Kudos to NCAA Women's Tourney for tonight's matchups

[Charlesareed]

100% going to a Sky game now, probably the first one

I’ve been hearing this all over twitter & Facebook since they were both picked

[jc23]

In terms of team building its great to shore up your front court. Neither player is a draw in terms of individual game style imo. Watching them in the tournament i never thought to myself id pay money to see them play. I might be wrong tho, definitely more interest in the Sky then there was 24 hours ago.

[dougthonus]

One thing about the draft for the Sky is that they got two of the three most recognizable players in the draft. Whether it works or not, you got two players that are more or less household names. I doubt my woman's basketball knowledge is a whole lot different than a typical NBA fan, and I could have named 3 people in this draft and we drafted two of them.

[Ice Man]

100% going to a Sky game now, probably the first one

Yes, I will be going to see the Liberty this season. (I live in NY.) I don't know yet whether I will become a Liberty or Sky fan. I have learned that I can't plan such things; they just happen.

[Jcool0]

Read on Twitter

[Ice Man]

"Growth trend" remains to be seen. Ice skating went viral with Tonya-Nancy, stayed popular for a while, and then withered. Dating myself even more, everybody knew about women's distance running when Mary Decker Slaney was facing Zola Budd. After that, they stopped caring.

But the WNBA at least now has its shot. It will have millions of new viewers. The trick is to keep them.

[DASMACKDOWN]

"Growth trend" remains to be seen. Ice skating went viral with Tonya-Nancy, stayed popular for a while, and then withered. Dating myself even more, everybody knew about women's distance running when Mary Decker Slaney was facing Zola Budd. After that, they stopped caring.

But the WNBA at least now has its shot. It will have millions of new viewers. The trick is to keep them.

I know the other players wont like it, but they have to treat Caitlin like a Golden Goose. She is more accurately the Tiger Woods of women's basketball.

Taking a sport where casual fans that never watched golf, did when Tiger was in his prime.

Now Caitlin's still needs to perform. That is of utmost importance. In so many ways, her performance this year will be the most important ever for a player in their league.

They know if Caitlin does her thing, the whole league will benefit. That first game I'm sure the league is hoping she drops 30 and 10 and looks amazing. Now if she looks overwhelmed and gets like 12pts on bad shooting and play, it may not be a back breaker, but it will hurt for the casual viewer. So Caitlin has a lot on her plate.

So I wont be surprised if she gets a lot of foul calls to her benefit to prevent people from trying to smother her.

[Ice Man]

Opposing defenses will give Caitlin the Caruso treatment. In the Final Four, she was bumped, pushed, held, and harassed by UConn and then by South Carolina. That's good defense; it's what you need to do to deny her space and prevent her from carving your team up. Plus, the physical play tires her out. (It also tires out the defenders! Raven Johnson went 1-11 against Iowa in the Final.) But it will lead to a whole bunch of foul calls, even if the referees are entirely neutral and don't care about keeping her in the game.

[TheSuzerain]

There really isn't a bunch of high pressure/sticky perimeter defense played in the women's game. If teams try to play that way, they'll just open up glaring holes in their defense that Clark will exploit.

I don't think Clark will have much of an issue. If her step-back/pull-up 3s translate, it's game over.

[dougthonus]

There really isn't a bunch of high pressure/sticky perimeter defense played in the women's game. If teams try to play that way, they'll just open up glaring holes in their defense that Clark will exploit.

I don't think Clark will have much of an issue. If her step-back/pull-up 3s translate, it's game over.

I think the other thing is that she will likely be playing with greater talent parity than she was in college.

Best thing or the WNBA is for Clark to be making deep playoff runs (and eventually win titles).

[Axl Rose]

Who was the poster asking if the Sky should take Reese or Cardoso? I bet that person is happy.

[Michael Jackson]

Tribune just posted an article that the Sky's ticket sales are booming.

[Ice Man]

There really isn't a bunch of high pressure/sticky perimeter defense played in the women's game.

There will be now. If you give Clark space 25 feet from the basket, she'll shoot 40+ on a massive volume of 3s. In a league where only two teams had true shooting percentages of more than 54.0%, that would be devastating.

[Jcool0]

"Growth trend" remains to be seen. Ice skating went viral with Tonya-Nancy, stayed popular for a while, and then withered. Dating myself even more, everybody knew about women's distance running when Mary Decker Slaney was facing Zola Budd. After that, they stopped caring.

But the WNBA at least now has its shot. It will have millions of new viewers. The trick is to keep them.

I know the other players wont like it, but they have to treat Caitlin like a Golden Goose. She is more accurately the Tiger Woods of women's basketball.

Taking a sport where casual fans that never watched golf, did when Tiger was in his prime.

Now Caitlin's still needs to perform. That is of utmost importance. In so many ways, her performance this year will be the most important ever for a player in their league.

They know if Caitlin does her thing, the whole league will benefit. That first game I'm sure the league is hoping she drops 30 and 10 and looks amazing. Now if she looks overwhelmed and gets like 12pts on bad shooting and play, it may not be a back breaker, but it will hurt for the casual viewer. So Caitlin has a lot on her plate.

So I wont be surprised if she gets a lot of foul calls to her benefit to prevent people from trying to smother her.

