00:00But the WNBA has been back in the news and usually when the WNBA, unfortunately, kind of breaks containment, it's
00:10this huge controversy that'll end up surrounding Kaitlyn Clark.
00:14That's usually how this goes. I want to get coaches' thoughts on this situation, but firstly, here was Kaitlyn Clark
00:24addressing the Alyssa Thomas flagrant foul and all of the fallout from that situation.
00:31First of all, I know what you guys are going to ask, and I did think it was a flagrant
00:34foul, and our reffing just needs to be better, and it's tough. Obviously, the refs are in a really difficult
00:41spot. It's one of the hardest jobs in the world, in my opinion.
00:44It's to make calls. All you do is get yelled at the whole time by everybody. You're never winning. So
00:50I think for us, the league's just got to do better, protecting our players in that regard.
00:54I don't really think that it was up for debate. Obviously, it wasn't called in real time. You go back
00:59and watch the clip, I think it's pretty straightforward.
01:02It's kind of been a discussion for like three years now, and I think we really need to do a
01:04better job protecting the people in this league.
01:07And obviously, I've been involved in a few of those plays, but there's been plenty of others across the league
01:11that haven't got called, go back in postgame
01:14or whatever it is. Teams can make clips, nothing really changes. So I think overall, the league just has to
01:19do better, and we have to invest in those areas.
01:21The technology can get better. We can treat the referees a little bit better, pay them like they're full-time
01:27employees.
01:29I think things like that. I think a lot has obviously come after that, and as I've stood up here
01:34and said before, the harassment, the hate, none of that is okay.
01:38That goes for the opposing team we play. That goes for my teammates. That goes for my coaches. There should
01:44never be a question of character.
01:45I've always stood up here and said that, and that's truly what I believe. That's how I was raised.
01:49So, you know, none of that is okay, and I don't want anybody to ever experience that.
01:54So you hear Kaitlin Clark there. Coach, I'll pass it to you. What have you made of this whole situation?
02:02She's exactly right, and if you think about what she did, it's not about the fact that she thought that
02:10it was a flagrant foul on Alyssa Thomas.
02:13It is the fact that the referees have no control over this league, and she said it.
02:19She said, you have to take care of the referees better.
02:22Folks, they, and she said it. I said this last week. I went to Cillio's show last week, and I
02:26blasted the WNBA because I had no working knowledge of this.
02:31WNBA officials are not full-time employees like the NBA guys are, meaning the WNBA officials are either coming into
02:41the league from college, women's basketball, or the G League.
02:47There's no uniformity.
02:49They don't even know how to answer to the assigner who oversees the officials.
02:53So if you're not going to invest in officials full-time, you're going to get what you're going to get,
03:01which is referees who do not know how to control the game.
03:06And ready, folks? I don't blame them.
03:11You can look at it through every major sport.
03:15Kathy Ungerberg is the worst commissioner in all of sports.
03:19It's not even close.
03:22The players don't like her.
03:24The refs don't like her.
03:26The fans don't like her.
03:28I don't know who likes her.
03:30But the key thing about this is, more than the Caitlin Clark thing, if you're going to have this product
03:38and this league be taken seriously, you must pay the officials like they are at NBA.
03:45I'm not talking like over-the-moon money, but enough that that's their full-time job.
03:52So when the offseason comes, they're working on their craft, they're getting ready for the season, not going to the
03:58college game or the G League, which is completely refereed differently, and then turn around and go to the WNBA
04:04when the season starts.
04:06What I just want to add to this situation is I am very tired of the only time it feels
04:19like the WNBA is getting coverage is when it's something like this.
04:27And people say, oh, you're being a hypocrite.
04:29You're talking about it now.
04:30Coach and I talk about the WNBA every single week on this show.
04:33Every week, we don't miss it.
04:35Okay?
04:35That's the reality.
04:36And that's because Coach and I watch, follow, understand, bet this league.
04:43Okay?
04:44Year in and year out.
04:45We've been doing it for years.
04:46Okay?
04:47Before Caitlin Clark and long after Caitlin Clark.
04:50So I'm not saying it's a non-story.
04:55What I'm saying is there are some really good stories in this league.
05:01Heck, and I won't even make – there is a story in this league ripe with controversy and eyebrows raising
05:12and, oh, my gosh, is that what happened?
05:15Like, if you want that salacious stuff, there's a better story.
05:19I won't say it.
05:20Okay?
05:20If you know what it is, you know what it is.
05:22There's a better story sat right out there, and there's no interest.
05:27And it gets – it weighs the league down when this is the only time we talk about them.
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