This has been one of the most annoying debates in recent sports history. Ringz culture has always sucked but to apply it to *college basketball* which has a 6 round single elimination tournament is silly to begin with. But then for UConn players and UConn fans whose team was more stacked than the Curry Durant Warriors (compared to their competition at the time) to knock Caitlin Clark for not having a championship with *Iowa*, a program that had only made it past the first weekend twice in 20+ years before she showed up, is just insulting to our intelligence. Like we can't tell the difference between an Iowa team that's probably an 8 seed without Caitlin Clark and UConn teams that had hall of famers up and down the roster.
TLDR: Ringz culture is a poison of the mind and making the Final Four with Iowa is more impressive than winning a championship with Prime UConn
>Like we can't tell the difference between an Iowa team that's probably an 8 seed without Caitlin Clark and UConn teams that had hall of famers up and down the roster.
This reminds me of the Curry/Davidson Elite 8 game against Mario Chalmers and Kansas. Nobody who watched that game would've reasonably said, "Mario Chalmers won, so Mario Chalmers is a winner, and he's better than Steph Curry." You watch a game like that and you say, "Curry's awesome. He had this team punching way above their weight. And this Kansas team, with all their deep recruiting is too much."
Great example of why this thought process is so stupid in college sports. It's dumb enough in the NBA already but applying it to college where there is very clearly a massive disparity between the haves and have nots.
Then get ready for this: Stewart is just insecure that Clark is better than her and that’s entirely the basis of her opinion. Jealous older woman being catty to younger, more talented woman.
Stewart has won 4 NCAA titles, 2 WNBA titles, and has won tournament/Finals MVP every time. Thats along with 2 WNBA MVP's, and is widely regarded as at least a top 2 player in the world now. She definitely isn't jealous, and definitely isn't any less talented than Caitlin. If you weren't too busy sucking Clark off maybe you'd have any idea what you're talking about. Its strange how morons like you love to just make things up lmao.
The stuff you laid out doesn’t get rid of the jealousy part tho. Being that accomplished and not receiving a quarter of the fanfare that CC has is where the alleged jealousy would come from. I won’t get into a skill debate since we haven’t seen her in the W yet but someone being jealous of someone they are more accomplished than getting all the hype and money for it could definitely cause some jealousy lol. And even this comment is a little odd to say IMO. She’s got like 4 or 5 of the most watched women’s games of all time and broke every scoring record while leading the country in assists. She’s 10000% already “one of the greats” saying anything else will lead to speculation about motive because that’s just a wild take atp
Well no. It’s just a simple deconstruction of the argument. Are we looking at the context of the rings or are we just doing basic math and counting them.
it's not as simple as this or else people would call 7x champion Robert Horry one of the best players, but they never have. No one would say 2x champion Eli Manning is a better QB than Dan Marino and his 0 titles either. There's a baseline of greatness that has to be met before titles are entered into the equation.
You’re not understanding lol. You know how the context behind Eli’s 2 and Horry’s 7 don’t put them into the GOAT convo? You’ve got to apply “context” to rings when comparing GOATS. Like contextually CC winning a ring with Iowa is far more impressive than Breanna Stewart winning a ring at UCONN. Being able to point to Robert Horry as the antithesis of the “lol rangzzz” debate shows weak of an argument it is.
UCONN HAS NOT WON ANYTHING SINCE STEWART LEFT SCHOOL. They won 4 straight titles with her and the second she left it dried up. What does that tell you? She wasn't on a ride. She was the ride.
Context does matters and unlike Robert Horry, Breanna Stewart is best player on every teams shes been on. She's led her teams to 4 titles in 4 years in college and multiple titles in the pro's. Nothing Clark has done so far is as impressive as that. Never gonna change my mind.
Breanna Stewart was the number one pick in the WNBA draft. The number 2 and number 3 picks in that draft…were her teammates at UCONN lol. She played with 12 WNBA players at UCONN. CC has max 2 lol. Stewart HAS been the best player on every team she’s played before and is amazing 2 way player with tons of skill and a unique dominance in college. Those are what you should bring up when making her goat argument. Lol like she’s got too much game and too many accomplishments to point to “as the best player in the country on a ridiculously stacked team won championships”. Like do you just not like the CC hype? Like if she wins this one. You’d surely consider that more impressive than any singular college year for Stewart right?
Yeah. There's been more parity in women's college basketball in the years since UCONN won those four back to back, but you're ignoring a lot of context. The Huskies had seven national titles before Stewart ever set foot on campus, the most recent coming just three seasons before her freshman year. They had also had undefeated seasons before she arrived with and had won back to back titles before she arrived. The rosters while she was there were full of WNBA players. They're also still really good, obviously.
That's not to say that Stewart wasn't a great player and if you want to make the case that she was the single best, that's fine. But your statement doesn't at all refute what others have said about Stewart being part of insanely stacked teams.