Michael Jordan scored 16 points on 31% from the field in his first game. Not everyone comes out scoring 40 and things still turn out okay.

[Wingy]

There really isn't a bunch of high pressure/sticky perimeter defense played in the women's game.

There will be now. If you give Clark space 25 feet from the basket, she'll shoot 40+ on a massive volume of 3s. In a league where only two teams had true shooting percentages of more than 54.0%, that would be devastating.

I’d point out what Doug already did. Her teammates are much better in the ability to make the other team pay. Smother Clark? Lots more room for Boston to dominate inside. Apparently after some research her less famous teammate Kelsey Mitchell is one of the best volume 3p shooters in the league (T6 in 3pa, 39.8% - 4th highest for volume shooters). Kelsey’s also 4th all time in NCAA points. Now I know her because of Caitlin.

I also wonder if there will be a “Caitlin chaser” effect on FAs knowing they’ll get crazy TV exposure relative to other teams.

[DuckIII]

There really isn't a bunch of high pressure/sticky perimeter defense played in the women's game. If teams try to play that way, they'll just open up glaring holes in their defense that Clark will exploit.

I don't think Clark will have much of an issue. If her step-back/pull-up 3s translate, it's game over.

I think the other thing is that she will likely be playing with greater talent parity than she was in college.

Best thing or the WNBA is for Clark to be making deep playoff runs (and eventually win titles).

The very best thing is for that to happen while also generating a popular and credible rival team or player.

[NesimLE]

There really isn't a bunch of high pressure/sticky perimeter defense played in the women's game. If teams try to play that way, they'll just open up glaring holes in their defense that Clark will exploit.

I don't think Clark will have much of an issue. If her step-back/pull-up 3s translate, it's game over.

I think the other thing is that she will likely be playing with greater talent parity than she was in college.

Best thing or the WNBA is for Clark to be making deep playoff runs (and eventually win titles).

The very best thing is for that to happen while also generating a popular and credible rival team or player.

And the team one state away just happened to draft the best players off the last two teams to eliminate her lol

[Ice Man]

And the team one state away just happened to draft the best players off the last two teams to eliminate her lol

Good point. To which it should also be added that Caitlin's Iowa was the last team to eliminate each of them! Which makes it a true rivalry. Each side has had its successes.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

"Growth trend" remains to be seen. Ice skating went viral with Tonya-Nancy, stayed popular for a while, and then withered. Dating myself even more, everybody knew about women's distance running when Mary Decker Slaney was facing Zola Budd. After that, they stopped caring.

But the WNBA at least now has its shot. It will have millions of new viewers. The trick is to keep them.

I don't think it's a great sign for a team sport if its success is predicated on the popularity of one individual player. Maybe she brings in new fans who decide to stick around because they love the product but I'm not so sure. I really tried to give the WNBA a fair shot and I'm just not entertained by it. Every professional sport is populated by freak athletes, but I think basketball more than any other demands freak of nature genetics. You can't just have 99th percentile speed and natural strength, you have to also be 6 foot 6. I enjoy other women's sports, namely tennis, I just don't think that it's even possible for women's basketball to be entertaining just according to the laws of nature.
On the other hand, the popularity of women's tennis in the United States probably has a lot to do with the Williams sisters' superstardom, but tennis is more of a sport where, while it helps to be a great athlete, you don't necessarily have to be a freak of nature to succeed at it. I like women's baseball (not softball) too because baseball is a sport where the entertainment value (to me) comes from an evenly matched pitcher and hitter regardless of their respective skill levels. As in, if you were a lay fan, you could watch an independent league baseball game and a MLB game and probably not be able to discern huge differences in talent levels. They still throw the ball fast, they still hit the ball a long way at similar percentages as the major leaguers do. the big difference is velocity and ability to hit increased velocity, but I can't really tell the difference between 89mph and 94 mph unless the TV tells me.
I think basketball is different. I wouldn't sit and watch a bunch of 5'4 men play each other and claim it was as entertaining as if they could dunk or jump 40 inches in the air while contorting their bodies like acrobats. I can tell the difference between a layup and a slam dunk poster. A lot of the appeal of basketball to me is the aesthetics derived from the superhuman athleticism which is why I have images of Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose posterizing Wade and Dragic seared into my memory and not, I dunno, Captain Kurt making an important layup in transition. Although it's not just about high flying dunks, it affects every aspect of the sport.

[jc23]

Opposing defenses will give Caitlin the Caruso treatment. In the Final Four, she was bumped, pushed, held, and harassed by UConn and then by South Carolina. That's good defense; it's what you need to do to deny her space and prevent her from carving your team up. Plus, the physical play tires her out. (It also tires out the defenders! Raven Johnson went 1-11 against Iowa in the Final.) But it will lead to a whole bunch of foul calls, even if the referees are entirely neutral and don't care about keeping her in the game.

League needs to adopt the same philosophy the NBA had up until about 2 months ago. Let these perimeter players cook and neuter the defensive player. Im not watching the wnba for a defensive battle or high number of free throws; i want 3 point shooting and crisp passing. Its why all of us gravitated towards Caitlin in the first place. Not only do you want CC to succeed you also want to encourage other players (present and future) to copy her.