Last month, the USA women’s basketball screening committee finalized the Team USA roster for the Paris Olympics. Caitlin Clark, despite being the WNBA draft’s No. 1 pick, didn’t make the list. Weeks after Clark’s snub, University of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley has come forward to say that Clark’s now improved performance might have got her that Olympics roster spot. However, Skip Bayless has a contrary take on this with well-researched stats.

Discussing these statements of Staley, Skip Bayless said on UNDISPUTED, “Over her last eight games, she’s been a horrible three-point shooting slump.” According to Bayless, this was also replicated in the All-Star game where Clark had gone from 0-for-7 for 3-pointers. Looking at her past eight games, she now stands at 17-of-72 which is a questionable 24% shooting accuracy.

Staley, on the other hand, seems impressed by the rookie. Recently, she said, “If we had to do it all over again, the way that she’s playing, she would be in really high consideration of making the team because she is playing head and shoulders above a lot of people.” Staley also said that the way Clark is playing now is not the same as when the selection committee was making its decision. Further clarifying herself, the 54-year-old said it was not Clark who was recording a questionable performance in the WNBA as a rookie but she “wasn’t playing like she’s playing now.”

For Clark, it was her three-point shooting that made her a standout. But, as she switched to the WNBA, her stats seemed to have been lower than expected. For the 2023-24 season, she made 71-217 as her shooting accuracy slipped to 32.7%. While Skip Bayless highlighted Clark’s struggles, Dawn Staley remains impressed with her performance. But the question is: why is Dawn Staley making such comments about Clark despite her lower shooting percentage?

Caitlin Clark through the lens of Dawn Staley

It seems Dawn Staley is looking at the glass as half-full. Ever since Clark was left off, she’s attained an average of 17.9 points with 10.4 assists in the last 13 games. Additionally, she recorded the highest number of assists (19) in a single game and the first triple-double in WNBA history.

It looks like Staley’s been keeping an eye on Clark’s growth. “Shooting the ball extremely well, I mean she is an elite passer, she’s just got a great basketball IQ, and she’s a little more seasoned in the pro game than she was two months ago,” she told NBC host Mike Tirico. However, it wasn’t Clark’s stats that led to her omission from Team USA.

Instead, it was Clark’s absence from training camps that left her off the roster. In the meantime, fans would be hoping that maybe for the Olympics in the coming years, Clark gets to be a part of the roster.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us in the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.