When Michelle Obama mentioned, “Once they go low, we go excessive,” she wasn’t speaking about Kim Mulkey. Class and decorum have by no means been her factor. On Sunday, No. 1 South Carolina remained undefeated and received its eighth SEC event title after defeating LSU, 79-72. It was a rematch of their January showdown in Baton Rouge, during which South Carolina pulled out a troublesome highway win in enemy territory, 76-70.
They’re the 2 greatest groups within the SEC. They’re the final two groups to win nationwide championships. They don’t like one another. And their coaches are polar opposites. So when a battle befell within the recreation on Sunday, we already knew the responses from the ladies who lead these applications have been destined to be dissimilar.
“I simply need to apologize to the basketball neighborhood,” Staley mentioned to ESPN through the post-game interview. “I need to apologize for us taking part in an element in that, that’s not who we’re. That’s not what we’re about.”
Moments after a battle that featured a male fan hopping over a railing and the scorer’s desk to probably get entangled, which led to a number of ejections and solely 11 mixed gamers from each groups being eligible to take part within the remaining minutes, Staley dealt with the scenario like a professional. She took full duty for her group’s actions, added context and nuance, did her greatest to guard ladies’s school basketball, and apologized to all who have been concerned on the opposite aspect, in addition to informing us that apologies have been made to her from the LSU aspect.
“We’ll get higher (at) dealing with conditions like this. So, I need to apologize for our South Carolina ladies’s basketball group,” Staley mentioned on the microphone to the gang through the trophy presentation. “LSU is a superb group. They’re our defending nationwide champions. And I received’t be shocked if we’re in a position, each of us, to characterize in Cleveland for the nationwide championship recreation. I welcome that.”
Unsurprisingly, and as anticipated, it was a special story with Mulkey.
“It’s ugly, it’s not good, nobody desires to be part of that,” she mentioned after the sport. “However I’ll inform you this, I want [Cardoso] would’ve pushed Angel Reese. In the event you’re 6-8, don’t push anyone that little. That was uncalled for in my view. Let these two women who have been jawing, allow them to go at it.”
As a substitute of calming issues down, a white lady poured gasoline on a scenario that concerned a battle between Black ladies. Mulkey’s privilege one way or the other discovered a method to shine brighter than a type of cheesy outfits she wears on the sidelines. She was so dangerous on Sunday that she frolicked within the postgame press convention informing us that she didn’t know the principles, as she was questioning about potential punishments for the coaches.
“However my query is: I don’t actually know the principles, why weren’t the coaches tossed in the event that they left the bench? Wouldn’t that be a hell of an ending. However I suppose it’s simply the gamers that depart the bench space. I don’t know.”
If you realize something about Mulkey or ladies’s school basketball, you’re conscious she has a historical past of claiming dumb issues out loud. And so they aren’t simply errors within the second, that is simply who she is. From not supporting Brittney Griner and allegedly telling her gamers to not be open publicly about their sexuality, there’s an enormous pile of receipts on the subject of Mulkey. This is similar lady who defended Baylor, wished the NCAA to get rid of COVID-19 testing, and all however pleaded to be invited to the White Home to see a president who had made it clear that he wasn’t keen on inviting ladies’s championships groups to the Oval Workplace.
Who did what to who on Sunday isn’t practically as vital as who mentioned what, and the way they mentioned it after the sport. When school children battle, we glance to the adults to be the leaders within the room. Daybreak Staley offered herself as an elder stateswoman of the game. Kim Mulkey behaved like a clown. Buckle up, the NCAA Match goes to be wildly entertaining. Completely satisfied Ladies’s Historical past Month!
