NCAA basketball superstar <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-nba-star-paul-pierce-was-only-impressed-by-caitlin-clark-after-she-beat-a-bunch-of-black-girls">Caitlin Clark</a> has set a new record, giving her the top top-selling jersey ever for a draft pick across all sports.
On Monday, the former Iowa Hawkeyes star went <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/39951045/indiana-fever-select-iowa-caitlin-clark-top-pick-2024-wnba-draft">number one</a> in overall picks in the 2024 WNBA draft to the Indiana Fever — and shortly afterward, her new jersey shot to the top of Fanatics — the official online retailer for the league, <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2024/04/16/caitlin-clark-indiana-fever-jersey-history-fanatics-wnba/">TMZ</a> reported.
The sports site said it put up preorders for her No. 22 jersey and they not only sold out, but her WNBA jersey is now the top-selling draft pick in the company&#8217;s history across all sports, the outlet noted.
A jersey sales record is just one more accomplishment for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/caitlin-clark-breaks-ncaa-scoring-record-set-by-pistol-pete-maravich">Clark</a>, the former NCAA star who became the top scorer in both women and men’s college basketball history, the outlet noted.
After being drafted, Clark spoke to “<a href="https://twitter.com/GMA/status/1780211259213762707" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Good Morning America</a>” about how she’s ready for the pros.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In just one hour, Fanatics has completely sold out of Caitlin Clark&#8217;s Fever jersey in sizes XS, M, L, XL, and XXL, per <a href="https://twitter.com/darrenrovell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@darrenrovell</a> <a href="https://t.co/KPzpckeQgh">pic.twitter.com/KPzpckeQgh</a>
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1780060114185064590?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;I always believed in myself,&#8221; Clark said. &#8220;Also I worked really hard for it. I think that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m really proud of is like, I earned it. I deserve it. Nothing was ever given to me. More than anything just believe in myself.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m trying to take to the next level,” she added.
Speaking to <a href="https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/39951045/indiana-fever-select-iowa-caitlin-clark-top-pick-2024-wnba-draft">ESPN</a> after being drafted, Clark noted how excited she is for the new challenge of playing in the WNBA, as she gets ready to join last year&#8217;s No. 1 overall pick, Aliyah Boston.
&#8220;For myself, I can&#8217;t imagine a more perfect fit, a better place for me to start my professional career, an organization that really just believes in women&#8217;s basketball and wants to do everything the right way,” Clark said. “So I couldn&#8217;t be more excited to get there.&#8221;
&#8220;Going to an organization that has, in my eyes, one of the best post players in the entire world. My point guard eyes just light up at that,&#8221; she added of Boston. &#8220;My biggest job is I&#8217;m just feeding Aliyah the ball every single day. That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m going to do. I&#8217;m going to be in there and be like, go make a layup. She&#8217;s going to make my life easy.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m 22 years old, and I don&#8217;t have all the answers in the world,&#8221; Clark continued. &#8220;This is something new to me &#8230; That&#8217;s something I&#8217;m excited for. But having those type of people around me to lean on and ask questions, or when things get hard, to be there for me.&#8221;

