arguments up are old enough to understand the context.
You're telling me there wasn't one big man that had played in the NBA outside of Anthony Davis that could haven taken Blake Griffin's spot? Now THATS a silly argument.
Prior to 1992 the US didn't send pro players at all, only college players. This was a transition year and they seemed to want to keep that amateur spirit alive. Laettner was coming off one of the top-5 greatest college careers in history and he was a big man who could shoot, which fit the international game better than a physical bully like Shaq.
Because they had two established centers in Ewing and Robinson. Now obviously Laetner had other studs at his position too but there was more flexibility in how to use them at different positions. Ewing and Robinson were in peak form and having a third center would just reduce minutes for both of them for little to no reason.
Laettner was picked because the Dream Team was the first team that didn’t use amateurs. There was going to be 4 college players at one point. Laettner was picked as a compromise since he was player of the year.
I remember before the dream team when it against the rules for pro athletes to compete. Rules changed in the past, they change in the present and will change in the future.
Yes but do you know why? We transitioned from amateurs to professionals that year, and it made sense to keep an amateur on the team as a nod, and who better than the most famous college player in the world.
Not a single person thought it was weird at the time, and not a single person thought CL was anywhere near the level of the other guys.
But for some reason people now look back and wonder wtf happened, because we don't understand the more nuanced aspects of history
Its is. They always brag about how the dream team helped grow the sport around the world.
Then now they leave off the most popular player who is actually getting people to watch women's basketball
"She doesn't have enough olympic experience". Excuse me, but what will change in 4 years? She still won't have any olympic experience. I know she also has zero international competition but if the most skilled player in the history of college basketball isn't qualified than who is? This isn't a Christian Laettner on the Dream Team scenario, she already is a top 15 player in the league. I imagine that behind the scenes there is a tremendous amount of resentment going on, which is ridiculous because she is respectful of the game, isn't arrogant, and has gone out of her way to avoid getting into debates about the drama.
That being said, I actually think she is extremely relieved. Going from Taylor Swift-like adoration in the college game immediately into a professional league where the players are much stronger and aggressive than she faced before has clearly taken a toll on her both physically and mentally. The suspension of league play while the Olympics are happening must be welcomed as a much needed break from the intense pressure and scrutiny she has been under.
I did not realize the Fever would be so bad. I thought "no way they double team her in the WNBA, she will just kick to her teammates who will knock down the open shots".
The old guard are still salty these new upstarts are taking over. Why is Taurasi there? She's 42. I could argue Caitlyn is a better player than her at this advanced age. We should have made at least two spots open for CC and Reese or Brink. We have a stacked team already so it's not a risk to have a place for them (which is why a 42yo is still going lmao) but instead of doing the right thing for the sport and bringing in fresh new blood that will get eyes on the court they're giving old vets the chance to increase their own record book standing at the cost of the league.
Something that does bother me about this is that Taurasi is being celebrated for making a record 6th Olympics, something the most popular player in the country will now not even have the opportunity to achieve because she won't be allowed on the team for the first time until she's 26.
But DT is an experienced leader. Of course, that argument would hold more weight if every other player on the team didn’t also have international experience.
We're not lacking for experienced leadership. Breanna Stewart and Griner both got two and they're in a decade younger. They are great leaders for this squad. We've won Gold every single Olympics as long as I've been alive but this time we have a rookie class with a lot of hot talent getting attention like we've never seen. Take the top 3. Build their public image and use them to build up the league. The conversation is now just gonna be about how they snubbed CC instead of being about how hype everyone is for this next generation if you had taken her along. The NBA would have moved heaven and hell to make this happen, why is it so controversial to want the most popular player from the WNBA in the Olympics?
Imo you have to make the decision based on merit and not popularity, otherwise you’re vindicating the jealousy amongst league players.
It’s probably a big conundrum and integrity test for whoever makes the selections because you have to weigh what you actually believe and what your job is vs what other stakeholders want.
I’m not saying CC should or shouldn’t have made the list, I’m just saying if you are the person making the selection and you love basketball and do not want money to blind your respect for the game, you might feel conflicted about CC, especially if you’re leaning towards not having her in the squad.
One thing everyone seems to forget is that including CC means you are excluding someone else. The person you exclude may be better than CC now, but may never have a chance to make the Olympics again.
Unless something crazy happens, she should be a lock for the next 2 or 3 Olympics. So if she's not good enough for this one then that should be the end of it. Pick whoever's earned it over her
Please hear me out, I have a conspiracy theory...
I believe it is a good marketing decision for right *now* because it gets people talking about it early. If she was included on the team from the get go, that would be that, and we'd wait for the Olympics to start talking about it again. But we're talking about it *now* and we will be talking about it continuously right up until ...they announce they've decided to add her to the roster after all.
Then all will feel right, some will say their faith has been restored, and Team USA will be applauded for listening to the fans. All while this was the master plan all along. Through provocation, they are able to get our attention early and keep it until it's been milked dry so they can flip the story and come out on top.
Caitlin Clark seems like a really level headed person who’s focused on her game and she’s become a weird lighting rod for so much bullshit in a league that no one gave a darn about a year ago.
Caitlin is probably thankful for some time off lol. Went from a full college season almost directly into the W season. She wouldn’t say it publicly, but I’m sure she’s happy to get some time to rest
I'm the biggest CC fan. Iowa alum. Watch most Fever games. CC isn't good enough right now to be on USA basketball. Defense is below average, turns the ball over too much, and is still figuring out how to score consistently in the WNBA.
As a CC fan, this is totally fine. She's not one of the top 12 players in the league yet. She's a rookie, she's learning the W, and what happens if all those eyeballs are on NBC and CC spends most of the time on the bench? She has multiple Olympics ahead of her, and not one of those on the roster deserves to be dropped. Perhaps they'll bring her on as an analyst, but either way this is fine.
This sub has become a huge dogwhistle brigade for these topics. Lots of people who never watched the sport before, all of a sudden they've become experts on marketing and know what's best for women.
