Caitlin Clark's rookie season in the WNBA got off to a bit of a slow start but now she's found her groove and is playing the type of electrifying basketball that fans thought she would after making the jump from Iowa to the Indiana Fever.
Clark, who set a league record for most assists in a rookie year in last Sunday's win over the Storm, has led the Fever to four wins in their last five games and has the team peaking at the right time of the season. Through 28 games she's averaging 17.3 points, a league-best 8.3 assists, and 5.8 rebounds.
Her success has fans looking back to some comments made in June by UConn's Geno Auriemma. The legendary coach ripped different parts of Clark's game and also blasted the intellect of some her fans during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.
"The delusional fanbase that follows her disrespected the WNBA players by saying she's going to go in that league and tear it apart," Auriemma said in June. "There were actually odds that she was third or fourth in betting odds of being MVP of the WNBA. These people are so disrespectful and so unknowledgeable and so stupid that it gives women’s basketball a bad name. So the kid was set up for failure right from the beginning."
He also said she wasn't built for the physicality of the WNBA and that she needed to be on a better team:
"She’s just not built for the physicality of this league. And she’s not quick enough to get away from the physicality," he said. "So there’s a lot of learning curve like, Diana (Taurasi) said. And when she gets it, she has elite skills that will really help her. But she needs to be on a better team and she needs to be more experienced and that will come."
Here's that clip, which is going viral again this week on social media:
"The delusional fanbase that follows her disrespected the #WNBA players by saying she's going to go in that league and tear it a part... The kid was set up for failure right from the beginning."
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) June 6, 2024
-Geno Auriemma talks Caitlin Clark pic.twitter.com/HkBwKuVS4E
Fans didn't hold back on Auriemma:
Knew these comments wouldn’t age well when he made them. It was a big cope for overlooking her during recruiting and thus allowing Iowa to run with the blue bloods. https://t.co/cYAtXn8znV
— Anne (@docboogie) August 22, 2024
Geno Auriemma said Caitlin Clark's fanbase is "delusional" because we said CC is gonna "tear the W apart" and we gave her the 3rd or 4th best betting odds to win MVP.
— ¢мιℓ (@CMil1012) August 22, 2024
Well, CC is tearing apart the W and is tied for the 2nd best odds to win MVP. https://t.co/HUB3dl51eP pic.twitter.com/9TQroD0s4U
Didn’t recruit her!!
— Justin Northrop (@IowaHawkFan85) August 22, 2024
Got bounced by her team and delusional fan base last year.
Showing his bias for his.
Also showing that players win. When you don’t have the monopoly you actually have to coach. Because coaches only lose games…a win.
He will never be prevalent again https://t.co/UBG2LDlyy5
This definably didn't age well lol she has better stats the Diana currently, she is in the MVP Conversation, seems like this is more someone mad that he lost to her in the final 4 https://t.co/f5n4xCDWZc
— SnapZ / Lathanuel (@ohsnapitysnapz) August 22, 2024
“She’s on the wrong team”
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) August 22, 2024
Following a start where they played 11 games in 19 days (4 of which were vs the top 2 teams), they have since gone 11-6 and are 5-0 in their last 5 games vs teams over .500 pic.twitter.com/6kTtu0u147
Clark and the Fever are back in action Saturday night in Minnesota when they face the Lynx.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Geno Auriemma’s Old Comments About Caitlin Clark’s WNBA Rookie Year Look Silly Now.