Ohio State v Iowa

Caitlin Clark Breaks Record For Jersey Sales

Basketball

Iowa

NCAA

Sports

WNBA

Welcome to eclipse day 2024, everyone. By the time you read this, the eclipse will likely have already happened. Which presumably means that a large portion of my audience will be raptured, because from what I understand, based on my research on Twitter, the rapture is scheduled for today as well. If you’re reading this, it means that you, like me, have been left behind to walk the Earth and await your eternal destruction. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that you still get to watch the premier of my new show “JUDGED” tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. EST. You may not be in the mood for judgment related shows, given the circumstance, but you might as well watch it anyway.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/judged-by-matt-walsh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: &#8216;JUDGED by Matt Walsh&#8217; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
Now, for today’s topic. Dawn Staley is the head coach of the NCAA champion South Carolina Gamecocks, a gold medal Olympian several times over, and a Hall of Famer who&#8217;s widely considered one of the best players in the history of the WNBA, as low as that bar might be. This is a resume that sports journalists describe as &#8220;historic.&#8221; She&#8217;s supposedly a basketball icon, a role model, and one of the greatest coaches alive.
What&#8217;s often left unsaid, even though everyone knows it&#8217;s true, is that Dawn Staley&#8217;s resume would have looked a lot different if she had been forced to compete against men at any point in her career. If it weren&#8217;t for Title IX and the creation of exclusive sports leagues that barred men from competing, Dawn Staley would probably be selling insurance or conducting tedious DEI workshops somewhere. Instead, she&#8217;s a multimillionaire, and you&#8217;re instructed to think she&#8217;s an impressive person.
All this is to say, if anyone should be an evangelist for women-only sports leagues, Dawn Staley fits the bill. Without these leagues, Staley would have precisely zero professional accomplishments to speak of. But Leftism is an ideology that necessarily involves a lot of ladder-pulling. Once they get to the top, it&#8217;s vital for Leftists to deny that they received any kind of special help based on their &#8220;identity&#8221; along the way. 
We see this all the time, from Elizabeth Warren to Kamala Harris. And the other day, in a comical press conference ahead of the NCAA national championship, we saw it from Dawn Staley.
A reporter from OutKick asked Staley a simple question. He wanted to know what she thought about the idea of men competing against women in sports, particularly in college basketball. Here&#8217;s how Staley responded:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
South Carolina women’s coach <a href="https://twitter.com/dawnstaley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dawnstaley</a> says men pretending to be women should be able to play women’s basketball. Great question by <a href="https://twitter.com/RealDanZak?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealDanZak</a>. This is what real reporters are supposed to do. Ask real questions, get real answers. <a href="https://t.co/Kf9WKk6ylm">pic.twitter.com/Kf9WKk6ylm</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1776643372444156308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The first thing you notice about that reply is how nervous Dawn Staley is. She takes a big gulp of water, drawing laughter from some of the other reporters. Then she says, &#8220;Damn, you got deep on me” — even though it’s really not a deep question at all. She stutters for a few more seconds until she finally delivers maybe the least grammatical sentence she possibly could have: &#8220;I&#8217;m under the opinion of, if you&#8217;re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play.&#8221; 
I’m not sure what “vice versa” refers to in that sentence. If you’re a woman and you want to play sports, or vice versa. So if you’re a woman and you want to play sports, or if you’re a sport and you want to play women? Is that what she’s saying? 
Incoherence aside, if Dawn Staley actually believed what she was saying, then there would be no nervousness whatsoever. She would confidently tell the reporter that yes, she has no problem with men competing against her all-women&#8217;s team. She would demand that the Olympics and the NCAA change their current policy on trans-identifying athletes, which sets sets some arbitrary testosterone threshold that prevents many men from competing. There would be no need for any of the stalling or stammering.
But Staley did stall and stammer, because she doesn&#8217;t believe a word of what she just said. That&#8217;s why her answer makes no sense. She lumps &#8220;women&#8221; and &#8220;people who consider themselves women&#8221; into the same category. But in doing so, she&#8217;s acknowledging that they are indeed different categories. Actual women don&#8217;t &#8220;consider themselves women.&#8221; They&#8217;re just women. If you feel the need to add the &#8220;consider themselves&#8221; qualifier, then you obviously recognize that they are not women. There&#8217;s something very different about them — something that we recognized for all of recorded human history until about 15 minutes ago, which is why Dawn Staley had the career she did.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1342-prominent-women-s-basketball-coaches-are-too-cowardly-to-defend-the-existence-of-women-s-sports-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
But Dawn Staley doesn&#8217;t want to admit this anymore. At the end of her answer, she suggests she&#8217;s being brave, because she&#8217;s going to anger all the Right-wing &#8220;barnstormers&#8221; on social media, whoever they are. But it&#8217;s not hard to see what she&#8217;s actually worried about. Staley knows that the NCAA has already said that it, &#8220;firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports.&#8221; She knows the NCAA has already bent the knee to activist groups like GLAAD. And she&#8217;s aware that the NCAA is now being sued for Title IX violations by female athletes like Riley Gaines for allowing men to compete against them. On top of that, the University of South Carolina has trans pride flags all over its website. So if she affirmed that biology is real, there&#8217;s a good chance she&#8217;d be fired, or at least lose her status as America&#8217;s favorite female coach. She knows exactly where she&#8217;s supposed to stand on this issue.
And indeed, with her answer, Dawn Staley predictably received a bunch of fawning headlines from Left-wing activists. GLAAD posted a thank-you note and declared that Staley is the &#8220;best in the business.&#8221; Pink News declared that Staley&#8217;s response was &#8220;legendary.&#8221; The Advocate called her &#8220;transformative.&#8221; 
By contrast, here&#8217;s how supposedly conservative media outlets responded. Fox News ran this headline: &#8220;South Carolina&#8217;s Dawn Staley draws strong reactions over remarks about trans participation in women&#8217;s sports.&#8221;
At this rate, Dawn Staley could announce a roster of 5 men next year, and Fox News would applaud her. Maybe that&#8217;s the plan. In any event, this is the dynamic that weak people like Staley respond to. She knows she’ll be applauded for saying the opposite of what she knows is true. And she would be condemned, or worse, if she said what was actually true.
In that respect, she wasn&#8217;t alone. Iowa&#8217;s coach, Lisa Bluder, took a similar approach. Here was her response to the same question from the same reporter:
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Here&#39;s the video and transcript of Bluder&#39;s response:
&quot;I understand it&#39;s a topic that people are interested in. But today my focus is on the game tomorrow, my players &#8230; and that&#39;s what I want to be here to talk about. But I know it&#39;s an important issue for another time.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/TRJuAONvPr">pic.twitter.com/TRJuAONvPr</a>
&mdash; Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/linzsports/status/1776686403969040851?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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This is an answer that&#8217;s worse in some ways than Staley&#8217;s. At least Dawn Staley said something, as insane as it was. Lisa Bluder is too afraid to even do that. She says she&#8217;s focused on the big game. But if men could compete against women in college basketball, then there would be no big game. All women&#8217;s sports would cease to exist.
Both of these coaches know that, if they had to compete against any of the top-ranked men&#8217;s teams, or any of the men&#8217;s teams at all, then they&#8217;d be destroyed. But somehow that doesn&#8217;t concern Dawn Staley or Lisa Bluder. They can&#8217;t bring themselves to say the obvious. So the nonsense continues.
There&#8217;s a lot of that going around lately, as you may have noticed. 
A few days ago the reporter Jonathan Choe broke the story that in Seattle, a mentally imbalanced man with comically enhanced breasts has been working as a public defender for several years. If you remember the Canadian wood shop teacher with the size-Z prosthetic chest, it&#8217;s a bit like that, except in a courtroom instead of a high school. And this guy is 70-years-old. Watch:
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Due to popular demand, I&#39;m posting the extended cut of my interview with public defender Stephanie Mueller. The transgender attorney is representing one of the far-left activists charged with disrupting a council meeting in February. Otherwise, this is Seattle. What&#39;s the big… <a href="https://t.co/rYo4nrj9Wu">https://t.co/rYo4nrj9Wu</a> <a href="https://t.co/fuTP4qObvu">pic.twitter.com/fuTP4qObvu</a>
&mdash; Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) <a href="https://twitter.com/choeshow/status/1776129318957318327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2024</a></blockquote>
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So, just because the guy is 8 and a half feet tall and has a voice deeper than James Earl Jones apparently, it hasn’t stopped him from trying to be a woman. Now just imagine this for a moment. Imagine you show up to court to meet your public defender. Naturally, you&#8217;re going to have low expectations. You get what you pay for, and all that. And then this guy shows up, like a character out of &#8220;Portlandia.&#8221; How would you respond? How would the judge respond?
Apparently, in this case, everyone just acted like this was normal. The defendants didn&#8217;t have an issue with it. And that&#8217;s not entirely surprising, since they&#8217;re Left-wing activists in Seattle accused of interrupting a city council meeting to yell something. They probably requested the trans lawyer, which might not be a bad strategy in a Seattle court. After all, you have to win your case if a trans lawyer is representing you. Otherwise it would be transphobic.
Needless to say, the judge had no issue with this, either. A man shows up with skin-tight leather pants, boots, and fake eyelashes — not exactly courtroom-appropriate attire — and the judge doesn&#8217;t say a word about it. Of course, ironically, if he had actually been a woman, there would likely be an issue. Even in Seattle, courtrooms aren&#8217;t burlesque shows. It would be frowned upon for a woman to come dressed like some sort of cartoonish hooker. But because this guy says he&#8217;s transgender, it’s magically acceptable.
I&#8217;ve mentioned the Rebel News reporter David Menzies in the past. A few months ago, he was the only journalist in all of Canada to report on the fact that a 50-year-old man was allowed to compete against teenage girls in various competitions throughout the country. For reporting like that, Menzies has been arrested multiple times by the Canadian government. Just this weekend, he was assaulted and arrested again by police, for covering pro-Hamas protests in Toronto. It&#8217;s all on video. But Menzies persists anyway.
It&#8217;s quite a contrast with what we&#8217;ve seen this week in this country, which is story after story of cowardice. Think about it: If there was ever a weekend for women&#8217;s sports to have its &#8220;moment,&#8221; it was this one. Instead, the coaches of the top two teams declared at a press conference that they don&#8217;t even know what women are. They also made it very clear, from their ambivalence, that they don&#8217;t really care if women&#8217;s sports stick around anymore. They’ll probably change their mind when the money dries up. When they lose their jobs and are made irrelevant. But it requires some foresight to see that, and courage to speak up about it. Sadly, those two things are in short supply.