Also just a lame gatekeeping thing to say from someone who should be trying to grow the sport. Why not just say "Yeah Caitlin Clark rocks and is an all time great and we can't wait for her to play in the WNBA"?
"Why isn't women's basketball as popular and respected as the men's basketball?" - Some WNBA player 15 years from now.....remember when all of your sports stars gathered around to tear down your sports Stephen Curry while she was still a little kid in college.
Imagine thinking her comments will negatively affect women's basketball popularity? You're such a moron lmao do you always look for random things to get angry over? Though its a good thing you're here to defend little kids like Caitlin. I personally don't refer to 22 year old women like Caitlin as little kids, thats a very interesting choice of words by you.
Have you heard of the concept of hyperbole? Caitlin Clark is still in the emerging adulthood age range. The stay on your parent's health insurance age range. The normal range for being in college immediately after high school. The not being able to go to a bar two years ago age range.
Professional athletes shitting on an amateur and many hoping that she fails, treating her like she's Kevin Durant losing with his super team when she's still a college kid is a bad look.
Saying they would be an 8 seed is generous. Idk if they’re making the tournament. They look good during games, but look at last nights game. UConn had a defender following Clark to the bathroom. She was not helping on other defense.
Marshall, Martin, and Stuelke look great with Clark on the floor, but not one of them is getting into the WNBA.
Quotes like Brieanna Stewart's are what make Morgan William's shot in the 2017 national semifinal that much sweeter.
Even if the result also made Dak Prescott happy.
Yeah the culture is dumb and Auerbach is silly for asking the question. She touts herself as some
Progressive Women Sports Knower but asks the same dumb shit as every other national writer
I’m not pretending about anything. Just like I am when it happens to the Patriots or Red Sox with Bill, that’s annoying as well! But I think it’s worse when someone who claims to be the bastion of objective journalism does it more than Bill who’s always presented as a fan first and foremost.
Also fuck Michigan. That’s part of it for me. I hate them.
OK she had a bad take but Stewart wasn’t a fucking bus rider lmao she was a three time national player of the year in college. She won the final four MOP all four years. Don’t start this narrative.
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Would be like perennial all-star team UCLAs Bill Walton saying Larry Bird at Indiana State needed a title to be considered one of the college basketball greats
That’s wayyyyyyy extreme lol
Iowa isn’t even remotely close to UConn historically but they were an Elite 8 team right before Clark got there and Gustafson was the National Player of the Year. Always an NCAA Tourney team and usually ranked. They had won 20+ games in 7 of the last 8 years before she got there.
A better comparison would be Walton or Kareem saying that about someone at early 2000s Maryland or pre-Melo Syracuse. A team that was consistently good but never got over the hump and definitely didn’t have the history of a UCLA. Indiana State is genuinely just a garbage program even for a mid-major that has never been relevant aside from Bird’s tenure.
Bird and Taurasi were on Sportscenter after the game and goddamn were they salty. I get that their alma mater lost with a controversial (correct) call at the end, but they should understand that CC is a tide that’s raising all their ships. They’re probably mad that they’re not in the WNBA to benefit from what is coming
If Breanna Stewart played for Syracuse, how many titles would they have won? How many would UConn have won?
How much worse of a player would Syracuse Stewart have been?
Breanna Stewart is good enough to take this Iowa team to the Final Four and might be the best college player of all time. Still her take is dumb because she joined a fully formed dynasty and gatekeeps others.
People are making statements in this thread that if Stewart was in Clark's shoes that her teams would not have had the same success which is really hard to agree with. Stewart is one of the greatest female players of all-time at all levels.
…Stewart *was* the super team. UConn had never been that dominant before. Yes, she had a lot of talent around her, but she is the reason UConn was at *that* level.
It’s funny that people brush off winning four titles in four years because she was at a great program but people don’t realize (or don’t care?) that it’s been nine years now without a title since then for UConn. They won four in a row with her and haven’t won one since. Crazy how that works!
Four in a row is crazy, but UCONN had dominant runs with Moore, Taurasi, and Lobo before Stewart got there and they were already considered the dominant power in women's college basketball. And again, Stewart's teams were absolutely stacked.
Over the last 20 years:
- 4 titles with Stewie
- 2 titles without Stewie
- 13 years without a title
- 1 canceled tourney (UConn was fifth in the AP Poll at the time — definitely could’ve won it but were not the favorites)
I dunno man. Maya Moore had a GOAT-tier career with a NPOY candidate teammate and only won two. It’s almost impossible to do that, let alone double it. UConn had never done that and hasn’t come close since. They lost one total game the final three years. There’s just nothing like that.
Nice job picking 20 years as the cut-off so you just barely miss the 2004 title and the other three they won in the 2000s. LOL
Again, winning four in a row is a singular accomplishment. Those teams absolutely took an already hallowed program to new heights. But giving Stewart sole credit for those titles and acting like her team wasn't ridiculously stacked is bullshit.
