More Caitlin Clark drama

[superjohn]

She's swiping at the ball. WTF are you talking about.

She's swiping at the ball by directly hitting her in the face when the ball is nowhere near her face. Lolz

 

[Plebe]

And just to be clear, there was nothing particularly aggressive about Jacy's play. She accidentally poked Caitlin in the eye. That's it. Nothing nasty about it. Caitlin took offense at it, and I can understand why given how hard she was regularly fouled last season. But this was not one of those incidents. She overreacted and created an incident that allowed Mabrey to get a cheap shot in, and later for Cunningham to reciprocate.

Did you really watch the play? Jacy's hand wasn't even close to the ball. I'm having a hard time seeing that as a genuine play on the ball.

I know you have a predictable role to play of disparaging Clark at every turn, but blaming her for Mabrey's blindside assault is quite impressive even by your standards.

 

[Bone Dog]

Did you really watch the play? Jacy's hand wasn't even close to the ball. I'm having a hard time seeing that as a genuine play on the ball.

I know you have a predictable role to play of disparaging Clark at every turn, but blaming her for Mabrey's blindside assault is quite impressive even by your standards.

Predictable swipe at me. Tedious. I didn't disparage Caitlin at all. I even defended her. I certainly didn't blame her for anything Mabrey did. As always, I recommend reading more carefully.

I did watch the play very carefully, several times. Did you watch it? A swipe at the ball requires a swing arc starting from above the ball. Was it a reckless swipe? Perhaps. But it didn't seem out of the range of reasonably aggressive defensive play. And taken in the context of a physically quite aggressive attempt to drive the lane, it seems more or less of a piece with what else was going on at the moment.

 

[CL82]

It's about as clear a flagrant as you'll ever see. She hit her in the face while making no attempt on the ball. I don't know if she was kicked out of the game but she should have been as should the player who ragdolled her.

View attachment 110160

Yeah, I'm just not seeing it either from the video or stills. The fact that she doesn't throw her head back until well after the contact sure seems like a pretty good indicator that it wasn't caused by the contact.

This is a further blow up of the still you posted. I don't see how you can make anything out of that except that her hand was approximate to Clark's face.

You keep using the phrase "ragdolled". Are you alleging that Sheldon picked her up and threw her to the ground? Because I don't see evidence of that from the video either.

Agreed to disagree, though. It really doesn't matter to me one way or the other.

 

[ec33]

then got ragdolled WWF style.

Do you believe all of LeBron's antics, too?

 

[cancontent]

Earlier this year, we saw Angel Reese flop after a normal foul then rise up to fight and CC get the Flagrant 1.

"Clark gets all the calls" is a relic from her college days. I don't think anyone can watch Fever games and think she receives kid gloves from the refs.

While true, Antonelli did point out a couple times where Clark could have been called for the use of her arm in the game. The initial shoving that wasn't dealt with during the first half is an example. The topic of arm control and what should be allowed is worth discussion along with what's considered an appropriate amount of physical contact.

 

[bballnut90]

I'm not sure why this is on the UConn forum, but I watched that game and I don't think Jacy was assessed a flagrant foul for incidental contact. The only fouls called on that play were three technicals given to Caitlin (for bumping into Jacy in the immediate aftermath and cursing her, I think) and to Marina Mabrey for sneaking a cheap shot at Caitlin from behind Tina, who was trying to calm things down, and Tina unfortunately got one too for trying to make peace. Later in the game, Sophie Cunningham (naturally) took a cheap shot at Jacy and was ejected.

And just to be clear, there was nothing particularly aggressive about Jacy's play. She accidentally poked Caitlin in the eye. That's it. Nothing nasty about it. Caitlin took offense at it, and I can understand why given how hard she was regularly fouled last season. But this was not one of those incidents. She overreacted and created an incident that allowed Mabrey to get a cheap shot in, and later for Cunningham to reciprocate.

Hard disagree. Caitlin got poked/slapped in the face, the foul is called, Jacy comes up with Clark chest puffed and doesn't give her space. Clark turns around not realizing Jacy's right there, pushes her away to get space and then is promptly T-boned by Mabrey.

