NCAA selection committee might have sabotaged the greatest show in women’s hoops history
Before we weigh in on Aaron Rodgers being a heartbeat away from the presidency, a question: Who is the most popular female in the USA not currently dating Travis Kelce?
If you said Caitlin Clark, you’re a winner. You also do not qualify to serve on the NCAA tournament selection committee, which potentially sabotaged the biggest March Madness in women’s history.
I know being a committee member is a thankless job. Millions of people start calling them clueless pinheads about 3.1 seconds after the brackets are announced.
I don’t question their basketball acumen in sticking Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes in the toughest bracket. I do wonder if they’ve been wandering the Amazon jungle the past four months.
Clark has become a cultural phenomenon. She could tie her shoes and it would draw record TV ratings.
ESPN has assigned Holly Rowe to be a full-time Clark reporter during the tournament. It’s never done that for a guy.
The committee should have greased every skid possible to get Clark to the Final Four. Instead, it stuck Iowa on a Final Four path that includes potential landmines like UCLA and defending champ LSU. This borders on business malpractice.
Maybe the committee didn’t want to be accused of favoritism. In this case, favoring a particular team would have been totally defensible.
This is like having a casting call for a movie. Scarlett Johansson shows up and you pick Steven Seagal in a wig.
OK, the rest of the field isn’t nearly that frightening. There are excellent players, good storylines, and the Final Four will get good ratings.
With Clark, it would be a mini-Super Bowl. She can still get there, but it won’t be as easy as it should have been.
“It is what it is,” Clark said, “and I think that’s what makes it so fun.”
Yeah, it’s always fun until somebody loses an eye or Iowa loses to Kansas State in the Sweet 16. But at least the selection committee can’t be accused of favoritism. It can be accused of pinhead-ism. …
Golden Boy: What is Todd Golden's salary as Florida basketball coach?
Tournament twist: Losing Handlogten will force Florida to do what it does best
Stud of the Week: Long Beach State coach Dan Monson, for winning the Big West tournament six days after getting fired. He’s being allowed to coach the rest of the season, which could make for an epically awkward celebration if the Beach wins it all.
Stud II: Scottie Scheffler, for becoming first repeat winner of The Players Championship. Coupled with last week’s win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scheffler has pocketed $8.5 million the past two weeks. That’s $6.4 million more than Palmer won in his 18-year PGA Tour career.
Dud of the Week: Whoever stole the 18,000 Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads that were supposed to be given out at last week’s Pittsburgh-San Jose game. Fortunately for the perpetrator, it happened in California where you are allowed to steal 18,500 bobbleheads before being prosecuted. …
Hoping to juice its gambling sportsbook, ESPN will include a “win probability” graphic throughout every MLB game this season. It won’t be long before there are win probability updates during the terrier competition of the Westminster Dog Show. …
Non-Sports Upset of the Week: Vladimir Putin received only 87% of the 76 million votes in the Russian presidential election. The 9.8 million Russians who did not vote for Putin will soon be sharing Brittney Griner’s old jail cell. …
Breaking News: Holly Rowe reports that Caitlin Clark plans to have Corn Flakes for breakfast Thursday morning, prompting Stephen A. Smith to go on a 12-minute rant about how Cap’n Crunch is a better cereal. …
Long Beach State II: Yes, the school’s athletic teams are nicknamed “Beach,” as in “Go Beach!” Except for its baseball team, which goes by – I kid you not – the Dirtbags.
I would give a year of Claudine Gay’s salary for Harvard to change its nickname to the Dirtbags. …
Congrats to Alex Klatsky for winning the 50th annual Lt. Fred Koss Award. It goes to the UF basketball player who shows outstanding character and commitment off and on the court. Lt. Koss played for the Gators in the 1960s and died when his F-4 Phantom jet was shot down in the Vietnam War. …
ESPN says there’s a 93% probability LSU coach Kim Mulkey will dress like Liberace for the first game of the NCAA tournament. …
Out of respect for America’s democratic institutions and Dan Quayle, I will refrain from commenting on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. listing Aaron Rodgers as his potential vice-presidential running mate. But it is too bad that Reggie White passed away. He would have made an excellent Minister of Defense. …
This Just In: As part of its latest DEI initiative, Harvard says 3.7% of its incoming freshmen class will be comprised of dirtbags. …
That’s about all the space we have for this week’s Whitley’s Believe It or Not. Until next time, if RFK Jr. gives you a call, hold out for a cabinet position.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DavidEWhitley
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: NCAA women's selection committee endangered the Caitlin Clark Show
