“This Is Why You Put Her on the Team”: Caitlin Clark’s Olympic Snub Remains a Mystery as Rich Eisen Applauds Dawn Staley’s “Honest” Take

The women’s basketball team representing the United States is doing wonders at the Olympics. However, whether Indiana sensation Caitlin Clark should be a part of the “The next chapter in The Greatest Dynasty Ever,” still takes center stage. Even more so now when the 2020 gold medal-winning Team USA head coach Dawn Staley had advocated about her selection. This became evident when eminent American sports commentator Rich Eisen chose to comment on it recently.

The 55-year-old was recently joined by Chris Brockman on his podcast show to talk further on the subject. Eisen while presenting a strong case for Clark went on and said, “This is why you put her on the team. To get the eyeballs. By the way, she’s the greatest scorer in the history of college basketball. That was part of her resume before”. 

The senior season at Iowa was a historic one for Caitlin Clark. She surpassed the likes of iconic names like Kelsey Plum and Pete Maravich to become the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer. Then she began her professional career with the Indiana Fever, headlining the WNBA as a rookie. As it turns out, Caitlin Clark is also the fastest rookie in WNBA history to register 400 points and 200 assists. She accomplished this feat in just 26 games.

Following that trail, Brockman adds another feather to Clark’s cap. He said, “She now has a single-game assist record as a rookie as well [19 assists against the Dallas Wings]. That’s been my thing from the beginning. Caitlin Clark should have been the first name written down. And, then you build a team after that”.

A while ago, Dawn Staley also had a similar chain of thought. In an interview with NBC she said, “If we had to do it all over again, with the way she’s playing, she would be in really high consideration of making the team because she’s playing head and shoulders above a lot of people. She’s shooting the ball extremely well, she’s 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”. 

Evaluating Staley’s recent take on Caitlin Clark, Eisen complimented Staley for her honesty. Anyhow, these two are not the only analysts sparing a thought or two in this regard.

How has the absence of Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark from the Olympics affected Team USA?

While on-court, the team has been putting up some great performances. What’s concerning is the low turnup for the games as only 13,040 fans were present at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in their Olympic opener against Japan. At the same time, Spain vs China garnered an attendance of 27,000 while the contest between Nigeria and Australia had 24,000 fans present.

Witnessing this underwhelming reception, Gilbert Arenas cites that the presence of rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese might have avoided such a scenario. He said, “The fact that those two girls’ fan base is so big, you would have wanted them on the team just for viewers, for viewership. I don’t think they realize, a lot of people, from all over the world…they come to see the American stars”. 

Well, the absence of Caitlin Clark from the Olympic squad has paved the way for numerous discussions. And each and every one of them has both kinds of narratives. It appears the isn’t near just yet.

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