North Carolina State v South Carolina

Prominent Women’s Basketball Coaches Are Too Cowardly To Defend The Existence Of Women’s Sports

Prominent Women's Basketball Coaches Are Too Cowardly To Defend The Existence Of Women's Sports

College basketball

Matt Walsh

Readers Pass

Transgender Athletes

Women's Basketball

Dawn Staley, the head coach of the undefeated South Carolina women&#8217;s basketball team, said on Saturday that trans-identifying players should be allowed to participate against women as long as they &#8220;consider&#8221; themselves to be &#8220;a woman.&#8221;
Staley made her comments on men competing in women&#8217;s sports following the Gamecocks&#8217; blowout win in the Final Four over NC State. Asked by Outkick reporter Dan Zaksheske to explain her position on &#8220;the inclusion of transgender athletes, biological males, in women&#8217;s sports,&#8221; the coach struggled to come up with an answer before saying she supports men competing against women.
&#8220;If you&#8217;re a woman, you should play; if you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports, or vice-versa, you should be able to play,&#8221; Staley said. &#8220;That&#8217;s my opinion.&#8221;
Zaksheske asked her to clarify if she believes trans-identifying men should be able to compete against women.
&#8220;That&#8217;s the question you want to ask, so I&#8217;ll give you that: Yes. Yes,&#8221; she responded. &#8220;So now the barnstorm of people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I&#8217;m ok with that.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I asked South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley if she supports transgender women (biological males) playing women&#39;s college basketball. 
&quot;If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/SEQCsNiFvm">pic.twitter.com/SEQCsNiFvm</a>
&mdash; Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealDanZak/status/1776641070425678157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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South Carolina&#8217;s win against NC State on Friday puts them in the national championship game, where they will face Iowa and star player Caitlyn Clark, who defeated UConn in a nail-biter. Staley&#8217;s team is currently 37-0 on the season and has breezed through the NCAA tournament. Staley has coached at South Carolina since 2008 and has won two national championships while reaching six Final Fours. The national championship game is on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Staley&#8217;s comments have sparked backlash online, including from prominent women&#8217;s sports activist Riley Gaines. The former collegiate swimmer, who has been outspoken about the dangers and inherent unfairness of biological males participating in females&#8217; sports, posted the video of Staley and cited The Daily Wire-produced satirical comedy film &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/lady-ballers">Lady Ballers</a>,&#8221; which was released in 2023 and lampoons men competing in women&#8217;s sports, specifically men competing against women in basketball.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Lady ballers assemble! <a href="https://t.co/EP0bxt4rv6">https://t.co/EP0bxt4rv6</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1776677402187587764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
Gaines had a cameo appearance in the film, which starred several Daily Wire personalities, including the company&#8217;s co-CEO and co-founder Jeremy Boreing and Daily Wire hosts Jake Crain, Blain Crain and David Cone.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
While the controversy surrounding men playing in women&#8217;s sports has yet to directly affect Division I women&#8217;s college basketball, there have been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-men-who-have-dominated-womens-sports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">numerous instances</a> of men competing in sports against females and beating them in recent months. Earlier this year, multiple trans-identifying athletes took the floor with women in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-identifying-volleyball-players-take-over-womens-college-game-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">college volleyball match</a> in Ontario, Canada.
At Nazareth University in New York, trans-identifying track athlete Sadie Schreiner <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-collegiate-sprinter-switches-to-womens-team-breaks-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener">set a new school record</a> in the 300m dash in December, clocking in at 41.80 seconds, which was also good for first place in the race. Schreiner reportedly competed in the same track event a year before as a male and finished in 19th place in the 100m dash.
Men competing in women&#8217;s sports became a major issue in 2022 when UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, who previously competed as a male before identifying as a female, won a national championship title in the 500-yard freestyle over standout Virginia swimmer Emma Weyant.
The <a href="https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2022/1/28/transgender-student-athlete-eligibility-review-procedures.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NCAA allows</a> men to compete in women&#8217;s sports as long as they submit an &#8220;NCAA Transgender Student-Athlete Eligibility Review Form&#8221; and have a &#8220;testosterone level that is within the allowable levels for the sport in which the student-athlete plans to compete.&#8221;

Dawn Staley

Coach Of Top Women’s College Basketball Team Says Men Should Play Against Females ‘If You Consider Yourself A Woman’

Coach Of Top Women's College Basketball Team Says Men Should Play Against Females 'If You Consider Yourself A Woman'

