This is what Team USA women’s basketball coach Cheryl Reeve said about Caitlin Clark’s Olympic future
Team USA’s coach kept it real with the press when facing questions about the WNBA’s newest and biggest star and frankly, she’s not wrong given the situation.
While she may be wearing two hats, the Minnesota Lynx coach made it clear that there is a time and a place for everything. To that end, we have to imagine the press will think twice in the future when it comes to what they ask her and when.
Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve draws a line on Caitlin Clark
On Sunday night, the Minnesota Lynx faced the Indiana Fever in a game that ended 81-74 in the Fever’s favor. With that, the Fever rose to a suspect record of 11-14, while the Lynx who are second in the Western Conference, improved to a record of 16-8. Of course, those are just the details but perhaps the bigger talking point is what occurred before the contest even tipped off, when Lynx and current Team USA women’s basketball coach Cheryl Reeve was asked an apparently inoffensive question about Fever rookie sensation Caitlin Clark.
Indeed, just hours before the game, ESPN’s Myron Medcalf posed a question to Reeve about Clark’s future as a possible Olympian for the United States. It would be fair to say, that Reeve was not impressed. “Why the hell would I answer a national team question?” Reeve responded. “I’m wearing Lynx. And I’m the head coach of the national team, but I’m not the chair of the committee. Anybody want to venture into anything else?” As you likely know, Clark’s omission from the Olympic team ahead of this summer’s games in Paris has become a major point of discussion, with many stating that the former Iowa star deserves a spot on the 12-woman roster.
With that in mind, there have been countless questions and subsequent responses from various parties as to why Clark won’t be heading to France. That said, Reeve for her part is absolutely justified in her answer as she is not in fact part of the selection committee and therefore has no say in who goes and who doesn’t. One person who is, however, is committee chair Jen Rizzotti, who spoke directly to the decision to leave Clark out of the team, alluding to the sporting nature of the situation as opposed to the marketing appeal. “It would be irresponsible for us to talk about [Caitlin Clark] in a way other than how she would impact the play of the team,” Rizzotti said last month. “Because it wasn’t the purview of our committee to decide how many people would watch or how many people would root for the U.S. It was our purview to create the best team we could for Cheryl.”