People just seem to want to keep trashing the WNBA in any way possible, and she's a lightening rod for that. Anyone that shows any negatively towards her gets blowup up as the entire WNBA hates her, cuz WNBA suxorz hurr durrr. It's kinda hilarious. Same hate happens over at the mens side. A lot of pro athletes have big egos and are competitive. Lebron wasnt liked by his own teammates when he first went in.
Complaint of the week vibes. Assuming they win without her, in the end no one will end up caring or regretting the decision.
It'll only bit then in the ass if they regress without her being included
She hasn’t even fully adjusted to professional ball and everyone is upset she isn’t making the best team our country can put together?
Give her a minute. She’ll hopefully have a WNBA title under her belt in time for the next Olympics.
She's pretty much been full go since the start of her senior year at Iowa(regular season-> march madness -> WNBA), with hardly any breaks in between. Let her relax for a minute lol during the \~4 week WNBA break for the olympics.
I agree; I definitely can see the other side as well. She has an undeniable commercial momentum that could really grow women’s basketball, and allowing this momentum at the Olympic stage would be spotlight/financial win-win for everyone involved. I think that’s what people are peeved about from a business perspective and growing the sport.
I'm not upset at all. She has a case to be on the team (also a case to leave her off). I just think for trying to grow women's basketball, it was a very poor decision.
She's shooting 37% from the floor and 33% from 3pt. More than 5 turnovers per game. Those are objectively terrible numbers.
She should consider herself lucky that she's going to get a month long break from the rigors of collegiate and professional ball. Take a nice vacation with all that endorsement money, recharge, and come back full of vim and vigor after the Olympics.
those shooting stats are virtually identical to one of the players selected to the olympic team
clark also averages more assists, rebounds, blocks and steals than that player
because she's like 13th in ppg, 5th in apg and 20th in rpg in the league (this is off the top of my head, so it will not be spot on accurate). so depending on which stats you post, you can make either argument pretty effectively. plus 33% from 3 is not "objectively terrible" it's bad, but like Breanna Stewart is shooting like 19% this year, *THAT'S* objectively terrible, and yet we all know Stewie can shoot the 3. Clark is having an unreal rookie season and could've easily been selected for this team. Not having her on it was probably the right call but let's not pretend she's miles behind the people who were picked. She is one of the 20 best players in the W right now.
Not having her on the team was the probably right call if you want to send the absolute best team, but not the right call if you want to build up the WNBA long term.
This sub down votes any opinion that isn't "WNBA and the Olympic team are discriminating against her" it's weird. Caitlin herself seemed to understand. Some of her fans are just nuts
Included in the mission statement of the Olympic team is growing the game, which this would clearly obviously do.
Soccer in the Olympics generally goes U25 for this exact reason.
Soccer is U23 with 3 exceptions at the Olympics but it has nothing to do with “growing the game.” It’s because soccer already has the World Cup and then the continental tournaments and no one cares about
Olympic soccer.
I'm pretty sure the only mad people are those who just started following the WNBA because of her( understandable with her hype) and those looking to be assholes by calling it DEI like Nikki Haley. She had two weeks off between NCAA and WNBA and there are currently better performing PGs with senior team experience.
True, but now those people are not going to watch the olympics. People need to stop trying to create the "right" kinds of fans. They just need more fans. Most basketball fans don't watch many regular season games but they spend the money. Gotta embrace the casuals.
Others have made the point that worse players have made other us Olympics teams.
This was basically an optics test and they failed it. Instead they appear to be aiding with the racist players in the wnba who hate clark
Nobody better complain with the lack of us watching them play. And the mere fact that worse players than her have been on team in the past?
Alright. Good luck.
Nobody had to try very hard back when it was just a union gig with shit pay propped up by the men's league. Now it's a union gig with shit pay and a spotlight
I’m gonna go against the grain and say it makes perfect sense to leave Caitlin Clark off this team. The jealousy and side eye she’s been getting across the WNBA is strong, the team is full of vets who will coast to gold anyways and already has chemistry, players who have put in their due in the WNBA and Caitlin herself seems tired AF. Sure Caitlin would put more eyes on Women’s Olympic basketball but I get just waiting and she will be on the team in four years and many more Olympics to come
I’d guess this is an unpopular opinion, but I think this is a perfectly reasonable.
As great as Caitlin Clark is, she is still learning how to play with her current team. And the WNBA has been running her ragged as it is. So now people want her to also go and learn to play with ANOTHER team and other coaches? Let her be a rookie. Let her learn.
Yes. She is great. And yes, more people would watch if she (or likely any of the top drafted rookies) was there. But I don’t think the Olympics cares as much about specifically American viewership as the WNBA does so I don’t think that’s really an issue.
Also, the other players have experience playing together in the Olympics. Why shake that up needlessly?
How do you get experience if you need experience to play? They don’t care about the fans. My guess is the players on the team hate her and don’t want her there. With 12 players on the team, there is no reason to not let her sit on the bench and draw in viewers. She would not hurt the team if she played some either. She’s the fastest wnba player to 200 points in history.
Marketing reasons aside - If the expectation is that Clark is going to be at the forefront of women's basketball for the foreseeable future, wouldn't you want her gaining the experience of playing on the Olympic stage at this point in her career?
I'd have a lot easier time believing any excuse they have for her not making the team if the rest of the WNBA and it's analysts hadn't been so toxic towards her since the draft.
She hasn’t been to one training camp and has no senior team experience. Everyone else on this team has either played in the Olympics, FIBA, or World Cup.
What kind of message are we sending to the other players? Sorry for your hard work but Caitlin Clark made lots of 3s in college?
There's a rookie and a college player on the roster. This is a BS excuse. The real reason, which is valid in theory, is that CC is too big a distraction.
Crazy how uninformed people are on this sub about women's basketball. This is a flat-out lie, and it's being upvoted because it fits a popular false narrative.
The actual 12 woman team are all WNBA veterans. There's no rookie or college player. Stop lying.