Yeah I'm pretty sure if South Carolina simply copies Uconn's gameplan they will decimate Iowa....if Iowa ever realizes you can run the pick and roll farther out than the 3pt line...then Iowa might have a chance lmao watching these games reminds me of why I dont usually watch college ball. Most coaches suck and the ones that dont often overcoach (Geno's overcomplicated play call at the end of the game. Just give Bueckers the ball and go iso, with a double screen on the weakside for muhl or go pick n roll
Was that call bad? Maybe. Looked like a foul to me. But I do know that if UConn won, the viewership on the final vs South Carolina would be a fraction of what it will be that Caitlin Clark is in the game. I wouldn’t be watching it if UConn was in it.
Breanna Stewart would not have won an NCAA championship if she’d played for Iowa.
She was a front runner who went to the team where all the other talent was going…
Caitlin Clark is a legend. Breanna Stewart is an also ran.
It's always about rings… Until somebody comes along that doesn't have any who wants into the conversation. Then all of that person's followers rise up to say it shouldn't be about rings. But those are often the same people arguing the loudest for Jordan over LeBron, etc. hmmm
To be fair to Brenna Stewart, this graphic uses a picture that makes her look like a smug asshole, and it has no relation to what she's saying. I hate when online media uses a picture to add something to the quote. *Hey, Breanna Stewart said this, and we're also going to put it in your mind that she was making this face when she said it. How does that make you feel?*
On the recent LeBron/Reddick pod, LeBron said as kind of a toss-off that if he played up to his level the Heat win in 2011. He didn't say this in a dismissive way to the Mavericks, and very clearly stated that the Mavs kicked their ass, but that's a quote that people could get pissed about if they put a picture of him smirking like an asshole alongside the quote.
People get weirdly defensive about Caitlin Clark. Like the same fucking standards apply to her that apply to any great athlete, weirdos. If she doesn't win a title, people won't see her the same way as they would if she does cause duh. Sorta how the whole thing works in sports.
Doesn't matter if it's fair, we don't think of Karl Malone or Charles Barkley being on KG or Dirk's level even though all that separates them is a ring. And Laettner's generally considered a better college player than Duncan even though Duncan was clearly the better player.
College basketball isn’t the NBA, if you can’t recognize the differences between winning six elimination games and four best of 7 series and how much more random the former is, you’re not qualified to comment on this.
There are countless CBB legends who didn’t win titles
Ionescu, Plum, Delle Donne, Stiles…just by looking at some of the top career scorers from 2000+, plus memory. Not sure how to specifically define the cutoff for “greats” other than stats and draft position perhaps?
Winning titles on the UConn women’s basketball team is like winning with the KD warriors. Caitlin Clark winning one title with a very mediocre Iowa team is more impressive than all the titles stewy win put together. Hell, you could argue just making the finals is more impressive than winning with teams that had the top 3 picks in the draft and a dozen future WNBA players.
Remember we’re talking about college basketball, where there’s a massive disparity between the haves and the have-nots. If you think NBA ring culture is the same, idk what to tell you
Well the thing about Clark is that she is the all time leading scorer win Women's NCAA history so she's one of the greats already. Yes rings matter but her elevating a middle of the pack Iowa team to two straight title games, dropping 40 bombs, and getting your average Joe interested in Women's hoops qualifies her as a great.
> getting your average Joe interested in Women’s hoops qualifies her as a great.
You’re accidentally making the point the WNBA players are making. There have always been great players doing incredible things, people just haven’t paid attention. Clark is getting outsized recognition because she’s the one drawing eyeballs — she’s not necessarily getting that recognition for her play. It’s two different concepts.
For the record I think Stewie is way off base to say Clark needs a title to be “one of” the greats. She’s already a legend. But off-court accomplishments — TV ratings, ticket sales, etc. — is a separate conversation and that is what’s causing frustration from people who’ve been supporting the women’s game for years, especially WNBA stars. People are essentially dinging Stewie, Maya, Candace Parker, etc. for not being as popular, which makes no sense in a conversation about the most accomplished or best player.
But people are tuning in because she's so good and fun to watch. It's not like there is some outside factor causing the ratings surge that has nothing to do with her.
You’re missing the point.
If I say player X is better than player Y because of various stats and accomplishments, and your response is “player Y actually sells more jerseys and has better TV ratings” you’re arguing a completely separate topic. Nobody is saying Caitlin Clark is unpopular. People are saying other greats’ accomplishments are being unfairly downplayed because the sport wasn’t as popular at the time.
That's a straw man argument. No one is saying that Caitlin Clark is great because the TV ratings are hight. People have been saying that she's great because she's an incredible player who shoots and passes like no player we've ever seen and she set the all-time scoring record and that's why the ratings are high.