South Carolina

Transgender

Women's sports

March Madness quite possibly offers the greatest postseason experience available to sports fans today. In fact, &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crain &amp; Company&#8217;s</a>&#8221; Jake Crain goes so far as to say that it is, in fact, the greatest. Unlike other sports, the tournament layout allows for incredible underdog/longshot stories and this year is no exception.
This year’s Final Four consists of some expected teams, including two number one seeds in Purdue and returning champion UConn, a number four seed in Alabama, and is rounded out with the Cinderella 11 seed, North Carolina State — the most unexpected teams to be in this position.
To understand how NC State elbowed its way into this year’s NCAA Final Four, we have to go back a few weeks in the season. NC State plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), a basketball division traditionally dominated by blue bloods like UNC and Duke. When the ACC Tournament rolled around at the end of the regular season, the Wolfpack were on a four-game losing streak and head coach Kevin Keatts was in the hot seat.
<div id="attachment_719593" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-719593" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-719593" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211-864x576.jpg" alt="PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - MARCH 23: Head coach Kevin Keatts of the North Carolina State Wolfpack looks on during the first half of a game against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 23, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2107862211.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Joe Sargent/Getty Images</div>
Keatts tenure had been lackluster, with many fans and boosters calling for his head after this season. NC State’s program had a mediocre ceiling that few believed would ever be broken. They hadn’t won an ACC Championship title in 37 years.
Keatts and NC State needed to win their conference tournament to even get into the NCAA tournament and no one believed it would happen. Not only would they have to win out, but they’d have to face Duke and UNC, two storied programs that have plagued the Tobacco Road rivalry.
The Wolfpack went on to win five straight, including a buzzer-beater three that pushed the UVA game into double overtime.
Coach Kevin Keatts not only secured his job, he earned some <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/acc/2024/04/01/kevin-keatts-bonuses-nc-state-final-four/73163196007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sizable bonuses</a>:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">ACC Championship title: A $400,000 pay increase, a $100,000 bonus, and a 2-year contract extension through April 2030.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">An additional $25,000 bonus for the team’s first victory in the tournament, and $50,000 for each of the next three for a total of $175,000.</li>
</ul>
NC State’s current run as an 11 seed feels a lot like history repeating itself.
Every Wolfpack fan, and likely every college basketball fan, knows the infamous story of the 1983 team and their epic tournament run to win the National Championship under head coach Jim Valvano. The 1983 season was an unbelievable tale of determination and more famously, “never giv[ing] up.”
For those unfamiliar, back in 1983, NC State needed to win an ACC Championship title to get into the NCAA tournament. Sound familiar? They started as a number 6 seed and made their way to the championship game where they faced off against the heavily favored Houston Cougars — who had future Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Thanks to a buzzer-beating dunk by Lorenzo Charles after a missed desperation shot, NC State and coach Valvano defied the odds and pulled off a tremendous upset. That 1983 run gave birth to more than a winning standard, it became a way to see the world and the things around you.
It inspired the infamous “Jimmy V Speech” delivered on March 4, 1993, at the ESPYs and created a culture that continues to invigorate not only Wolfpack fans, but sports fans in general.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Jim&#039;s 1993 ESPY Speech" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HuoVM9nm42E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Once again, NC State has given the country something to believe in. Not only has this team re-ignited its fan base, but it has also given the country new heroes and underdogs who inspire them.
One of those heroes, DJ Burns Jr., has played a critical role in the Wolfpack’s success. Burns has proven to be a force on the court, has a contagious personality, and he’s an outright likable guy. Burns has brought a popularity to the team that it hasn’t seen in years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Show this to anyone who says men’s college basketball is dead and has no superstars.
This is the line outside of an APPLEBEES! 
Final Four Fever has hit Raleigh. <a href="https://t.co/cB37nNH0rf">pic.twitter.com/cB37nNH0rf</a>
&mdash; Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) <a href="https://twitter.com/mid_madness/status/1775531240520597798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Burns started his career in the SEC at Tennessee, transferred to Winthrop back in his home state of South Carolina, and finally landed at NC State for the 2022/2023 season. Burns made an immediate impact, but his star really started to rise during the postseason.
He stands at 6’9,” weighs 275 pounds, and after his performance this year he could arguably have a successful career in the NFL. In fact, several reporters have received communications from NFL teams with potential interest in adding Burns as an offensive tackle.
<div id="attachment_719595" style="width: 865px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-719595" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-719595" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980-855x576.jpg" alt="DALLAS, TEXAS - MARCH 31: DJ Burns Jr. #30 of the North Carolina State Wolfpack controls the ball as Ryan Young #15 of the Duke Blue Devils defends in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 31, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)" width="855" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980-855x576.jpg 855w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980-300x202.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980-768x518.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2128465980.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 855px) 100vw, 855px" />Carmen Mandato/Getty Images</div>
Against all odds, and 14 regular season losses, this team has continued its incredible postseason run with nine consecutive wins. The Wolfpack will now face off against another Goliath opponent in No. 1 Purdue this Saturday, perhaps the most difficult opponent they’ve faced yet. Purdue’s Zach Edey, standing at 7’4”, has become a standout in his own right, dominating this year’s tournament. The Burns-Edey match up makes this game a must-watch “battle of the bigs.”
NC State faces Purdue on Saturday, April 6, at 6:09 pm ET at The Phoenix Convention Center.
Current head coach Kevin Keatts and this NC State team have done something that hasn’t been done since 1983. It’s a run for the ages and a story of a lifetime. The spirit of that team can be felt in this year’s tournament and has given fans something to celebrate — a true Cinderella story that transcends wins and losses.
Go Pack.

NC State v Duke

Will History Repeat Itself? NC State’s Amazing Race To The Final Four

March Madness

North Carolina State

Purdue University

Former NBA star Paul Pierce said he was only impressed by University of Iowa Hawkeyes female basketball star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/caitlin-clark-breaks-ncaa-scoring-record-set-by-pistol-pete-maravich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caitlin Clark</a> after she &#8220;beat a bunch of black girls&#8221; on the court on Monday in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women&#8217;s Basketball Tournament in Albany, New York.
On Tuesday, Fox Sports &#8220;<a href="https://x.com/awfulannouncing/status/1775181311113634300?s=20">Undisputed Live</a>&#8220; hosts Skip Bayless and Keyshawn Johnson were discussing Iowa&#8217;s 94-87 victory over the LSU Tigers (Louisiana State University) with the former NBA star, who said he was shocked by Clark&#8217;s performance in the 2024 March Madness round held at MVP Arena.
&#8220;We saw a white girl in Iowa do it to a bunch of black girls,&#8221; Pierce told the hosts. &#8220;That gained my respect. That gained my respect. Like, oh she didn&#8217;t do this to some other white girls over here in Colorado, or wherever.&#8221;
&#8220;She [Clark] did it to some girls from LSU, who we thought was some dogs, [the]defending (2023) champs,&#8221; he added. &#8220;She put them on her knee and spanked them. I didn&#8217;t expect that.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;We saw a white girl in Iowa do it to a bunch of Black girls. That gained my respect&#8230;I didn&#8217;t expect that.&#8221; &#8211; Paul Pierce <a href="https://t.co/StyugFiG67">pic.twitter.com/StyugFiG67</a>
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) <a href="https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1775181311113634300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2024</a></blockquote>
Clark&#8217;s numbers after the matchup were incredibly impressive: she scored a total of 41 points, seven rebounds, and 12 assists during the game that advanced the Hawkeyes to the Final Four. 
It is the first time in Iowa&#8217;s history that the Hawkeyes have gone back-to-back seasons to the Final Four. Last year, the <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/basketball-women/d1/live-updates-no-2-iowa-vs-no-3-lsu-national-championship-game">championship</a> game came down to the #3 Tigers beating out #2 Hawkeyes 102-85, a first in the Tigers program history, the <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/basketball-women/d1/live-updates-no-2-iowa-vs-no-3-lsu-national-championship-game" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NCAA</a> noted.
&#8220;To get back here is really hard,&#8221; Clark told the press after the game. &#8220;This region was loaded with so much talent. Job&#8217;s not finished.&#8221;
The comments on the sports channel seemed to echo those of other players in the sports world who commented online about Iowa&#8217;s victory, <a href="https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39854377/lsu-iowa-caitlin-clark-angel-reese-elite-eight-march-madness-ncaa-tournament">ESPN</a> noted.
&#8220;Bruhhhh Caitlyn [sic] Clark can&#8217;t be guarded !!!!!&#8221; San Francisco 49ers star Deebo Samuels <a href="https://x.com/19problemz/status/1774966515206644212?s=20">wrote</a> on X.
Kansas City Chiefs defensive star Chris Jones <a href="https://twitter.com/StoneColdJones/status/1774970341233655986">added</a>, &#8220;The women&#8217;s basketball games are more exciting than the men.&#8221;
The Tennessee Titans&#8217; Calvin Ridley <a href="https://twitter.com/CalvinRidley1/status/1774966544625197140">wrote</a>, &#8220;[Damn] she good,&#8221; in reference to Clark.
On Friday, the Hawkeyes travel to Cleveland, Ohio, to play the Connecticut Huskies in the Final Four round of the NCAA tournament. 
&nbsp;