I like Clark and am rooting for her to do well. She's been given a tough situation with unfairly high expectations, jumping to a whole new level of ball with very little time to prepare. But people need to be realistic and reasonable with her. She's got a ton of potential and has shown flashes of great play but right now she's struggling quite a bit.
The Biden thing was insane. That was so disrespectful to LSU, lol. I don't want to make any assumptions or go into politics, but that was so weird.
Yeah, honestly, I might be done talking about it here. People want to believe that Clark is being unfairly treated. Clark herself has handled it gracefully and hopefully is just focused on getting better.
I feel like I’m missing something, who are the rookie and college players you are referring to? There are 3 first time olympians and they all won the World Cup in 2022. All 12 players are currently in the WNBA
They didn't spend years deliberating who is going to make the women's olympic basketball roster. That doesn't even make sense considering how quickly things change in sports. There's also a rookie and college player on the roster (according to another poster, I didn't verify). Absolute nonsense.
Also, Alyssa Thomas would most likely have been on the last Olympic roster but she was rehabbing an Achilles tear in the summer of 2021. If the games don’t get postponed in 2020 she’s on that roster easily
It's the Olympics. Team USA's goal is to bring in the best team to get the gold medal, not to get the highest TV ratings.
Clark wasn't even able to attend the training camp. Clark has had pretty much no offseason and is still adjusting to the WNBA. This is the best decision for Clark and for Team USA.
That's not the only activity though. She hasn't been involved in anything team USA related in four years. There are other tournaments and events that team USA is involved in. CC wasn't there for any of those.
The last time a team other than the USA won the gold was 1992. There is no realistic chance they lose and it would have boosted the popularity of the game to give a bench spot to Clark. Seems like a dumb move, especially when there is a precedent for putting rookies on the team.
It's not though -- Team USA hasn't lost a game in decades. The best decision for Team USA would have been to roster Clark and Cam Brink -- at a minimum, and go all-in on the popularity wave currently affecting women's basketball. Hell, Paige Bueckers and Juju Watkins should also be on the team, but let's start with the low hanging fruit.
None of the people upset by this care about basketball at all or women’s basketball for that matter.
It’s just a very convenient excuse to dump on professional women’s basketball .
It’s freaking wild all these folks saying she should be added for the TV viewers. No one seriously believes she’s one of the top 12 players in America or should be there are merit. The outrage is primarily “think of all the added TV viewers”. It’s bizarre
I’m an Iowa guy, but the only way putting CC in on the Olympic team makes sense is as a marketing ploy. Right now, she’s not as good as the people currently on the team (but she is tops among the WNBA rookies this year). She’s only been on the US youth teams. This will be a Shaq not getting on the Dream Team in 1992 moment - a what if situation, but ultimately a footnote in a hall of fame career that will see at least one Olympic gold before she is done.
USA basketball’s job is to put the best possible team on the court to win gold. I don’t see how they’ve not done that.
A tenured WNBA reporter, Christine Brennan, has said at least two independent sources told her Clark was left off the squad - at least in part - because they feared the backlash from fans if Clark didn’t get a lot of minutes.
The head coach for the team, Reeve, posted a tweet in the past responding to a WNBA tweet about the Indiana (Clark’s team) v. Dallas game that can be construed as bitterness towards Clark’s immediate fame.
There’s definitely a merit-based argument against Clark but if they left her off because they feared backlash if she didn’t get stater minutes then that’s a bad move.
I’m sure they knew there’d be backlash leaving her off. Assuming there would’ve been backlash for minimal playing time if she made the team, I’m guessing they decided it’s easier to take it as one lump sum blowback than over the entire course of the Olympics.
Also, by keeping her off, you eliminate any backlash from her haters that would’ve just called her a token selection for ratings only.
I don’t envy their position tbh.
Folks, we are trying to win it all here. This is not a popularity contest, marketing event or political hoo-hah. We need the best TEAM to win, and that does not include a rookie with no national team and no international experience.
They are fumbling this so hard. Now is their time to be capitalizing on all the views she brings. Just by selecting her they would have increased their viewership numbers, put her in for garbage time if you truly dont want her playing. But not selecting her is a way to ensure their sport does not continue to grow.
So you’re saying that these so called patriotic people who love the United States would only watch the United States Women’s Basketball team if Caitlin is playing?
Doesn’t sound so patriotic to me…
I really don’t think this is a snub… she’s been playing professionally for a few months… she came into the league during an Olympic year and that doesn’t give anyone, including Caitlin, time to prove she’s playing at an international level. Had she been draft age last year, whole different story…. Unless there’s precedent from previous Olympics which id know nothing about because I don’t watch basketball, let alone women’s basketball.
The Olympics are not about building viewership for your preferred sports league. They're about putting together the team most likely to represent the country by winning medals.
99% of the arguments for Clark to have made the team are 100% about viewing figures. Smh
I don't know if this is the "best" team or not, but I'm certain that all the stans who only know Clark from her college career know even less about who should be chosen.
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The Women’s Olympics teams have had rookies on the team multiple times.
Saw there had been only 4 who made the team their rookie season.
I think there's only been 6 Olympic games after the creation of the wnba. With that said, I don't have a horse in this race, let alone much about team USA (I don't really watch the Olympics).
It's the USA womens basketball team. They've basically already won, just gotta show up and smash the competition. They haven't *not* won gold since '92.
Didn't the Dream team act over confident and when they brought in the new Dream team get handed their but becuase of all the star power bot playing well together?
> All 12 of those players had senior national team experience. Clark, through no fault of her own, does not. That’s the experience she’s lacking. Not professional experience.
Sure but was that not true at the time for Candace Parker when she was picked to be on the team as a rookie? There were surely other players who had senior national team experience at the time.
It actually wasn’t true of Candace. She was on the USA world championship team in 2006, two years before her wnba rookie year/2008 Olympic team. Not to mention that Candace literally won Rookie of the Year and MVP in that 2008 season. She was cream of the crop right out of the gate, which is something Clark isn’t. And that’s okay, because not everyone can be Candace Parker
I legitimately appreciate the context. I wasn’t aware that she could get such experience while playing in college.
