Outrage over calls for Caitlin Clark, Iowa surest sign yet women's game has arrived

Caitlin Clark is a whiner! West Virginia got robbed! The refs were blind!

Those criticisms, or versions of them, ricocheted around social media Monday night. Casual fans, NBA players, even some coaches were heated about the officiating in Iowa’s win over the Mountaineers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and weren’t shy about expressing it.

"I feel like West Virginia women’s team getting did bad by these refs," Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard said on X, speaking for, well, pretty much everyone who isn’t an Iowa fan.

"Asking for a friend. Watching the WVU-Iowa game. Are the rules the same for both teams?" grumped Sacramento State coach Aaron Kallhoff, echoing the sentiments of the masses.

For anyone who’s been a fan of women’s basketball − heck, a fan of women’s sports − and long wondered what it would take for the game to be taken as seriously as the men’s, this was a glorious development. Not the officiating. That’s still trash and the NCAA really needs to do something.

But that people had watched the game and been so invested in the outcome they were ready to take up pitchforks and torches on West Virginia’s behalf. That rather than putdowns and patronizing comments about women athletes, there were instead intense debates about the game they played. That for a few hours at least, a women’s game dominated the national conversation.

This is what progress sounds like if you listened beyond the din. Equality takes all shapes and forms and, in this case, it’s griping about the refs.

None of these complaints came from West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg or his players, mind you. They were too proud of their defensive effort − holding Iowa to 64 points, almost 30 below its average, and not allowing anyone but Clark to make a 3-pointer − and the statement they made against college basketball’s all-time leading scorer.

"It’s a golden opportunity. An opportunity to beat the best player in the world or go toe-to-toe with her and compete for all 40 minutes," J.J. Quinerly, West Virginia’s leading scorer, said. "That’s what we did that whole game, competed the whole time.

"And nobody can take that away from us," she added.

Quinerly wasn’t suggesting the refs did. But plenty in the peanut gallery were. And that is the surest sign that women’s basketball is being seen the same, afforded the same respect, as the men’s game.

MARCH MADNESS WINNERS, LOSERS: JuJu Watkins, Paige Bueckers steal spotlight on Monday

For too long, women’s sports have been considered by most of the public as either afterthoughts or charity projects. If they were considered at all. But in the last few years, people have realized that the women’s game is pretty damn good.

That’s been reflected in blockbuster TV numbers and sold-out arenas. It’s seen in the number of women athletes starring in commercials and pulling in millions in NIL deals.

But the truest sign that a sport is really a sport is the petty arguments it produces. NBA fans can argue for hours about who’s the greatest player of all time. (Even though the answer is, obviously, LeBron James.) Suggest Patrick Mahomes is a better quarterback than Tom Brady and you’d better make sure your calendar is clear for the foreseeable future.

It’s a reflection of both the passions and tribalism that sport inspires, and women athletes are finally getting full admittance to the club.

Clark has been, as Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said Monday night, “the face of women's basketball — and you could even say men's basketball — all year long.” Much like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did for the men’s game 50 years ago, Clark has made the women’s game a cultural phenomenon.

Few athletes, college or professional, are more recognizable. Or bankable. She drives decisions by broadcast executives and marketing departments.

But as respected and admired as she is by so many, she now has her detractors, too. And that criticism is becoming a cottage industry. You saw it in the debates over whether she or Pete Maravich should be considered college basketball’s all-time leading scorer. (This is simple math, people. Whoever finishes their career with the most points is the all-time leading scorer, caveats be damned.) Or Sheryl Swoopes’ comments that sparked outrage, TV debates and even T-shirts.

And now you’re seeing it in the insistence she’s getting bogus calls, especially when she’s playing at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It is our warped sign of respect. We argue and nitpick because we care. Because these athletes, and the games they play, matter.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Griping over Iowa-West Virginia refs shows relevance of women's game