Hawkeyes

Former NBA Star Paul Pierce Was Only Impressed By Caitlin Clark After She ‘Beat A Bunch Of Black Girls’

Entertainment

The winningest program in NCAA men&#8217;s basketball history couldn&#8217;t stop a 6-foot-3 three-point shooter who began his college career at the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan before transferring just up the road to Oakland University — the team that pulled off the biggest upset so far in the 2024 March Madness tournament.
On Thursday evening, Jack Gohlke put on one of the most memorable performances in NCAA tournament history when he came off the bench to score 32 points, helping the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, a commuter college in Rochester Hills, Michigan, beat the eight-time national champion Kentucky Wildcats in the first round. Gohlke shot 50% from behind the arc, hitting 10 three-pointers and two free throws to cap off the remarkable performance in Oakland&#8217;s 80-76 win over the Wildcats.
The 24-year-old guard from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, committed to Hillsdale College in 2017. Gohlke played on the men&#8217;s basketball team for the liberal arts college in rural southern Michigan, which is a Division II school, where his lethal three-point shooting helped Hillsdale go on a run to the Elite Eight in the 2022 D2 NCAA Tournament.
After transferring to Oakland to play his sixth year of college basketball, Gohlke didn&#8217;t stop what he did best at Hillsdale: shooting threes. In fact, that&#8217;s just about all he did during the Grizzlies&#8217; 2023-2024 season. Of the 355 total shots Gohlke took throughout the season, 347 of them were three-pointers, which was the second-most for any player in Division I basketball. And he hit on 38% of his three-point shots, averaging nearly 13 points per game.
But even if Kentucky&#8217;s scouting report showed them to expect a lot of shots from Gohlke, nothing could&#8217;ve prepared the Wildcats for what the Oakland guard would do. Gohlke was unstoppable in the first half of Thursday&#8217;s game, nailing seven threes — most of which were heavily contested by Kentucky defenders.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JACK GOHLKE LIT UP KENTUCKY IN THE FIRST HALF 🔥
7 THREES OFF THE BENCH 🤯 <a href="https://t.co/wtIKKqhShu">pic.twitter.com/wtIKKqhShu</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1770969058659197368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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While the Golden Grizzlies took a three-point lead into halftime, head coach Greg Kampe, who has been the team&#8217;s leader since 1984, knew that to pull off an upset of Kentucky, Gohlke would need to provide some more March magic.
“Well, he better hit seven more [three-pointers] if we’re going to win because we’re ain’t gonna win if he don’t do that,” Kampe <a href="https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/jack-gohlke-oakland-kentucky-march-madness-a649db9d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the half.
Gohlke didn&#8217;t hit seven more threes in the second half, but he added three huge buckets from behind the arc, which tied him for second-most three-point shots made in a single NCAA Tournament game. Gohlke&#8217;s teammates added some big shots and stellar defense down the stretch, and 14-seed Oakland finished what it started, winning a nail-biter against the three-seeded Kentucky.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JACK GOHLKE IS UNCONSCIOUS 
LEGENDS ARE MADE IN MARCH <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkTitusShow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarkTitusShow</a> 
 <a href="https://t.co/uKIL2uWIkI">pic.twitter.com/uKIL2uWIkI</a>
&mdash; Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1770982186658730092?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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After the game, Gohlke <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessMBB/status/1770990622062662104" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CBS, &#8220;We&#8217;re not a Cinderella,&#8221; adding that Oakland is &#8220;going to keep winning some games.&#8221; Later, Gohlke admitted that he&#8217;s not an NBA-caliber player like much of the Kentucky team he just helped take down, but said he and his teammates know they &#8220;can compete with those type of guys.&#8221;
&#8220;You have to think you have the same talent level as them. I know they have draft picks and I know I&#8217;m not going to the NBA, but I know on any given night, I can compete with those type of guys and our team can compete with those type of guys.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;You have to think you have the same talent level as them. I know they have draft picks and I know I&#39;m not going to the NBA, but I know on any given night, I can compete with those type of guys and our team can compete with those type of guys.&quot;
—<a href="https://twitter.com/OaklandMBB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OaklandMBB</a>&#39;s Jack Gohlke <a href="https://t.co/PQqfhCl4O8">pic.twitter.com/PQqfhCl4O8</a>
&mdash; CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSportsCBB/status/1770998231771553909?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Oakland&#8217;s win pushed them to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. The Golden Grizzlies will take on 11-seed North Carolina State, who defeated 6-seed Texas Tech, on Saturday at approximately 7:10 p.m. ET.

Oakland v Kentucky

Transfer From Conservative D2 College Lights Up College Basketball Blue Blood In Major March Madness Upset

Kentucky

Michigan

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/riley-gaines" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Riley Gaines</a> and over a dozen other female athletes filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the NCAA over its policies that allow men to compete in women’s sports.
Gaines, a former swimmer with the University of Kentucky, and other female athletes say that the NCAA’s policies allowing men to compete in women’s sports violate their privacy and has cost them opportunities. Gaines <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-left-there-with-no-trophy-ncaa-female-swimmer-who-tied-for-fifth-with-trans-athlete-says-officials-put-lia-thomas-ahead-of-her" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was forced</a> to compete against Lia Thomas, a man who identifies as a woman, at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Championships for swimming. Gaines was also forced to share a locker room with Thomas where he undressed in front of multiple women.
“The NCAA has simultaneously imposed a radical anti-woman agenda on college sports, reinterpreting Title IX to define women as a testosterone level, permitting men to compete on women’s teams, and destroying female safe spaces in women’s locker rooms by authorizing naked men possessing full male genitalia to disrobe in front of non-consenting college women and creating situations in which unwilling female college athletes unwittingly or reluctantly expose their naked or partially clad bodies to males, subjecting women to a loss of their constitutional right to bodily privacy,” the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/16CIcxSu2DvL1uPYfY8DcLWy90klGRK74/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> says.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨it&#39;s official!🚨
I&#39;m suing the NCAA along with 15 other collegiate athletes who have lost out on titles, records, &amp; roster spots to men posing as women
The NCAA continues to explicitly violate the federal civil rights law of Title IX. About time someone did something about…
&mdash; Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1768335572798456179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the lawsuit accuses the NCAA and several Georgia universities of violating Title IX, as well as the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The lawsuit also accused the NCAA of attempting to chill the free speech of athletes through speech codes that might be interpreted to define any opposition to men competing in women’s sports as “transphobic.”
In addition to Gaines, the others on the lawsuit included Reka Gyorgy, Kylee Alons, Kaitlyn Wheeler, Lily Mullens, Susanna Price, Carter Satterfield, Kate Pearson, Katie Blankinship, Julianna Morrow, Ainsley Erzen, Ellie Eades, and multiple athletes who have chosen to remain anonymous. The athletes include swimmers, track athletes, and volleyball players.
The lawsuit says that the NCAA has been driven by ideology and not science with its policies regarding the participation of transgender-identifying athletes.
“The sole justification of the Association for its discriminatory Transgender Eligibility Policies, which are imposed by the NCAA upon all member colleges and universities in NCAA Divisions I, II and III, is that biological differences between males and females can allegedly be overcome by a program of testosterone suppression in males who identify as transgender,” the lawsuit says.
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The athletes argue that the NCAA has pursued radical policies at the expense of female athletes.
“What is disappointing and unlawful is that the NCAA aggressively applies its radical Transgender Eligibility Policies which diminish women’s opportunities despite the clear Title IX imperative to hold separate competitions and separate championships for women where physiological advantages of men preclude mixed (or open) competitions and despite vast scientific and experiential evidence demonstrating the NCAA’s policies harm women,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit demands that the NCAA revoke any award or record from any male who has competed as a female and reverse policies allowing males to compete in women&#8217;s sports.

