On Sunday, the Louisiana State University Tigers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes to win the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The Tigers played arguably their best game of the season, winning the turnover battle and hitting 65% of their shots from beyond the arc. Senior guard Jasmine Carson punctuated LSU’s championship performance with a showstopping outing. Through the first five games of the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament, Carson scored 11 points in 54 minutes. In the title game, she scored 22 points in 22 minutes while shooting 83% from three-point land. To top it all off, LSU’s standout forward, Angel Reese, scored 15 points, grabbed ten rebounds and dished out five assists.
Unfortunately, there was little discussion regarding LSU’s on-court performance via social media. Instead, many prominent figures used their social media platforms to discuss the actions of Angel Reese. In the heat of the game, Reese talked trash and made gestures toward Iowa’s leading scorer, Caitlin Clark. More notably, she mimicked Tony Yayo’s “You Can’t See Me” celebration like Caitlin Clark did in previous games.
“Classless piece of sh*t,” Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy tweeted.
This is classless. Angel Reese is only 20, so she’s still young, but taunting Caitlin Clark like this shows a pure lack of class.
Win with class, lose with class, play with class.
Clark’s mom and dad can be proud that her daughter ignored the taunting. They raised her right. pic.twitter.com/HQyVFuyJIw— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) April 2, 2023
“What a f*cking idiot,” Emmy-nominated broadcaster Keith Olbermann wrote.
Jemele Hill and Shaquille O’Neal are just two of the many public figures who came to the defense of Reese. Critics of Olbermann and Portnoy accused the two men of having different standards for white women in sports as opposed to Black women on the court.
“One is celebrated, [but] the other is classless. A tale as old as time,” FOX 4’s PJ Greene tweeted.
“If you didn’t say it was classless when Caitlin Clark did it to her opponents, then don’t say it about Angel Reese either,” ESPN’s Robert Griffin III added.
Recently, Wooden Award winner Caitlin Clark was asked about Reese’s celebration. In her words, Reese “should never be criticized for what she did.”
“I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all. No matter what way it goes, she should never be criticized for what she did. I compete, she competed,” Clark told ESPN.
“It was a super, super fun game. I think that’s what’s going to bring more people to our game.”
"I don't think Angel should be criticized at all."
Caitlin Clark said she thought Angel Reese received too much backlash for her celebrations during the championship game. (via @OTLonESPN) pic.twitter.com/i8tZyO8bai
— ESPN (@espn) April 4, 2023
