Duke Women's Basketball

[DUKERULES14]

During the peak years of Coach G, I felt we could beat anyone, anyplace, anytime.

Still a ways to go. Need to get way better on offense but we're recovered from the worst P years.

 

[DurhamSon]

What's the context here? She was a starter, rising junior, and our top or 2nd returning scorer, presumably?

 

[dukebluedevils05]

Celeste Taylor, the best player on the team, announced earlier today she was returning for a fifth season.

 

[Slap the Floor]

What's the context here? She was a starter, rising junior, and our top or 2nd returning scorer, presumably?

If I recall, her arrival at Duke was a fortunate situation. She was committed to Syracuse until their coach was fired for being abusive to the players. This happened very late, sometime in the spring or maybe even early summer, and then Coach Lawson swooped in to get her.

 

[rome8180]

There's not really a thread for this, but it seems like Caitlin Clark has done more to convert people to women's basketball in one tournament than all other players have done combined in the history of the sport.

I'm actually kicking myself for not watching. It seems that she's basically better than Steph Curry relative to her competition?

 

[CK86]

There's not really a thread for this, but it seems like Caitlin Clark has done more to convert people to women's basketball in one tournament than all other players have done combined in the history of the sport.

I'm actually kicking myself for not watching. It seems that she's basically better than Steph Curry relative to her competition?

Yeah and she takes crazy ass, heat check shots like him too. She's great.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

I think she’s on a level all by herself historically. Taurasi is a pretty good barometer for overall talent level, and Clark’s college numbers crush Taurasi. I’ve never paid attention to the sport but it seems we would’ve heard about a college player putting up 40/10/10 regularly if it had ever happened before.

 

[rome8180]

Yeah, so maybe the comp is like Pete Maravich and not Steph. Except with better teammates than Maravich had.

 

[best4heisman]

There's not really a thread for this, but it seems like Caitlin Clark has done more to convert people to women's basketball in one tournament than all other players have done combined in the history of the sport.

I'm actually kicking myself for not watching. It seems that she's basically better than Steph Curry relative to her competition?

Yea, tonight seemed like the first time ever that women's basketball crossed over to the mainstream. My Twitter feed was 100% Iowa-South Carolina for a good hour.

Not to be a total misogynist but outside of Clark the game wasn't great to watch. South Carolina plays the least aesthetically pleasing version of big ball imaginable. Iowa packed the paint and dared them to shoot threes, which they were super uncomfortable doing. It's crazy that a team can go undefeated while averaging 4.5 made threes per game (they make up for it with 18 offensive rebounds per game).

 

[rome8180]

My friend -- who doesn't watch Women's Ball but hates the Men's CBB product -- said it was the best basketball he's watched all year. He might have just been swept up in the Clark mania though.

Also, I have seen several people tweeting about her all tournament. So I don't think the phenomenon just began tonight. These are not exactly "woke" folks that I would expect to take an interest in women's sports.

 

[DurhamSon]

Clark is also fun to watch because her body language expresses a joy she plays the game with, and she’s demonstrative in a way like the best male players. See her celebration after the buzzer sounded.

And let’s be real, I think part of the appeal is it helps she doesn’t look like a she has a pituitary problem, She’s dominating through skill, not just a physicality advantage

I never thought a woman player would be more famous than any of her male peers in the sport at the college level, but here we are. I bet she could get 10 million in NIL deals easily. She’s playing as well as an NBA all star would if they got dropped into the college game, it’s wild.

USC was something like a 12 point favorite going into the game last night, in a sport where a lot of games finish in the 40s to low 50s. So she’s having a Larry Bird 1979 moment and a Duke/UNLV 1991 moment all in one tournament run

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

I’m starting to pay a little more attention to the women’s game just because these singular transcendent talents are starting to arrive. Aside from Clark, there’s Kelsey Plum in WNBA. She’s not talked about much as by far the single most valuable player, only because the nerdy analytics community is so tiny for women’s basketball and unskilled giant women are still so disproportionately dominant due to the limited skill level of smalls relative to the NBA.

Plum’s shooting numbers are off the charts in a way Steph’s were during his prime. If her and Clark were to be put on the same team, they could threaten to run the table and I think I might follow that. Once the super-talented guards and wings emerge in greater numbers like we see in the NBA, I could see women’s basketball becoming a real thing people watch consistently.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

For a Friday night time slot in the age of streaming, this is incredible.

 

[rome8180]

LSU should have their Division I certification revoked. There's a time and place to win a basketball game, and this was not it. Just a fucked-up and honestly immoral thing to do.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

@rome8180

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Women’s basketball has officially arrived.

 

[Pantone287]

@rome8180

The backlash to the backlash to this is incredibly bizarre. There's some weird racial thing going on where every black athlete and sports personality on my timeline (and everyone in their replies) seems to be suggesting that she did nothing wrong, did the exact same thing as Clark, and the only reason for the backlash is racism.

Which is, very obviously, very stupid. Clark doing some celebration to/with her teammates is clearly not remotely similar to following someone around and taunting them as the seconds wind down at the end of a game just beat them in - especially that game is the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. What a trashy move, and what a bizarrely terrible take shared by a huge number of people.

I can only assume it's some misdirected uneasiness at seeing the all-white crowds cheering on the all-white team over the (probably more deserving) all-black team the game before, which was a little uncomfortable, but still. I don't get it at all.

 

[Grit]

The LSU players seemed to really take the disrespect of Clark waving off Johnson personally. Reminded me of the headspace football players are in during the playoffs.

I didn't really have a problem with Reese. In her mind she clearly thought it was a deserved comeuppance for someone who was being celebrated for her taunts and trash talk throughout the tournament. I'd feel differently if it had been the female Kawhi Leonard at the receiving end.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

Celeste Taylor, the best player on the team, announced earlier today she was returning for a fifth season.

Just announced that she’s entering the portal. Wtf happened? She had a whole video up about returning.

 

[Devilsforlife]

Don’t have a great feeling about Kara here.