NCAA SWIMMING: MAR 18 Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships

Riley Gaines, Other Collegiate Athletes Sue NCAA For Allowing Men To Compete In Women’s Sports

College sports

Lia Thomas

Riley Gaines

Social Issues

Once again, progressive forces in the media have seized control of the narrative in college athletics.
A while back we were told we must accept that transgender athletes CeCé Telfer and Lia Thomas were female athletes, because they said so. Now we are being told that the University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, a phenomenal female basketball player, is the NCAA’s new all-time leading scorer (3,685 points) because she surpassed Pete Maravich’s long-standing scoring record (3,667 points).
When I first read the reports, I kept looking for a qualifier that would correctly label her as the NCAA’s greatest all-time scorer in women’s basketball history. So far, however, every bit of reporting I’ve perused — from ESPN to the alphabet media news outlets along with various social media tributes — all celebrate Caitlin Clark beating Pete Maravich’s record. That’s it. No qualifier.
As the proud father of a former women’s Division 1 NCAA athlete, you will not find a more supportive fan of women’s athletics. Indeed, my issue with the trans movement injecting itself into NCAA sports is that it makes a mockery of the entire concept of women’s athletics and neuters Title IX advancements in the NCAA.
Ms. Clark&#8217;s achievement is truly remarkable. And, yes, technically she did surpass “Pistol Pete” as the all-time NCAA basketball scorer. But let us return, once again, to cold, hard reality. 
 
First off, during Maravich’s era, there was no three-point line, no shot clock, and no dunking. It was a different game. Second, Maravich played only three seasons for LSU, since freshmen were ineligible to play on varsity teams in the late 60s. But of course, that’s not the elephant in the room. 
There remains one other unavoidable and seminal fact: Ms. Clark is a woman playing against other women. Maravich played against men and not just any men. During his 1967-1970 career at LSU his collegiate contemporaries included the likes of Kareem Adbul-Jabar (Lew Alcindor) (7’2”) and Elvin Hayes (6’9”) and many others known for their tremendous ability on the court. That alone should be enough to end the argument. As impressive as Ms. Clark’s stats may be, they should be calculated on the women’s side of the basketball ledger.
For the legacy media, however, political correctness drives the headlines, like this one from <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/general/video/caitlin-clark-becomes-the-ncaa-all-time-leading-scorer/">CBS Sports</a>: &#8220;Caitlin Clark Becomes NCAA All-Time Leading Scorer.&#8221; <a href="https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2024/03/03/Alone-at-the-top-Caitlin-Clark-sets-NCAA-all-time-points-record/5151709500304/">UPI’s</a> headline reads: &#8220;Alone at the Top: Caitlin Clark sets NCAA all time points record.&#8221; <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/caitlin-clark-breaks-pete-maravichs-ncaa-all-time-scoring-record-185800264.html#:~:text=Clark%20officially%20stands%20alone%20atop,18%20points%20to%20pass%20Maravich." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yahoo! News</a> says she broke the women’s and men’s all-time leading scoring record. “Caitlin Clark breaks Pete Maravich&#8217;s NCAA all-time scoring record”
Yahoo! News does remind us that there are women’s and men’s sports before pivoting back to &#8220;all-time NCAA leader,&#8221; which is pretty typical of the dissonance so many journalists must force themselves to overcome when reporting such landmarks.
Yet, this is not a new phenomenon. 
Many years ago, during an <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/534149646#:~:text=GARCIA%2DNAVARRO%3A%20Yeah%2C%20best,MCENROE%3A%20Yeah." target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview on NPR</a>, John McEnroe stated Serena Williams was the greatest female tennis player in history. When the female interviewer suggested dropping gender from the equation, McEnroe refused:
<blockquote>GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, best tennis player in the world &#8211; you know, why say female player?
MCENROE: Well, because if she was &#8211; if she played the men&#8217;s circuit, she&#8217;d be, like, 700 in the world.</blockquote>
When CBS News anchor Nora O’Donnell subsequently asked McEnroe if he wanted to apologize for his remarks, he rightfully refused again. Facts are facts. 
Williams herself has backed McEnroe’s assessment, telling <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hzHBsvj6C0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Letterman</a>:
<blockquote>If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose, 6-0, 6-0, in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes … The men are a lot faster, they serve harder, they hit harder. … It&#8217;s a completely different game.</blockquote>
Ms. Williams, who has more grand slam wins (23) than either Roger Federer (20) or Rafael Nadal (22) — but one less than Novak Djokovic (24) —  clearly does not consider herself in the same league. She understands men’s tennis and women’s tennis are far from the same sport. As such, Serena Williams, along with Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Margaret Court, deserve their own places as the greatest women tennis players in history.
Ms. Clark’s accomplishments are truly remarkable, but truth and accuracy in journalism still matter. Weren’t we recently told by collegiate presidents themselves that context matters? I should think it applies to men’s versus women’s athletics most of all when making superlative claims based on numbers with no qualifiers added.
So look up to Caitlin Clark for her stunning play, yes. And congratulate her, as I do. If her drive and hard work are reflections of her character as a whole, as I suspect they are, she is a role model America’s kids, girls especially, should emulate. But let’s not try to make her into more than she is. Why? Because truth matters. This is a concept the media seem to have left behind in their relentless mission to create rather than report the narrative to achieve their social engineering goals. 
 