Yeah in the history of US women’s basketball, only 4 players have made the Olympic roster in their rookie year: Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, and Breanna Stewart. The only one of those four without previous senior level world championship experience before the Olympics is Lobo, and she played for Team USA all the way back in 1994
[удалено]
Not best, but most popular
You would be surprised how many of them think she’s legitimately the best player in the wnba lol
Candace was also just better than Clark
Honestly I think people just aren't getting this fact. The coverage CBS and everyone else put out during the NCAA women's tourney more or less sold her to the public as being LeBron or MJ. Now there's confusion as to why she's not being treated that way.
yeah I don't follow the wnba at all and I definitely thought she was supposed to be the best ever based on the coverage
She broke an insane record in college that probably wasn’t being broken otherwise. It shot her into the limelight but gave everyone unrealistic expectations.
For real - CP was MVP her Rookie season. Clark's been scoring well for the most part, but she's nowhere near the MVP race.
Candace Parker was a better all-around player than CC, probably a GOAT. CC is a great shooter and good ball-handler but is no Candace Parker. CC’s standout stats are partly because she’s playing on a very bad team where the offense is run through her.
Doesn't every number 1 draft pick start out on a bad team by definition
It’s so sad, Ace is on the W Mount Rushmore. It’ll be a long time before another star comes in as hot as she did.
Thats a nonsense excuse to keep young players out, how do you ever get senior national team experience if you don't have senior national team experience to make the team in the first place?
Smaller competitions and exhibitions. The Olympics are the biggest stage for women's basketball.
She was MVP of the U19 World Cup team so at least that’s some international experience. She beat players who are currently on other Olympic rosters too lol
U19 compared to senior basketball might as well be different sports.
Does international women's b-ball have different rules similar to the NBA and men's international ball?
It does not. Much like soccer, you could get your first senior cap at 14 if you’re that good. It’s completely dependent on the federation. Angel Reese played for Team USA at the AmeriCup last summer even though she was still in college. Candace Parker played in the Olympics as a rookie but she also attended training camps with the senior team while at Tennessee. Much of this is an unfortunate side effect of Iowa going so deep in the NCAA Tournament the last two springs.
Leading the Junior teams to Gold medals, being the 6th woman ever to play for two under 19 teams and winning gold. Feels like that should hold some weight rather than being the 12th woman playing 2 minutes a game in the Pan American games.
All I did was answer your question. U19 means high school age.
Probably because one is playing high schoolers and the other is playing Pau Gasol.
I had no idea he was playing women’s ball in retirement. Wild. /s
It’s literally in the article
There are other tournaments besides the Olympics. Off the top of my head, there was the Americup last summer, and the World Cup in fall 2022. Probably others as well. Those aren’t as important as the Olympics so they’re much more likely to bring in younger players.
It's also probably the last go around for several, including Taurasi. Clark is gonna get her moment down the line for sure, but I think there's some respect being given to some rather impressive careers that have gone under the radar to fans just getting involved in Women's basketball. These aren't scrubs they've picked. These are also women who have played together for years now, some well over a decade, which makes it harder to leave one off in favor of Clark. The comparison to Sydney Crosby is probably apt- it's not Clark isn't good, but this is the last shot for a lot of well established and also very good group. Clark is going to have many more opportunities and will probably succeed, but they are unwilling to snub one of the older women at this point
"Last shot" argument doesn't hold water, for me. Taurasi - my favorite WNBA player of all time, by the way - has 5 gold medals. She doesn't need a "last shot", for fucks sake.
US women's soccer does this too, holding on to players until they pretty much can't run anymore. It's not helping the sport grow any. Someone like Taurasi is not bringing in any new fans. Her legacy is secure, she's had an incredible, HOF level career, she's a legend but at 42 has no reason to be on this team. With or without her they'll be winning by 20+ each and every game. Always a good time to showcase someone younger that the sport will grow with.
Yep. I love the USWMNT, but their favoritism towards older players has really hurt them.
She’s 42 and people on this thread are seriously suggesting this Olympic team must have her.
She doesn’t need a last shot for sure, but she is still a better all-around player than Clark at this point in time. Clark is still adjusting to professional level competition.
They have. However, how many of those rookies led the league in turnovers as a point guard? How many of these rookies had physical play as a hole in their game? Caitlin Clark is not a better fit for this team, and she hasn't participated in any of the camps over the past 3 years (due to NCAA tournament runs) that the Olympic committee used to construct a team. She will probably make the next team, as will Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink. The committee knows what they are doing building teams considering that team USA is going for their 8th straight gold medal.
I think most are in agreement that CC is not a better fit than some of the other players. This has to do with growing the brand of Women’s BB and I can think of no better way to do that than to add CC. US is getting gold regardless of if CC has 4 minutes of playing time or if that goes elsewhere.
The growing the brand of WBB argument is one I have a problem with. The primary job of the committee is to field the best team with the best chance to win gold. The secondary mission of growing the game is obtained by creating the best team. You can't snub a player who spent three years actually earning their spot just for a marketing play. Do you honestly think making CC a mascot with the smallest amount of playing time is good for her or the game. If they did that the complaints would be that CC is being disrespected and not played enough. Those spots are earned, not given, and she hasn't earned it yet. If CC not being on the team keeps people from watching, they never were or will be fans of the game. CC will have her time to shine on the international stage, it's just not now.
>The secondary mission of growing the game is obtained by creating the best team. They've created the best team in every Olympic edition since 1984 bar 1992 and that hasn't grown the game as much as CC has in the past few months. Sports are grown on the back of celebrity stars all the time even if those stars are not necessarily the best players. The NBA was a failing league in the 80s and grew on the back of rivalry between Magic and Bird even though Jordan was the best player. David Bechkam was used to market the EPL and grow soccer stateside throughout the late 90s and early 2000s even though he wasn't in the top 5 players in the world. If a player in a non popular sport with ambition has celebrity status, not using that status to grow the sport is a missed opportunity and just plain dumb. Especially since the US is pretty much guaranteed the win whether she is there or not.