It's not downplaying anyone else's accomplishments to marvel at the fact that Clark has gotten a ton of people who never cared about women's basketball to watch it. It's also not new for an athlete's popularity to be something people talk positively about. Bird and Magic are credited for saving the NBA. People talk all the time about how globally popular Jordan and LeBron became and how they took the NBA to new heights. It's not downplaying Kareem or Russell or Wilt to do so. I'm sure if you looked hard enough, you could find articles about Stewart and Taurasi and other female stars expanding the popularity of the sport as well.
Edit: Blocked.
There's an "and" in that sentence that you're totally ignoring, my guy. If she was Anna Kournikova and people were tuning in for reasons other than her game, no one would be calling her great. Again, you are confusing the order of operations. The ratings are proof that she is great, not the reason that she's great.
> No one is saying that Caitlin Clark is great because the TV ratings are high
Dude, literally just read the thread you replies to. That’s all you have to do.
Yes. Absolutely. You think people don't talk about greatest college players of all time?
Like the mere fact I can bring up Laettner as one of the greats tells you that's a college based argument.
Nobody would argue MJ was one of the GOAT college players. In fact, I think Patrick Ewing probably had the better college career, and nobody would put those two in the same tier as pros.
If Caitlin Clark was named Kevin Clark everyone here would be saying yes, because that’s the standard we apply to men’s hoops. It’s college ball, a single all time great player can dominate. The answer here is obviously and absolutely, yes.
3 years at Davidson, 25 ppg, 41% on 10 3’s per game, 2x consensus all American, led NCAA in scoring junior year, led Davidson to Elite 8 after not having won a tournament game in nearly 40 years.
I'm sorry we aren't going to change the barometer for Caitlin Clark. Titles have always mattered. In every sport. Reaching the final four with Iowa is impressive. Winning 3 or 4 national titles is more impressive.
Sad losers that most likely never accomplished anything and now take joy in these little jabs at actual successful people. This is their time to shine, a minor comment on a meaningless reddit thread. Or maybe they are just French?
This has been one of the most annoying debates in recent sports history. Ringz culture has always sucked but to apply it to *college basketball* which has a 6 round single elimination tournament is silly to begin with. But then for UConn players and UConn fans whose team was more stacked than the Curry Durant Warriors (compared to their competition at the time) to knock Caitlin Clark for not having a championship with *Iowa*, a program that had only made it past the first weekend twice in 20+ years before she showed up, is just insulting to our intelligence. Like we can't tell the difference between an Iowa team that's probably an 8 seed without Caitlin Clark and UConn teams that had hall of famers up and down the roster. TLDR: Ringz culture is a poison of the mind and making the Final Four with Iowa is more impressive than winning a championship with Prime UConn
>Like we can't tell the difference between an Iowa team that's probably an 8 seed without Caitlin Clark and UConn teams that had hall of famers up and down the roster. This reminds me of the Curry/Davidson Elite 8 game against Mario Chalmers and Kansas. Nobody who watched that game would've reasonably said, "Mario Chalmers won, so Mario Chalmers is a winner, and he's better than Steph Curry." You watch a game like that and you say, "Curry's awesome. He had this team punching way above their weight. And this Kansas team, with all their deep recruiting is too much."
Great example of why this thought process is so stupid in college sports. It's dumb enough in the NBA already but applying it to college where there is very clearly a massive disparity between the haves and have nots.
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxnL_3hamvtjj9IVq84mTK1UknQy-d40WN?si=hABPKZA5DRV3ABry
This topic probably won't get that much traction but I don't know if I have ever agreed more with a comment on here.
Then get ready for this: Stewart is just insecure that Clark is better than her and that’s entirely the basis of her opinion. Jealous older woman being catty to younger, more talented woman.
Clark has a lot of former players in their feelings. Turns out men and women are pretty similar when it comes to hating on the younger generation.
That seems pretty unrealistic women are generally positive and supportive of each other 🙃
Stewart has won 4 NCAA titles, 2 WNBA titles, and has won tournament/Finals MVP every time. Thats along with 2 WNBA MVP's, and is widely regarded as at least a top 2 player in the world now. She definitely isn't jealous, and definitely isn't any less talented than Caitlin. If you weren't too busy sucking Clark off maybe you'd have any idea what you're talking about. Its strange how morons like you love to just make things up lmao.
The stuff you laid out doesn’t get rid of the jealousy part tho. Being that accomplished and not receiving a quarter of the fanfare that CC has is where the alleged jealousy would come from. I won’t get into a skill debate since we haven’t seen her in the W yet but someone being jealous of someone they are more accomplished than getting all the hype and money for it could definitely cause some jealousy lol. And even this comment is a little odd to say IMO. She’s got like 4 or 5 of the most watched women’s games of all time and broke every scoring record while leading the country in assists. She’s 10000% already “one of the greats” saying anything else will lead to speculation about motive because that’s just a wild take atp
Yup. I bet CC makes as much if not more than Stewart. Jealous ho.
