LSU’s star player did a little trash talking. So what? She’s helped vault women’s college basketball into mainstream culture. Are you not entertained?
This year’s women’s college basketball title game presented about as explicit of a racial Rorschach test as any the sports gods have conjured. Nearly all of LSU’s players are Black, while nearly all of Iowa’s players are white.
In the quarterfinals, she faced off against Louisville’s star guard, Hailey Van Lith, a third-year player who had led her team to the Final Four in 2022. Like Clark, Van Lith had developed a reputation for her competitive passion. She had jawed with her Texas opponents during her previous game, and in the handshake line afterward, one of them appeared to say to her, “Call me a pussy again, bitch, I’mma beat your ass.” Van Lith continued running her mouth in the game against Iowa.
While Clark thrives in the airspace far from the hoop, Reese operates beneath it, jostling amid the tangle of limbs in the trenches, slipping into narrow pockets with crisp footwork, corralling loose balls with hard-nosed persistence, breaking rebounding records with a knack for clever body positioning. Her exceptional talents shine in details subtler than the splashy thrill of a three-point shot.
Whereas Clark carries herself with a just-business demeanor on the court that some have likened to Kobe Bryant’s self-described “Mamba mentality,” Reese plays like she’s having fun, celebrating tough shots by flexing muscles, mugging to the camera with an ironic scowl, or shouting to the crowd with raised arms.
Sports are supposed to be silly, playful, and petty, riddled with minor slights transformed into major motivations. After the game, Clark said she didn’t see Reese’s hand gesture, and she seemed unbothered upon hearing about it, a show of respect for the unwritten playground rule about being able to take as much as you give. Talking trash is a mind game that raises the emotional investment beyond what many players are willing to risk. Only the most confident and passionate throw their voice into the ring. Losing feels bad, but losing after brashly declaring your supremacy feels worse.
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