The legendary UConn coach sounds off

Geno Auriemma takes a tough stance on 'jealousy' facing Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese in the WNBA

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are becoming inextricably linked as the headliners of the WNBA‘s loaded 2024 rookie class. Clark is taking on a leadership role as she attempts to steer the Indiana Fever to an improbable playoff berth; Reese is eating up rebounds in Chicago, where the Sky are also fighting to return to the postseason.

But Clark and Reese have also discovered that being a rookie in the WNBA is not easy. This is an intense league, where players scratch and claw for any open space on the hardwood. The two blossoming stars have endured their share of hard contact — Reese was even called for a flagrant foul in her last showdown with Clark — and legendary coach Geno Auriemma wants this “disrespect” to stop.

 

 

Auriemma calls out WNBA veterans

At a recent symposium — where he was flanked by Kim Mulkey, Reese’s coach at LSU — Auriemma rebuked the WNBA’s more-experienced players for what he perceives as “moaning and groaning” at the attention being given to Reese and to Clark in their debut seasons.

Auriemma — who coaches another hyped pro prospect, Paige Bueckers, at Connecticut — called on other WNBA stars to “appreciate what it is” amid Clark and Reese’s rise to stardom, which began during their NCAA careers. Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival, the 11-time national champion coach believes that players are jealous because the attention being doled out to this rookie class is far more than some of the league’s current stars received when they entered the league.

WNBA icons like Diana Taurasi — who played under Auriemma at UConn in the early 2000s — have made it clear that someone like Clark will have to “earn their stripes” in pro basketball. Perhaps envy or jealousy do not play such an outsized role, as Auriemma suggests — likely, it is more down to established professionals challenging these hyped rookies like the haven’t been challenged before.