I'm not one who agrees with the take that Clark is being targeted intentionally but this incident doesn't help that narrative at all. Not to mention the narrative of her teammates not sticking up for her is also accentuated here.

 

[MilfordHusky]

There are some players in the W who are magnets for physical interaction, whether initiating it, responding to it, or pretending that it happened more that reality. I would include Clark, Cunningham, Mabrey, Reese, and maybe a few others.

 

[Basingstoke]

There are some players in the W who are magnets for physical interaction, whether initiating it, responding to it, or pretending that it happened more that reality. I would include Clark, Cunningham, Mabrey, Reese, and maybe a few others.

Carrington, perhaps...

 

[Plebe]

Hard disagree. Caitlin got poked/slapped in the face, the foul is called, Jacy comes up with Clark chest puffed and doesn't give her space. Clark turns around not realizing Jacy's right there, pushes her away to get space and then is promptly T-boned by Mabrey.

I'm not one who agrees with the take that Clark is being targeted intentionally but this incident doesn't help that narrative at all. Not to mention the narrative of her teammates not sticking up for her is also accentuated here.

Exactly right. The eye poke, egregious as it was, probably wouldn't have escalated in that moment if Sheldon had simply allowed Clark to stand up while regaining her eyesight.

Instead she crowds her, giving every impression that it wasn't inadvertent. A player who accidentally pokes an eye doesn't typically respond that way.

 

[TC22]

I believe any blow/contact above the shoulders is supposed to be a Flagrant 1 foul in the WNBA. That’s fairly normal.

The WNBA ruled that Mabrey’s foul was a Flagrant 2 and she should have been ejected. However they did NOT suspend either Mabrey or Cunningham from the next game.

Caitlin is a trash talker and gets under player’s skin. She’s an entertainer and a helluva bb player. I love watching her play, although I don’t care for her antics. Not gonna lie, she reminds me a lot of Taurasi. If we’d had social media and talk radio back in her prime I can see some of the same narrative. For sure the officiating is atrocious and they have got to get it under control before somebody really gets hurt.

 

[Steelerone]

Apparently, Sheldon was assessed a flagrant foul on this? Honestly, it looks more like a play on, but for the Clark flop.

Really? What game were you watching. The one I saw showed Clark getting a finger in her eye and then shoved to the floor while she attempted to walk away. Having said that let me say this - if the same thing happened in a man's game it might make two sentences in the last column of any sports section.

 

[superjohn]

Do you believe all of LeBron's antics, too?

What are you talking about?

 

[CL82]

Really? What game were you watching. The one I saw showed Clark getting a finger in her eye and then shoved to the floor while she attempted to walk away. Having said that let me say this - if the same thing happened in a man's game it might make two sentences in the last column of any sports section.

I saw was the clip above. Do you have another one, because from the clip posted above, it doesn't appear that she was poked in the eye. Take a look at my post up above with the frame by frame breakout of what happened. Again, I fully acknowledge I could be mistaken, but from what I've seen it doesn't look like it actually happened.

 

[cancontent]

Really? What game were you watching. The one I saw showed Clark getting a finger in her eye and then shoved to the floor while she attempted to walk away. Having said that let me say this - if the same thing happened in a man's game it might make two sentences in the last column of any sports section.

This 100%.

 

[ec33]

What are you talking about?

"Ragdolled" is a bit much. The entire incident was over-reaction after over-reaction after over-reaction with every player adding their own dramatic flair. It is a bad telenovela.

 

[The deacon]

Apparently, Sheldon was assessed a flagrant foul on this? Honestly, it looks more like a play on, but for the Clark flop.

I'm not sure why this is on the UConn forum, but I watched that game and I don't think Jacy was assessed a flagrant foul for incidental contact. The only fouls called on that play were three technicals given to Caitlin (for bumping into Jacy in the immediate aftermath and cursing her, I think) and to Marina Mabrey for sneaking a cheap shot at Caitlin from behind Tina, who was trying to calm things down, and Tina unfortunately got one too for trying to make peace. Later in the game, Sophie Cunningham (naturally) took a cheap shot at Jacy and was ejected.