We know that Ms. Clark could not compete head-to-head with the man whose record she has beaten. We know this because there is not a woman who could genuinely compete, let alone be a force, in the NBA against the best players of the world on the same court. Otherwise, the NBA would be filled with women too. Instead, they have their own league.
So, unless Ms. Clark’s record was achieved against male players, her stats should not therefore be held up to those of Maravich. Such a qualifier would not relegate women’s athletics to second-tier status.
As the success of women’s tennis has shown, people will still appreciate and marvel at awesome playing in all forms from both sexes. Why can’t we just leave it at that?
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader, author, columnist, and musician whose eclectic body of writing can be found in the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, New York Daily News, Daily Wire, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, Zerohedge, and others. His latest book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Pits-Rough-Tumble-Exchange/dp/B0CKPNCMQW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FBF37276B680&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vcOViovcNlulLDwCgSAL69F_A30PW0Mtp0XkDLFpRDI.e73HGuCpMYaPK8os1N9Y87Bb_hElkxrUd2FszkudrUk&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=life+in+the+pits+Schaeffer+book&amp;qid=1705421538&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=life+in+the+pits+schaeffer+book%2Cstripbooks%2C100&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIFE IN THE PITS: My Time As A Trader On The Rough-And-Tumble Exchange Floors</a> is available on Amazon and soon Audible. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

When It Comes To Breaking Records, Context Matters

College

Opinion

College basketball player Caitlin Clark surpassed “Pistol Pete” Maravich on Sunday to break the NCAA&#8217;s all-time scoring record that has stood for more than half a century.
The history-making shots happened during a face-off between Clark&#8217;s No. 6 Iowa and No. 2 Ohio State during her team&#8217;s final regular home season game this season.
With a pair of free throws, the 22-year-old senior rose above the 3,667 point benchmark set by Maravich in 1970.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Caitlin Clark is now the All Time Leading Scorer in NCAA History. HER. <a href="https://t.co/VoJyk1erdk">pic.twitter.com/VoJyk1erdk</a>
&mdash; Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1764364701696180436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Loud cheers erupted in the arena when Clark made the second shot. The Iowa Hawkeyes went on to win the contest by a 93-83 score.
Clark, an Iowa native, is a guard for the Hawkeyes in her fourth season. Her accomplishment on Sunday was met with widespread praise, including from high-profile politicians from her home state.
&#8220;History is made! Congrats to all-time leading scorer [Caitlin Clark],&#8221; Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJoniErnst/status/1764376286288318846" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Senior Day Dub. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hawkeyes?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hawkeyes</a> <a href="https://t.co/9ktJueP52P">pic.twitter.com/9ktJueP52P</a>
&mdash; Iowa Women&#39;s Basketball (@IowaWBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/IowaWBB/status/1764382867130343683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Caitlin Clark cements herself as the gr8est college bball player EVER as she breaks the all time scoring record The pride of Iowa &amp; leader of a gr8 Hawkeye wbb TEAM,&#8221; Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said a <a href="https://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley/status/1764364844206104638" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> to X. &#8220;Congrats to Clark The GOAT.&#8221;
Though Clark has now surpassed Maravich, there have been some changes in college basketball since he played for LSU from the late 1960s to 1970.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
History. Witnessed.
Caitlin Clark is now the ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER in college basketball history, breaking Pete Maravich&#39;s 54-year old record❗️ <a href="https://t.co/88a3g8l5H0">pic.twitter.com/88a3g8l5H0</a>
&mdash; SB Nation (@SBNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/SBNation/status/1764364478613774406?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Maravich participated in college hoops at a time <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/iowas-caitlin-clark-passes-pete-maravich-scoring-record/story?id=107758001" target="_blank" rel="noopener">before freshman eligibility</a> for varsity teams. And though Maravich was known to be <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/history-nba-legend-pete-maravich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a long-range bomber</a>, he played while limited to two-point shots.
Sports Illustrated <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2020/04/02/ncaa-introduces-three-point-line-this-day-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the NCAA did not universally adopt the three-pointer until 1986. Maravich died from a heart attack in 1988 at the age of 40 following 10 years in the NBA, where he first got a chance to play with a three-point shot toward the end of his career, <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/history-nba-legend-pete-maravich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA.com noted</a>.
Last week, Clark broke the record for the most points scored in major women&#8217;s college basketball, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/29/sport/caitlin-clark-lynette-woodard-record-spt/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beating the 3,649 mark</a> set by Lynette Woodard when she played for Kansas from 1977 to 1981.
Clark, who also boasts <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/ncaab/caitlin-clark-iowa-womens-basketball-five-things-to-know/3357150/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NIL partnerships and three gold medals</a>, <a href="https://theathletic.com/5308822/2024/02/29/caitlin-clark-wnba-draft-announcement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Thursday that she will be entering the WNBA Draft.
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🖤 <a href="https://t.co/9bd3w390Ka">pic.twitter.com/9bd3w390Ka</a>
&mdash; Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) <a href="https://twitter.com/CaitlinClark22/status/1763313652277412179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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In the meantime, the Hawkeyes are gearing up for another March Madness tournament after being <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/live-updates/basketball-women/d1/live-updates-no-2-iowa-vs-no-3-lsu-national-championship-game" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeated</a> by LSU in the championship game in last year&#8217;s contest.

Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark Breaks NCAA Scoring Record Set By ‘Pistol Pete’ Maravich

Caitlin Clark Breaks NCAA Scoring Record Set By 'Pistol Pete' Maravich

The College Football Playoff (CFP) Board of Managers announced on Tuesday that the College Football Playoff would expand from four teams to 12 teams starting this upcoming season.
The new 12-team format will now include the five highest-ranked conference champions which guarantees that at least one team outside of the Big 12, ACC, Big Ten, and SEC will make it to the playoff.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee will then pick the next seven highest-ranked teams for the remaining at-large spots.
&#8220;This is a very logical adjustment for the College Football Playoff based on the evolution of our conference structures since the board first adopted this new format in September 2022,&#8221; <a href="https://collegefootballplayoff.com/news/2024/2/20/5-7-format-confirmed.aspx">said</a> Dr. Mark Keenum, president of Mississippi State University and Chair of the CFP Board of Managers. &#8220;I know this change will also be well received by student-athletes, coaches and fans. We all will be pleased to see this new format come to life on the field this postseason.&#8221;
The original playoff called for including the six highest-ranked conference champions but the College Football Playoff (CFP) Board of Managers revised the number down to five, likely due to the Pac-12 Conference dissolving.
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&#8220;Under the 12-team playoff format that begins this fall, the four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and each will receive a first-round bye, while teams seeded five through 12 will play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team,&#8221; the College Football Playoff said in a statement. &#8220;The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in the New Year&#8217;s Six bowl games, the national championship game will continue to be at a neutral site. No conference will qualify automatically and there will be no limit on the number of participants from a conference.&#8221;

