Earlier this month, when discussing the fame and notoriety surrounding Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark, USA Today writer Lindsay Schnell wrote, “Women’s basketball needs faces of the future to be black.”
LSU star Angel Reese, who is black, sees it differently.
In the moments following Iowa’s 94-87 victory over LSU, a game which saw Clark explode for 41 points and a women’s record nine 3-point shots made, Reese and Clark, the two differently-toned faces of women’s college basketball, met to shake hands and embrace in a sign of mutual respect.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese showing each other respect after the game
📽️: @espn pic.twitter.com/cPWTBJUhf5
— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) April 2, 2024
After the game, Reese filled reporters in on what she told Clark.
“She just told me, ‘Continue to be a great player,’” Reese said in a postgame press conference. “And I told her, ‘Continue to be a great player, as well, and keep elevating the game and go win it.’”
A lot of respect between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. Fierce competitors. They’ve made the game better. pic.twitter.com/zpgYGytzMk
— Dr. Lindsey Darvin (@DrLindseyDarvin) April 2, 2024
“Keep elevating the game.” Reese’s words are not only an acknowledgment that Clark has elevated the game and, as such, become a face of women’s basketball, but they’re also an approval of Clark as the “face” of women’s basketball going forward into the WNBA.
Most importantly, her words show that she doesn’t care one bit about Caitlin Clark’s skin color. This will not sit well with the likes of Lindsay Schnell and her ilk.
Schnell argued strenuously that the future faces of women’s basketball should look like the faces of its past. Schnell also made sure to point out that those foundational faces of the past were black, and her desired faces of the future should also be black.
How awkward it must be for Schnell when the “faces” she desires to lead women’s basketball don’t care about the color of the faces who lead women’s basketball.