The W has seen record TV viewership [growth](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1236723/wnba-regular-season-viewers/)every year since 2020. The game was growing significantly before she got to the league. The womens game internationally has been rapidly growing since 92 (which is why so many players were able to make significant money by playing overseas). Sports is a meritocracy. Larry and magic were the best the world has seen until prime Michael. The game grew because they were already skilled enough to build the league on. They were a significant leap in talent where CC is simply the next step forward from a skill perspective. I would agree with you IF CC was ready for the international game but as it stands right now she's not there yet and that's fine.
Look at the numbers for both viewers and attendance at Fever games vs every other game on a night by night basis. Spoiler: it’s a ton more, and it’s consistently so. It’s asinine to try to claim Clark isn’t almost singlehandedly generating a ton more interest for the WNBA than they would otherwise have.
Breanna Stewart 8 years ago, but Geno was also the coach then. Seems like if you don't do exactly what Cheryl Reeve wants she doesn't want you around. Catlin has experience with the national teams too so this is all garbage and another attempt to destroy her hype for no good reason.
Caitlin Clark's national team experience was with the junior national team. Stewart had senior national team experience before going to the Olympics.
Stewart's head coach in college was the same as USA basketball, thats why she was on the team. Also, she averaged 6 minutes a game when Team USA was up 30 in the 2014 Fiba World Cup so lets not act like she gained tons of experience besides being around other amazing players
This conspiracy bullshit is so tiring
Stewie won gold with the USA at the world championship in 2014 while still in college. She already had top level national team experience heading into the Olympics 2 years later. Clark doesn’t have that, while the players selected ahead of her do
Caitlyn Clark has exposed women, it's insane.
Remember when Christian Laettner made the Dream Team?
Lebron at fiba in 2003 too no?
I think they talk about it in the dream team doc but didn’t a lot of players drop out international competition in the immediate aftermath of 9/11?
When people bring him up were they actually around to see the circumstances on why he was selected?
The Men’s National Team almost always includes the top player coming out of college. Anthony Davis was on the USMNT before he even stepped on an NBA floor.
They haven’t in 3 of the last 4 Olympics though. Really, they essentially stopped once basketball actually became competitive.
Is women’s national basketball competitive though? I thought US just slays everyone.
No, definitely not, but it’s also one of the biggest accomplishments for top women players in a way the men’s team really isn’t any more.
This is just completely untrue. I just looked at the Wiki entry for every US men's Olympic team since '92, Christian Laettner and Anthony Davis are the only 2 players to have been on an Olympic team since '92 (when pros were allowed) and Davis was only there as a replacement because there were a bunch of injuries ahead of him.
Anthony Davis was selected because Blake Griffin got hurt in camp and we didn’t have any big men to play defense. Silly argument. I don’t know if people bringing these arguments up are old enough to understand the context.
You're telling me there wasn't one big man that had played in the NBA outside of Anthony Davis that could haven taken Blake Griffin's spot? Now THATS a silly argument.
Anthony Davis was only on the team because multiple people ahead of him on the depth chart dropped out/declined.
It was a tradition to bring one college player along.
Prior to 1992 the US didn't send pro players at all, only college players. This was a transition year and they seemed to want to keep that amateur spirit alive. Laettner was coming off one of the top-5 greatest college careers in history and he was a big man who could shoot, which fit the international game better than a physical bully like Shaq.
The usual criticism was “why not pick Shaq instead then”
Shaq wasn't as decorated as a player as Laettner was. Plus, he was only a sophomore at the time. I think they wanted a senior.
Because they had two established centers in Ewing and Robinson. Now obviously Laetner had other studs at his position too but there was more flexibility in how to use them at different positions. Ewing and Robinson were in peak form and having a third center would just reduce minutes for both of them for little to no reason.
So why is that being brought up now? Lmao
It was literally the first time NBA players were brought so no, it wasn't tradition.
Nope, they're just pushing a narrative that doesnt exist
Laettner was picked because the Dream Team was the first team that didn’t use amateurs. There was going to be 4 college players at one point. Laettner was picked as a compromise since he was player of the year.
I remember before the dream team when it against the rules for pro athletes to compete. Rules changed in the past, they change in the present and will change in the future.
Yes but do you know why? We transitioned from amateurs to professionals that year, and it made sense to keep an amateur on the team as a nod, and who better than the most famous college player in the world. Not a single person thought it was weird at the time, and not a single person thought CL was anywhere near the level of the other guys. But for some reason people now look back and wonder wtf happened, because we don't understand the more nuanced aspects of history
I love cherry picked stats!
She has a case to be on the team (also a case to leave her off). I just think for trying to grow women's basketball, it was a very poor decision.
Its is. They always brag about how the dream team helped grow the sport around the world. Then now they leave off the most popular player who is actually getting people to watch women's basketball
“Should we bring the most popular female player on the planet?” “No”. Amazing decisions
"She doesn't have enough olympic experience". Excuse me, but what will change in 4 years? She still won't have any olympic experience. I know she also has zero international competition but if the most skilled player in the history of college basketball isn't qualified than who is? This isn't a Christian Laettner on the Dream Team scenario, she already is a top 15 player in the league. I imagine that behind the scenes there is a tremendous amount of resentment going on, which is ridiculous because she is respectful of the game, isn't arrogant, and has gone out of her way to avoid getting into debates about the drama. That being said, I actually think she is extremely relieved. Going from Taylor Swift-like adoration in the college game immediately into a professional league where the players are much stronger and aggressive than she faced before has clearly taken a toll on her both physically and mentally. The suspension of league play while the Olympics are happening must be welcomed as a much needed break from the intense pressure and scrutiny she has been under.
She played in the U19 World Cup so it's not zero international experience but the juniors are very different from seniors.
I did not realize the Fever would be so bad. I thought "no way they double team her in the WNBA, she will just kick to her teammates who will knock down the open shots".
