Lisa Bluder, Caitlin Clark’s former coach at Iowa, believes she has a solution for the WNBA when it comes to targeting their top star.
And people won’t like it.
Bluder, who led Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes to two separate Final Four appearances and was named College Coach of the Year in 2019, doesn’t believe players are intentionally targeting Clark.
She does think they’re giving her their best shot night after night and that maybe the scouting report is to get physical with the Indiana Fever second-year guard.
“It’s a part of the WNBA. It’s a part of the rules right now, and if we want that to change, I think we have to change the way the game is called,” Bluder told TMZ Sports.
Can The WNBA Stop This Before Caitlin Clark Gets Seriously Injured?
Bluder’s comments come following a fracas that took place between Caitlin Clark and Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey earlier this week.
Sun guard Jacy Sheldon poked Clark in the eye while defending her, and Clark responded with her own little bump. Mabrey escalated the tensions by blindsiding Clark and shoving her violently to the floor.
After the game, crew chief Ashley Gloss told reporters, according to the New York Post, that Mabrey’s actions did not rise to the level of an ejection. She wasn’t even hit with a flagrant foul call on the court.
And herein lies the problem in Bluder’s eyes. Players need to be held accountable for their actions on the floor.
“I think there needs to be more freedom of movement in our game,” Bluder said, according to TMZ. “Which means, yes, calling more fouls, which people don’t like, but people will adjust. The players will adjust.”
RELATED: Dave Portnoy Goes Scorched Earth on WNBA Player After She Drops ‘Face of the League’ Caitlin Clark
They Blew an Opportunity to Send a Message
Holding players accountable certainly did not happen in this case. How do you not give a flagrant foul and/or suspension when a player takes a cheap shot on the face of the league during a dead ball?
The W failed to protect their best player here by making an example out of Mabrey.
The league later announced that the Sun player’s foul had been upgraded to a flagrant 2, resulting in a slap on the wrist fine.
“If we start calling more fouls and emphasize the rules, the players will adjust, ’cause they want to be on the floor,” Bluder added.
Right now, players in the league know they can hammer Caitlin Clark – as evidenced by the number of rough fouls against her last season and already beginning this season – with little to no repercussions.