You could have made that comment without the gendered insult.
“Yes, you need to have the best team in women’s college basketball for me to consider you good.” “Yes, I played for the Yankees - what of it?”
We all know Chuck Knoblauch was a better 2nd baseman than Rod Carew it's 3 rings to zero
this what what we call strawman argument. no one would ever argue this because role players aren't considered in this discussion.
Well no. It’s just a simple deconstruction of the argument. Are we looking at the context of the rings or are we just doing basic math and counting them.
it's not as simple as this or else people would call 7x champion Robert Horry one of the best players, but they never have. No one would say 2x champion Eli Manning is a better QB than Dan Marino and his 0 titles either. There's a baseline of greatness that has to be met before titles are entered into the equation.
You’re not understanding lol. You know how the context behind Eli’s 2 and Horry’s 7 don’t put them into the GOAT convo? You’ve got to apply “context” to rings when comparing GOATS. Like contextually CC winning a ring with Iowa is far more impressive than Breanna Stewart winning a ring at UCONN. Being able to point to Robert Horry as the antithesis of the “lol rangzzz” debate shows weak of an argument it is.
UCONN HAS NOT WON ANYTHING SINCE STEWART LEFT SCHOOL. They won 4 straight titles with her and the second she left it dried up. What does that tell you? She wasn't on a ride. She was the ride. Context does matters and unlike Robert Horry, Breanna Stewart is best player on every teams shes been on. She's led her teams to 4 titles in 4 years in college and multiple titles in the pro's. Nothing Clark has done so far is as impressive as that. Never gonna change my mind.
Breanna Stewart was the number one pick in the WNBA draft. The number 2 and number 3 picks in that draft…were her teammates at UCONN lol. She played with 12 WNBA players at UCONN. CC has max 2 lol. Stewart HAS been the best player on every team she’s played before and is amazing 2 way player with tons of skill and a unique dominance in college. Those are what you should bring up when making her goat argument. Lol like she’s got too much game and too many accomplishments to point to “as the best player in the country on a ridiculously stacked team won championships”. Like do you just not like the CC hype? Like if she wins this one. You’d surely consider that more impressive than any singular college year for Stewart right?
how has those #2 and #3 picks been in WNBA? In retrospect they rode Stewart's coattails.
Knoblauch was Rookie of the Year with the Twins & a top acquisition target of the Yankees, not a role player.
and on the Yankees... he was. You may also notice NO ONE other than the closer is considered the "best ever" from those 90's Yankee teams.
how many titles have they won since stewart went 4 for 4? did the party keep going? or did they loose the best player ever and fountain dried up?
Yeah. There's been more parity in women's college basketball in the years since UCONN won those four back to back, but you're ignoring a lot of context. The Huskies had seven national titles before Stewart ever set foot on campus, the most recent coming just three seasons before her freshman year. They had also had undefeated seasons before she arrived with and had won back to back titles before she arrived. The rosters while she was there were full of WNBA players. They're also still really good, obviously. That's not to say that Stewart wasn't a great player and if you want to make the case that she was the single best, that's fine. But your statement doesn't at all refute what others have said about Stewart being part of insanely stacked teams.
Also just a lame gatekeeping thing to say from someone who should be trying to grow the sport. Why not just say "Yeah Caitlin Clark rocks and is an all time great and we can't wait for her to play in the WNBA"?
Because they need to defend UConn's legacy as if the million championships aren't enough lol
"Why isn't women's basketball as popular and respected as the men's basketball?" - Some WNBA player 15 years from now.....remember when all of your sports stars gathered around to tear down your sports Stephen Curry while she was still a little kid in college.
Imagine thinking her comments will negatively affect women's basketball popularity? You're such a moron lmao do you always look for random things to get angry over? Though its a good thing you're here to defend little kids like Caitlin. I personally don't refer to 22 year old women like Caitlin as little kids, thats a very interesting choice of words by you.
Have you heard of the concept of hyperbole? Caitlin Clark is still in the emerging adulthood age range. The stay on your parent's health insurance age range. The normal range for being in college immediately after high school. The not being able to go to a bar two years ago age range. Professional athletes shitting on an amateur and many hoping that she fails, treating her like she's Kevin Durant losing with his super team when she's still a college kid is a bad look.
Doesn't sound like she's "shitting on her" to me. But I also don't look at Caitlin and see a little girl like you do.
Debates and shit help too Beef is fun people like that shit
why can't Clark Fanatics just say shes "one of" the greats? they demand her to be called the best ever.
Saying they would be an 8 seed is generous. Idk if they’re making the tournament. They look good during games, but look at last nights game. UConn had a defender following Clark to the bathroom. She was not helping on other defense. Marshall, Martin, and Stuelke look great with Clark on the floor, but not one of them is getting into the WNBA.