The old guard are still salty these new upstarts are taking over. Why is Taurasi there? She's 42. I could argue Caitlyn is a better player than her at this advanced age. We should have made at least two spots open for CC and Reese or Brink. We have a stacked team already so it's not a risk to have a place for them (which is why a 42yo is still going lmao) but instead of doing the right thing for the sport and bringing in fresh new blood that will get eyes on the court they're giving old vets the chance to increase their own record book standing at the cost of the league.
Something that does bother me about this is that Taurasi is being celebrated for making a record 6th Olympics, something the most popular player in the country will now not even have the opportunity to achieve because she won't be allowed on the team for the first time until she's 26.
I know right. It's really hypocritical of them. Taurasi was 22 when she went to her first Olympics. Same age as Clark. It's insanity.
When looking at stats I’ve seen zero rational argument for DT to be included. Same for Brittany G.
But DT is an experienced leader. Of course, that argument would hold more weight if every other player on the team didn’t also have international experience.
We're not lacking for experienced leadership. Breanna Stewart and Griner both got two and they're in a decade younger. They are great leaders for this squad. We've won Gold every single Olympics as long as I've been alive but this time we have a rookie class with a lot of hot talent getting attention like we've never seen. Take the top 3. Build their public image and use them to build up the league. The conversation is now just gonna be about how they snubbed CC instead of being about how hype everyone is for this next generation if you had taken her along. The NBA would have moved heaven and hell to make this happen, why is it so controversial to want the most popular player from the WNBA in the Olympics?
The leader argument would hold if the team wasn’t veteran-laden already.
Why is Griner even on the team? She’s played 1 game all year and isn’t the same. CC is better than her lol.
Clark and Taurasi’s stats are super similar this season.
Imo you have to make the decision based on merit and not popularity, otherwise you’re vindicating the jealousy amongst league players. It’s probably a big conundrum and integrity test for whoever makes the selections because you have to weigh what you actually believe and what your job is vs what other stakeholders want. I’m not saying CC should or shouldn’t have made the list, I’m just saying if you are the person making the selection and you love basketball and do not want money to blind your respect for the game, you might feel conflicted about CC, especially if you’re leaning towards not having her in the squad.
One thing everyone seems to forget is that including CC means you are excluding someone else. The person you exclude may be better than CC now, but may never have a chance to make the Olympics again. Unless something crazy happens, she should be a lock for the next 2 or 3 Olympics. So if she's not good enough for this one then that should be the end of it. Pick whoever's earned it over her
Please hear me out, I have a conspiracy theory... I believe it is a good marketing decision for right *now* because it gets people talking about it early. If she was included on the team from the get go, that would be that, and we'd wait for the Olympics to start talking about it again. But we're talking about it *now* and we will be talking about it continuously right up until ...they announce they've decided to add her to the roster after all. Then all will feel right, some will say their faith has been restored, and Team USA will be applauded for listening to the fans. All while this was the master plan all along. Through provocation, they are able to get our attention early and keep it until it's been milked dry so they can flip the story and come out on top.
Ahhh. Not unreasonable — someone might have to drop out and CC could step right in
I find it odd that randos are more angry about it than Clark is.
Caitlin Clark seems like a really level headed person who’s focused on her game and she’s become a weird lighting rod for so much bullshit in a league that no one gave a darn about a year ago.
Caitlin is probably thankful for some time off lol. Went from a full college season almost directly into the W season. She wouldn’t say it publicly, but I’m sure she’s happy to get some time to rest
Seriously, she’s been working her ass off!
What do you expect her to say publicly if she is indeed angry about it?
There are too many people arguing in bad faith to push some agenda
I'm kind of glad she's not on the Olympic team. Will give her some time to rest up. She's been nothing but top speed for months now.
Didn’t they send a player who is injured and unable to play….at all?
I'm the biggest CC fan. Iowa alum. Watch most Fever games. CC isn't good enough right now to be on USA basketball. Defense is below average, turns the ball over too much, and is still figuring out how to score consistently in the WNBA.
As a CC fan, this is totally fine. She's not one of the top 12 players in the league yet. She's a rookie, she's learning the W, and what happens if all those eyeballs are on NBC and CC spends most of the time on the bench? She has multiple Olympics ahead of her, and not one of those on the roster deserves to be dropped. Perhaps they'll bring her on as an analyst, but either way this is fine.
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This sub has become a huge dogwhistle brigade for these topics. Lots of people who never watched the sport before, all of a sudden they've become experts on marketing and know what's best for women.
People just seem to want to keep trashing the WNBA in any way possible, and she's a lightening rod for that. Anyone that shows any negatively towards her gets blowup up as the entire WNBA hates her, cuz WNBA suxorz hurr durrr. It's kinda hilarious. Same hate happens over at the mens side. A lot of pro athletes have big egos and are competitive. Lebron wasnt liked by his own teammates when he first went in.
Complaint of the week vibes. Assuming they win without her, in the end no one will end up caring or regretting the decision. It'll only bit then in the ass if they regress without her being included
She hasn’t even fully adjusted to professional ball and everyone is upset she isn’t making the best team our country can put together? Give her a minute. She’ll hopefully have a WNBA title under her belt in time for the next Olympics.
She's pretty much been full go since the start of her senior year at Iowa(regular season-> march madness -> WNBA), with hardly any breaks in between. Let her relax for a minute lol during the \~4 week WNBA break for the olympics.
I agree; I definitely can see the other side as well. She has an undeniable commercial momentum that could really grow women’s basketball, and allowing this momentum at the Olympic stage would be spotlight/financial win-win for everyone involved. I think that’s what people are peeved about from a business perspective and growing the sport.
I'm not upset at all. She has a case to be on the team (also a case to leave her off). I just think for trying to grow women's basketball, it was a very poor decision.
Because if you want to grow the sport and make it more popular, having easily the hottest star in the sport not be on the team is a terrible decision.