And just to be clear, there was nothing particularly aggressive about Jacy's play. She accidentally poked Caitlin in the eye. That's it. Nothing nasty about it. Caitlin took offense at it, and I can understand why given how hard she was regularly fouled last season. But this was not one of those incidents. She overreacted and created an incident that allowed Mabrey to get a cheap shot in, and later for Cunningham to reciprocate.

Careful, Bone Dog, your antipathy toward Clark is showing.

 

[Bone Dog]

Careful, Bone Dog, your antipathy toward Clark is showing.

Careful, Deacon. I've shown no antipathy. I even defended her. So how about you recognize that and refrain from insinuating things. I grow weary of this.

 

[The deacon]

Careful, Deacon. I've shown no antipathy. I even defended her. So how about you recognize that and refrain from insinuating things. I grow weary of this.

You've got company in that...

 

[CL82]

I believe any blow/contact above the shoulders is supposed to be a Flagrant 1 foul in the WNBA. That’s fairly normal.

The WNBA ruled that Mabrey’s foul was a Flagrant 2 and she should have been ejected. However they did NOT suspend either Mabrey or Cunningham from the next game.

Caitlin is a trash talker and gets under player’s skin. She’s an entertainer and a helluva bb player. I love watching her play, although I don’t care for her antics. Not gonna lie, she reminds me a lot of Taurasi. If we’d had social media and talk radio back in her prime I can see some of the same narrative. For sure the officiating is atrocious and they have got to get it under control before somebody really gets hurt.

I've thought of that comparison too, but for whatever reason, Diana is charismatic. I don't see that from Clark.

Hundred percent agree with you she is a fantastic player and extraordinarily entertaining to watch. The range on her shot is pretty much "in the building." One thing that's often forgotten about her is that she's actually a very good passer as well.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Carrington, perhaps...

Agreed

 

[ec33]

Different angle with longer view (with the standard inflammatory take):

 

[CL82]

Different angle with longer view (with the standard inflammatory take):

Still don't see more than a play on given the fact that Clark commits three fouls in a row, none of which were called immediately before the play question.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Still don't see more than a play on given the fact that Clark commits three fouls in a row, none of which were called immediately before the plane question.

There was a long article on this whole business. A huge number of WNBA players - including Clark - routinely commit numerous fouls and there is between inconsistent and no enforcement. The writer cited the paint in a WNBA game as one of the most dangerous sports places and cited I think it was 3 recent concussions - including blood being drawn by an elbow - and a case where the player with the concussion got the technical. Coaches - many of them are complaining as much as they can.

By the way, none of the "legitimate" articles I read claim she wasn't poked in the eye, or that calling a foul was inappropriate.

One of the reasons I rarely watch WNBA is not that I mind physical play, but it is constant and so obviously poorly refereed. I happen to think that College refs are better than they get credit for, but in the WNBA, not so much.

 

[EricLA]

I can't tell what's a joke here anymore. She got jacked in the face and then got ragdolled WWF style.

It's wild how much hatred there is for her considering she singlehandedly gave the league some relevancy.

+100. All anyone seems to want to talk about is the "eye poke". Clark couldn't see and turned only to have Sheldon standing so close into Clark's space that she literally couldn't move without knocking into her. Clark pushed Sheldon back, and Mabry came over and body knocked Clark to the ground.

Every time there's been an issue, Clark walks away from the drama, which she did again, and the rest of the teams got into it. Sheldon also single handedly had already injured 2 Fever players recently - Colson and Cunningham.

I don't disagree that Clark is mouthy, talks trash, and plays physical, but she's not dirty, and the amount of crap flung Clark's way is mind boggling. I was thrilled Cunningham body-slammed Sheldon late in the game. Good for her. If the refs can't control the nasty physical play against Indiana, I guess the players will have to. And good for them.