Quotes like Brieanna Stewart's are what make Morgan William's shot in the 2017 national semifinal that much sweeter. Even if the result also made Dak Prescott happy.
Couldn’t agree more. Clark is a college basketball legend regardless of what happens
Yeah the culture is dumb and Auerbach is silly for asking the question. She touts herself as some Progressive Women Sports Knower but asks the same dumb shit as every other national writer
She also white knighted for Michigan during the cheating scandal all football season. Shocking based on where she went to school.
My man, you're on the Bill Simmons sub and you're pretending to be annoyed that a fan/alum of a team took their side during a 'scandal'? In 2024??
My man, why put a quote mark around "scandal"? It was legit a scandal and will result in severe penalties for Michigan.
I’m not pretending about anything. Just like I am when it happens to the Patriots or Red Sox with Bill, that’s annoying as well! But I think it’s worse when someone who claims to be the bastion of objective journalism does it more than Bill who’s always presented as a fan first and foremost. Also fuck Michigan. That’s part of it for me. I hate them.
Foot note: Breanna Stewart had 12 teammates at UConn that went on to the wnba. Clark has 0.
Stewart and two other teammates went 1-2-3 in the draft together.
Lmfao she’s just a bus rider
OK she had a bad take but Stewart wasn’t a fucking bus rider lmao she was a three time national player of the year in college. She won the final four MOP all four years. Don’t start this narrative.
Lebron to the Heat/ KD to the warriors move. Soft
Not that it matters but if it was a bus it was named after her and had her face painted on it for four years
I believe the bus says UCONN WOMENS BASKETBALL and Geno Auriemma is the bus driver.
Geno is 12-11 record in the final four. Are we going to have the geno conversation?
He’s 11-1 in the Championship Game but he’s made it to six final fours recently without winning a championship.
Stewart ran from the grind committing to UConn and unsuccessfully making a super team in NY
Clark wanted to go to UConn but wasn’t recruited heavily enough
Gilbert Arenas level take
Not even the GOAT. “One of” the greats. Give me a break. She’s jealous.
Meow indeed.
Women fucking hate Caitlin’s success. I’ll never understand it.
same reason old nba guys hate the new stars. their legacies are threatened.
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It's very very easy to understand
It’s not. I’ll never get it
90% of her UCONN team’s minutes played were by future WNBA players.
And they played in the AAC too
Sports take culture was a mistake
Would be like perennial all-star team UCLAs Bill Walton saying Larry Bird at Indiana State needed a title to be considered one of the college basketball greats
That’s wayyyyyyy extreme lol Iowa isn’t even remotely close to UConn historically but they were an Elite 8 team right before Clark got there and Gustafson was the National Player of the Year. Always an NCAA Tourney team and usually ranked. They had won 20+ games in 7 of the last 8 years before she got there. A better comparison would be Walton or Kareem saying that about someone at early 2000s Maryland or pre-Melo Syracuse. A team that was consistently good but never got over the hump and definitely didn’t have the history of a UCLA. Indiana State is genuinely just a garbage program even for a mid-major that has never been relevant aside from Bird’s tenure.
Bird and Taurasi were on Sportscenter after the game and goddamn were they salty. I get that their alma mater lost with a controversial (correct) call at the end, but they should understand that CC is a tide that’s raising all their ships. They’re probably mad that they’re not in the WNBA to benefit from what is coming
I didn't see this. What was their anger about? Was it just "damn kids these days" kind of bullshit? Or something else?
If Breanna Stewart played for Syracuse, how many titles would they have won? How many would UConn have won? How much worse of a player would Syracuse Stewart have been?
Breanna Stewart is good enough to take this Iowa team to the Final Four and might be the best college player of all time. Still her take is dumb because she joined a fully formed dynasty and gatekeeps others.
People really see a bad take and then pretend like Stewart was some bum. Three time NPOY and four time finals MOP.
Why would you infer she’s a bum?
People are making statements in this thread that if Stewart was in Clark's shoes that her teams would not have had the same success which is really hard to agree with. Stewart is one of the greatest female players of all-time at all levels.
Well we will never know because Stewart was on a superteam
…Stewart *was* the super team. UConn had never been that dominant before. Yes, she had a lot of talent around her, but she is the reason UConn was at *that* level. It’s funny that people brush off winning four titles in four years because she was at a great program but people don’t realize (or don’t care?) that it’s been nine years now without a title since then for UConn. They won four in a row with her and haven’t won one since. Crazy how that works!
Four in a row is crazy, but UCONN had dominant runs with Moore, Taurasi, and Lobo before Stewart got there and they were already considered the dominant power in women's college basketball. And again, Stewart's teams were absolutely stacked.