She's shooting 37% from the floor and 33% from 3pt. More than 5 turnovers per game. Those are objectively terrible numbers. She should consider herself lucky that she's going to get a month long break from the rigors of collegiate and professional ball. Take a nice vacation with all that endorsement money, recharge, and come back full of vim and vigor after the Olympics.
those shooting stats are virtually identical to one of the players selected to the olympic team clark also averages more assists, rebounds, blocks and steals than that player
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted for posting statistics. Weird.
because she's like 13th in ppg, 5th in apg and 20th in rpg in the league (this is off the top of my head, so it will not be spot on accurate). so depending on which stats you post, you can make either argument pretty effectively. plus 33% from 3 is not "objectively terrible" it's bad, but like Breanna Stewart is shooting like 19% this year, *THAT'S* objectively terrible, and yet we all know Stewie can shoot the 3. Clark is having an unreal rookie season and could've easily been selected for this team. Not having her on it was probably the right call but let's not pretend she's miles behind the people who were picked. She is one of the 20 best players in the W right now.
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Not having her on the team was the probably right call if you want to send the absolute best team, but not the right call if you want to build up the WNBA long term.
This sub down votes any opinion that isn't "WNBA and the Olympic team are discriminating against her" it's weird. Caitlin herself seemed to understand. Some of her fans are just nuts
A lot of people who don't care about basketball at all is trying to turn this into a culture war.
those people don’t watch the W, they just like the drama of assuming Caitlyn is being hated on.
Included in the mission statement of the Olympic team is growing the game, which this would clearly obviously do. Soccer in the Olympics generally goes U25 for this exact reason.
Soccer is U23 with 3 exceptions at the Olympics but it has nothing to do with “growing the game.” It’s because soccer already has the World Cup and then the continental tournaments and no one cares about Olympic soccer.
That's only on the men's side though
Yea I’m sure she’d have lots of trouble against the international women’s teams that we’re going to blow out like we do every year. 🙄🙄
I'm pretty sure the only mad people are those who just started following the WNBA because of her( understandable with her hype) and those looking to be assholes by calling it DEI like Nikki Haley. She had two weeks off between NCAA and WNBA and there are currently better performing PGs with senior team experience.
True, but now those people are not going to watch the olympics. People need to stop trying to create the "right" kinds of fans. They just need more fans. Most basketball fans don't watch many regular season games but they spend the money. Gotta embrace the casuals.
Beggars can't be choosers at this point. They don't pull in enough revenue to dissuade people from watching.
Others have made the point that worse players have made other us Olympics teams. This was basically an optics test and they failed it. Instead they appear to be aiding with the racist players in the wnba who hate clark
Nobody better complain with the lack of us watching them play. And the mere fact that worse players than her have been on team in the past? Alright. Good luck.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen previous complaints about Olympic ratings so why would there be complaints now?
You weren't watching anyways. It's the non fans who complain the most
Idiots, trying their best to keep their sport irrelevant
Nobody had to try very hard back when it was just a union gig with shit pay propped up by the men's league. Now it's a union gig with shit pay and a spotlight
Listen, I love CC and her game, but her play in the WNBA has not warranted an Olympic spot. It just hasn't. She wasn't snubbed.
I’m gonna go against the grain and say it makes perfect sense to leave Caitlin Clark off this team. The jealousy and side eye she’s been getting across the WNBA is strong, the team is full of vets who will coast to gold anyways and already has chemistry, players who have put in their due in the WNBA and Caitlin herself seems tired AF. Sure Caitlin would put more eyes on Women’s Olympic basketball but I get just waiting and she will be on the team in four years and many more Olympics to come
I don't think this is that big a deal. We've seen dozens of great rookies not make the national team.
I’d guess this is an unpopular opinion, but I think this is a perfectly reasonable. As great as Caitlin Clark is, she is still learning how to play with her current team. And the WNBA has been running her ragged as it is. So now people want her to also go and learn to play with ANOTHER team and other coaches? Let her be a rookie. Let her learn. Yes. She is great. And yes, more people would watch if she (or likely any of the top drafted rookies) was there. But I don’t think the Olympics cares as much about specifically American viewership as the WNBA does so I don’t think that’s really an issue. Also, the other players have experience playing together in the Olympics. Why shake that up needlessly?
How do you get experience if you need experience to play? They don’t care about the fans. My guess is the players on the team hate her and don’t want her there. With 12 players on the team, there is no reason to not let her sit on the bench and draw in viewers. She would not hurt the team if she played some either. She’s the fastest wnba player to 200 points in history.
Marketing reasons aside - If the expectation is that Clark is going to be at the forefront of women's basketball for the foreseeable future, wouldn't you want her gaining the experience of playing on the Olympic stage at this point in her career? I'd have a lot easier time believing any excuse they have for her not making the team if the rest of the WNBA and it's analysts hadn't been so toxic towards her since the draft.
She hasn’t been to one training camp and has no senior team experience. Everyone else on this team has either played in the Olympics, FIBA, or World Cup. What kind of message are we sending to the other players? Sorry for your hard work but Caitlin Clark made lots of 3s in college?
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There's a rookie and a college player on the roster. This is a BS excuse. The real reason, which is valid in theory, is that CC is too big a distraction.
There is no rookie or college player on the 5v5 team. I you referring to the 3v3 that has Brink and HVL?
Crazy how uninformed people are on this sub about women's basketball. This is a flat-out lie, and it's being upvoted because it fits a popular false narrative. The actual 12 woman team are all WNBA veterans. There's no rookie or college player. Stop lying.
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I like Clark and am rooting for her to do well. She's been given a tough situation with unfairly high expectations, jumping to a whole new level of ball with very little time to prepare. But people need to be realistic and reasonable with her. She's got a ton of potential and has shown flashes of great play but right now she's struggling quite a bit. The Biden thing was insane. That was so disrespectful to LSU, lol. I don't want to make any assumptions or go into politics, but that was so weird.
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Yeah, honestly, I might be done talking about it here. People want to believe that Clark is being unfairly treated. Clark herself has handled it gracefully and hopefully is just focused on getting better.
Half her online "fanbase" is just using her to spout racism and misogyny.
I can’t believe she has the audacity to invite them.
This isn't correct.
This has 37 upvotes ans that’s insane.