2024 CFP National Championship – Michigan v Washington

College Football Playoff Expands To Include More Teams

College Football

General

Playoffs

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sued the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ncaa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NCAA</a> on Wednesday, accusing the organization of antitrust violations related to its name, image, and likeness (NIL) policies.
According to the <a href="https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2024/pr24-10-NCAA.Antitrust.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a>, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee on Wednesday, the NCAA has been “artificially depressing” the amount of compensation prospective student-athletes can earn through NIL deals and their ability to negotiate those deals.
“This is all about protecting student athletes and prospective student athletes in making sure that they have market sources available to properly value their name, image, and likeness rights [because] the NCAA has a structure that artificially restricts the market in a way that hurts the student athletes,” Skrmetti told The Daily Wire.
“Student athletes are the heart of college sports and everybody else in college sports is getting rich, and the student athletes are getting left behind because of the lack of competition for their name, image, and likeness rights. That’s illegal and it’s not fair. It’s not right,” he added.
The lawsuit is aimed at rules from the NCAA that limit the ability of prospective student athletes to negotiate NIL rights. According to the suit, these rules harm athletes “at a critical juncture in the recruiting calendar.”
The lawsuit says that the rule “bans prospective college athletes (including current college athletes looking to transfer to another school who are in the ‘transfer portal’) from discussing potential NIL opportunities before they actually enroll. It’s like a coach looking for a new job, and freely talking to many different schools, but being unable to negotiate salary until after he’s picked one (the depressive effect on coaches’ wages in such a dysfunctional market is obvious).”
The NCAA has said the rules act as necessary protections for student athletes after they were first allowed to pursue such deals in 2021.
Skrmetti said that the issue came to his attention last year after there was concern that the NCAA might institute a postseason ban for the University of Tennessee football team after recruiting violations that occurred under a former coach. He said the bowl ban would have harmed the NIL rights of the students who were not connected to the infractions.
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“Student-athletes generate massive revenues for the NCAA, its members, and corporations within the college sports industry, especially in football and basketball,” Miyares <a href="https://www.oag.state.va.us/media-center/news-releases/2680-january-31-2024-attorney-general-miyares-sues-ncaa-over-nil-restrictions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement. “Student athletes should have more freedom over negotiating and earning money for their skills and ability. Colleges and universities benefit dramatically from the success of their student athletes &#8212; it’s only fair that student athletes also get the full picture of how they may benefit from their choice of school as well.”
Skrmetti said that the suit wasn’t directed to protect any specific institution, but was about the rights of student athletes and the principle that “concentrated power causes harm.”
“I’m not for, necessarily, the Wild West of unregulated college sports, but what we have now is such an inconsistent and arbitrary and unfair system, there has to be some deep change to make sure that it both comports with the law and is doing right by student athletes,” he said.

2018 NCAA Division III Football Championship

Tennessee, Virginia Attorneys General File Antitrust Lawsuit Against NCAA

Antitrust

Courts

Jason Miyares

Tennessee

Virginia

During testimony before Congress on Tuesday, top NCAA swimmer-turned-advocate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-sparks-fly-between-riley-gaines-and-dem-rep-during-hearing-on-biden-proposal-to-rewrite-title-ix" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Riley Gaines</a> responded to the suggestion of another witness that athletes like Gaines learn to &#8220;lose gracefully.&#8221;
Last year, Gaines competed in the women’s 200 freestyle at the NCAA Division I Women’s Championships and placed fifth, tying with trans-identifying swimmer Lia Thomas, who previously competed on men&#8217;s teams. Thomas was given the only fifth place trophy for the photo-op after the event, while Gaines was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-left-there-with-no-trophy-ncaa-female-swimmer-who-tied-for-fifth-with-trans-athlete-says-officials-put-lia-thomas-ahead-of-her" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> by the NCAA that her trophy would come in the mail.
&#8220;Just for the record, I have lost gracefully many times in my career. Even speaking to the incident of Thomas and I, at the national championships, we tied for fifth — granted, fifth in the entire nation, so it&#8217;s still an incredible achievement,&#8221; Gaines told Congress. &#8220;But there were four women who beat me. I&#8217;m incredibly proud of those women who beat me. So, I certainly can and have lost gracefully many times in my career.&#8221;
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“When I think of great Kentucky athletes, our witness, <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Riley_Gaines_</a>, is the first name that pops out.” <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJamesComer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepJamesComer</a> DESTROYS Democrat witness who suggests talented, hardworking women like Riley should “lose gracefully” to biological men. <a href="https://t.co/fOBe5xyUNx">pic.twitter.com/fOBe5xyUNx</a>
&mdash; Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPoversight/status/1732155341704409388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Gaines was joined by three other female witnesses to discuss the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration’s</a> proposed changes to Title IX, which would effectively broaden the definition of sex to include “gender identity.”
The <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/fact-sheet-us-department-educations-proposed-change-its-title-ix-regulations-students-eligibility-athletic-teams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed changes</a> would rewrite Title IX in such a way that policies banning biological males who identify as trans from competing with or against females would now be in violation of law. Issuing such sex distinctions to protect girls sports, therefore, could strip a school of its funding. The rule would be applied to public K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions that receive federal funding.
Earlier in the hearing, a supporter of the Biden Title IX rewrite named Fatima Goss Graves, the president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, suggested sex-separated sports actually harm girls and women, especially non-white athletes. In her opening statement she also emphasized how sports should teach athletes how to &#8220;learn to lose gracefully.&#8221;
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), when speaking to Gaines, blasted Goss Graves for the remarks. &#8220;I know we had a witness on the panel who suggested you should have just &#8216;lost gracefully,'&#8221; the Republican said. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s a slap in the face to any athlete who works so hard.&#8221;
As highlighted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-sparks-fly-between-riley-gaines-and-dem-rep-during-hearing-on-biden-proposal-to-rewrite-title-ix" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a>, Goss Graves during the same hearing downplayed concerns over biological males in women&#8217;s spaces, such as locker rooms.
“I actually think this is really, really important,” Graves said, responding to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “The issue of privacy in locker rooms and in bathrooms – there’s a wide range of ways to address this. … You could put up a curtain, you could put up a door, you could have rotations.”
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At today’s hearing on protecting Title IX, the Democrat witness defended men beating down women by competing against them in women’s sports.
But even Fatima Goss Graves’ hero, tennis star Serena Williams, admitted she would be beat in straight sets if she was forced to play… <a href="https://t.co/3rqgMNBADK">pic.twitter.com/3rqgMNBADK</a>
&mdash; Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1732175664952807823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-sparks-fly-between-riley-gaines-and-dem-rep-during-hearing-on-biden-proposal-to-rewrite-title-ix" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Sparks Fly Between Riley Gaines And Dem Rep During Hearing On Biden Proposal To Rewrite Title IX</a>

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