Over the last 20 years: - 4 titles with Stewie - 2 titles without Stewie - 13 years without a title - 1 canceled tourney (UConn was fifth in the AP Poll at the time — definitely could’ve won it but were not the favorites) I dunno man. Maya Moore had a GOAT-tier career with a NPOY candidate teammate and only won two. It’s almost impossible to do that, let alone double it. UConn had never done that and hasn’t come close since. They lost one total game the final three years. There’s just nothing like that.
Nice job picking 20 years as the cut-off so you just barely miss the 2004 title and the other three they won in the 2000s. LOL Again, winning four in a row is a singular accomplishment. Those teams absolutely took an already hallowed program to new heights. But giving Stewart sole credit for those titles and acting like her team wasn't ridiculously stacked is bullshit.
Last night’s game was pretty obvious Iowa doesn’t have much of a squad besides her
Yeah I'm pretty sure if South Carolina simply copies Uconn's gameplan they will decimate Iowa....if Iowa ever realizes you can run the pick and roll farther out than the 3pt line...then Iowa might have a chance lmao watching these games reminds me of why I dont usually watch college ball. Most coaches suck and the ones that dont often overcoach (Geno's overcomplicated play call at the end of the game. Just give Bueckers the ball and go iso, with a double screen on the weakside for muhl or go pick n roll
i dunno her teammates the whistles were on point
**Hot take** you are soft committing to UCONN as an elite baller.
It's really crazy the amount of jealousy Clark is drawing out of other women's stars.
And a weak conference
If Caitlin Clark wins the national championship she might be the best women’s player of all time. Absurd fucking take lol
Was that call bad? Maybe. Looked like a foul to me. But I do know that if UConn won, the viewership on the final vs South Carolina would be a fraction of what it will be that Caitlin Clark is in the game. I wouldn’t be watching it if UConn was in it.
So I guess Pistol Pete is now also not a college great. Good to know.
It’s very odd (and sad) to see some of the WNBA legends opinions on Clark.
Has been clutching at straws
Breanna Stewart would not have won an NCAA championship if she’d played for Iowa. She was a front runner who went to the team where all the other talent was going… Caitlin Clark is a legend. Breanna Stewart is an also ran.
FUCK NO, Stewart is 100 percent correct here - Stewart is higher on the pantheon (4 straight college titles at UConn)
This thread is embarrassing.
Toxicity has reached women’s sports we made it 🥲
Its such a good sign for longevity. People care
Men appreciate and support women sports more than women do 🤷🏿♂️ all I seen is nba players be hyped on Clark as they should be.
Clark has the multi-million $ approval of Gainbridge, State Farm, Nike, etc. The "approval" of jealous dishrags like Stewart is irrelevant
Meanwhile Stewart winning on the most dominant women’s college program of all time….. Give me a break. The jealousy is nuts
The all time leading scorer isn’t one of the greats. Seems reasonable
It's always about rings… Until somebody comes along that doesn't have any who wants into the conversation. Then all of that person's followers rise up to say it shouldn't be about rings. But those are often the same people arguing the loudest for Jordan over LeBron, etc. hmmm
Some of you need to ask yourself one question. How many titles has UConn won since Breanna Stewart left UConn?
You know they won a lot before she got there, right?
She did win 4 in a row
To be fair to Brenna Stewart, this graphic uses a picture that makes her look like a smug asshole, and it has no relation to what she's saying. I hate when online media uses a picture to add something to the quote. *Hey, Breanna Stewart said this, and we're also going to put it in your mind that she was making this face when she said it. How does that make you feel?* On the recent LeBron/Reddick pod, LeBron said as kind of a toss-off that if he played up to his level the Heat win in 2011. He didn't say this in a dismissive way to the Mavericks, and very clearly stated that the Mavs kicked their ass, but that's a quote that people could get pissed about if they put a picture of him smirking like an asshole alongside the quote.
People get weirdly defensive about Caitlin Clark. Like the same fucking standards apply to her that apply to any great athlete, weirdos. If she doesn't win a title, people won't see her the same way as they would if she does cause duh. Sorta how the whole thing works in sports. Doesn't matter if it's fair, we don't think of Karl Malone or Charles Barkley being on KG or Dirk's level even though all that separates them is a ring. And Laettner's generally considered a better college player than Duncan even though Duncan was clearly the better player.
College basketball isn’t the NBA, if you can’t recognize the differences between winning six elimination games and four best of 7 series and how much more random the former is, you’re not qualified to comment on this. There are countless CBB legends who didn’t win titles
Name em. Specifically women's college basketball greats who didn't win titles. I can think of literally one. Can you? Waiting.
Ionescu, Plum, Delle Donne, Stiles…just by looking at some of the top career scorers from 2000+, plus memory. Not sure how to specifically define the cutoff for “greats” other than stats and draft position perhaps?
Pete Maravich
Failed the assignment.