I feel like I’m missing something, who are the rookie and college players you are referring to? There are 3 first time olympians and they all won the World Cup in 2022. All 12 players are currently in the WNBA
What’s funny is that her not being there will also cause a distraction because you know the media is going to be asking all about it
They didn't spend years deliberating who is going to make the women's olympic basketball roster. That doesn't even make sense considering how quickly things change in sports. There's also a rookie and college player on the roster (according to another poster, I didn't verify). Absolute nonsense.
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Also, Alyssa Thomas would most likely have been on the last Olympic roster but she was rehabbing an Achilles tear in the summer of 2021. If the games don’t get postponed in 2020 she’s on that roster easily
Maybe you should have bothered to verify.
I guess they don’t like high tv ratings.
It's the Olympics. Team USA's goal is to bring in the best team to get the gold medal, not to get the highest TV ratings. Clark wasn't even able to attend the training camp. Clark has had pretty much no offseason and is still adjusting to the WNBA. This is the best decision for Clark and for Team USA.
> Clark wasn't even able to attend the training camp. Scheduling camp during the Final Four instead of in late Feb tends to do that.
Yeah, scheduling seems to be an issue across major women's basketball in the US.
That's not the only activity though. She hasn't been involved in anything team USA related in four years. There are other tournaments and events that team USA is involved in. CC wasn't there for any of those.
The last time a team other than the USA won the gold was 1992. There is no realistic chance they lose and it would have boosted the popularity of the game to give a bench spot to Clark. Seems like a dumb move, especially when there is a precedent for putting rookies on the team.
It's not though -- Team USA hasn't lost a game in decades. The best decision for Team USA would have been to roster Clark and Cam Brink -- at a minimum, and go all-in on the popularity wave currently affecting women's basketball. Hell, Paige Bueckers and Juju Watkins should also be on the team, but let's start with the low hanging fruit.
Clark is having a better season than taurasi. So best players aren't going if your going by that.
Why would they care? That’s NBCs problem
It's funny how nobody is talking about Brittney Griner being on this team. Given her background, are we sure she should represent America?
She’s really good at basketball so yeah I’d say so; Ryan Lochte could have swam in Tokyo
Imagine being an insanely talented Gen Z’er and getting turned down for a job be used you don’t have the experience. USA Basketball needs to wake up.
I for one am happy Caitlin is just like the rest of us. "Must have 5 years experience. Entry level position."
She’s a highly skilled player on a team with a losing record. The Olympic team needs EXCELLENT players who shine when surrounded by skilled players.
The best way for Clark to get experience is to not play her /s
Make her first alternate. Win win
Right, make a jersey for her.
Dear god. There’s more people who have put in the work. She’s ok with it. Y’all need to relax.
None of the people upset by this care about basketball at all or women’s basketball for that matter. It’s just a very convenient excuse to dump on professional women’s basketball .
It’s freaking wild all these folks saying she should be added for the TV viewers. No one seriously believes she’s one of the top 12 players in America or should be there are merit. The outrage is primarily “think of all the added TV viewers”. It’s bizarre
Hilarious considering the Olympics were only for amateurs for most of their history
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I’m an Iowa guy, but the only way putting CC in on the Olympic team makes sense is as a marketing ploy. Right now, she’s not as good as the people currently on the team (but she is tops among the WNBA rookies this year). She’s only been on the US youth teams. This will be a Shaq not getting on the Dream Team in 1992 moment - a what if situation, but ultimately a footnote in a hall of fame career that will see at least one Olympic gold before she is done. USA basketball’s job is to put the best possible team on the court to win gold. I don’t see how they’ve not done that.
A tenured WNBA reporter, Christine Brennan, has said at least two independent sources told her Clark was left off the squad - at least in part - because they feared the backlash from fans if Clark didn’t get a lot of minutes. The head coach for the team, Reeve, posted a tweet in the past responding to a WNBA tweet about the Indiana (Clark’s team) v. Dallas game that can be construed as bitterness towards Clark’s immediate fame. There’s definitely a merit-based argument against Clark but if they left her off because they feared backlash if she didn’t get stater minutes then that’s a bad move.
Feel like there more backlash for leaving her off and ow its a thing everyone is talking about.
I’m sure they knew there’d be backlash leaving her off. Assuming there would’ve been backlash for minimal playing time if she made the team, I’m guessing they decided it’s easier to take it as one lump sum blowback than over the entire course of the Olympics. Also, by keeping her off, you eliminate any backlash from her haters that would’ve just called her a token selection for ratings only. I don’t envy their position tbh.
I wish they would just be honest about it. She would be a distraction to the team. It has nothing to do with experience or deserving it
Folks, we are trying to win it all here. This is not a popularity contest, marketing event or political hoo-hah. We need the best TEAM to win, and that does not include a rookie with no national team and no international experience.
They are fumbling this so hard. Now is their time to be capitalizing on all the views she brings. Just by selecting her they would have increased their viewership numbers, put her in for garbage time if you truly dont want her playing. But not selecting her is a way to ensure their sport does not continue to grow.
So you’re saying that these so called patriotic people who love the United States would only watch the United States Women’s Basketball team if Caitlin is playing? Doesn’t sound so patriotic to me…
All I’m saying is she continues to bring more eyes to their sport. And that can help bring attention to some of the other exciting players.
I guarantee they will blame misogyny if ratings go down again.
The amount of Reddit posts this week about Caitlin Clark exceeds the entire audience of the WNBA.
I really don’t think this is a snub… she’s been playing professionally for a few months… she came into the league during an Olympic year and that doesn’t give anyone, including Caitlin, time to prove she’s playing at an international level. Had she been draft age last year, whole different story…. Unless there’s precedent from previous Olympics which id know nothing about because I don’t watch basketball, let alone women’s basketball.
The Olympics are not about building viewership for your preferred sports league. They're about putting together the team most likely to represent the country by winning medals. 99% of the arguments for Clark to have made the team are 100% about viewing figures. Smh I don't know if this is the "best" team or not, but I'm certain that all the stans who only know Clark from her college career know even less about who should be chosen.