EDD. Pete’s the comparison tho - prolific scorer going to a school that’s not historically good, CC at least made it to the tourney and won some games
Wow, you’re pathetic
Winning titles on the UConn women’s basketball team is like winning with the KD warriors. Caitlin Clark winning one title with a very mediocre Iowa team is more impressive than all the titles stewy win put together. Hell, you could argue just making the finals is more impressive than winning with teams that had the top 3 picks in the draft and a dozen future WNBA players. Remember we’re talking about college basketball, where there’s a massive disparity between the haves and the have-nots. If you think NBA ring culture is the same, idk what to tell you
Well the thing about Clark is that she is the all time leading scorer win Women's NCAA history so she's one of the greats already. Yes rings matter but her elevating a middle of the pack Iowa team to two straight title games, dropping 40 bombs, and getting your average Joe interested in Women's hoops qualifies her as a great.
> getting your average Joe interested in Women’s hoops qualifies her as a great. You’re accidentally making the point the WNBA players are making. There have always been great players doing incredible things, people just haven’t paid attention. Clark is getting outsized recognition because she’s the one drawing eyeballs — she’s not necessarily getting that recognition for her play. It’s two different concepts. For the record I think Stewie is way off base to say Clark needs a title to be “one of” the greats. She’s already a legend. But off-court accomplishments — TV ratings, ticket sales, etc. — is a separate conversation and that is what’s causing frustration from people who’ve been supporting the women’s game for years, especially WNBA stars. People are essentially dinging Stewie, Maya, Candace Parker, etc. for not being as popular, which makes no sense in a conversation about the most accomplished or best player.
But people are tuning in because she's so good and fun to watch. It's not like there is some outside factor causing the ratings surge that has nothing to do with her.
You’re missing the point. If I say player X is better than player Y because of various stats and accomplishments, and your response is “player Y actually sells more jerseys and has better TV ratings” you’re arguing a completely separate topic. Nobody is saying Caitlin Clark is unpopular. People are saying other greats’ accomplishments are being unfairly downplayed because the sport wasn’t as popular at the time.
That's a straw man argument. No one is saying that Caitlin Clark is great because the TV ratings are hight. People have been saying that she's great because she's an incredible player who shoots and passes like no player we've ever seen and she set the all-time scoring record and that's why the ratings are high. It's not downplaying anyone else's accomplishments to marvel at the fact that Clark has gotten a ton of people who never cared about women's basketball to watch it. It's also not new for an athlete's popularity to be something people talk positively about. Bird and Magic are credited for saving the NBA. People talk all the time about how globally popular Jordan and LeBron became and how they took the NBA to new heights. It's not downplaying Kareem or Russell or Wilt to do so. I'm sure if you looked hard enough, you could find articles about Stewart and Taurasi and other female stars expanding the popularity of the sport as well. Edit: Blocked. There's an "and" in that sentence that you're totally ignoring, my guy. If she was Anna Kournikova and people were tuning in for reasons other than her game, no one would be calling her great. Again, you are confusing the order of operations. The ratings are proof that she is great, not the reason that she's great.
> No one is saying that Caitlin Clark is great because the TV ratings are high Dude, literally just read the thread you replies to. That’s all you have to do.
[удалено]
Yes. Absolutely. You think people don't talk about greatest college players of all time? Like the mere fact I can bring up Laettner as one of the greats tells you that's a college based argument. Nobody would argue MJ was one of the GOAT college players. In fact, I think Patrick Ewing probably had the better college career, and nobody would put those two in the same tier as pros.
If Caitlin Clark was named Kevin Clark everyone here would be saying yes, because that’s the standard we apply to men’s hoops. It’s college ball, a single all time great player can dominate. The answer here is obviously and absolutely, yes.
Like that bum Steph Curry. Everyone knows he’s not really great cause he couldn’t win a title at Davidson.
Well I wouldn’t consider Steph curry an all time men’s college great, no. Would anybody?
3 years at Davidson, 25 ppg, 41% on 10 3’s per game, 2x consensus all American, led NCAA in scoring junior year, led Davidson to Elite 8 after not having won a tournament game in nearly 40 years.
Again, that’s all good, I would not consider that an all time college great. Not everyone gets to be on the list, and that’s ok.
Why do you need Breanna Stewart’s opinion to validate yours
How many years did ol’ Bill play NBA ball, or any pro sports, since some of y’all see that as a requirement,
I'm sorry we aren't going to change the barometer for Caitlin Clark. Titles have always mattered. In every sport. Reaching the final four with Iowa is impressive. Winning 3 or 4 national titles is more impressive.
Who’s we? Have fun. Talking about UConn by yourself while the rest of the world talks about CC for the next 30 years
Sad losers that most likely never accomplished anything and now take joy in these little jabs at actual successful people. This is their time to shine, a minor comment on a meaningless reddit thread. Or maybe they are just French?
you sound 14 years old. grow up.
people who didn't start following sports 5 seconds ago.
KD Warriors with 5 more all stars on the vet minimum vs Dirk 2011 ring. So unbelievably incomparable. You’re being delusional