Nick Wright Destroys Geno Auriemma Over Ice Cold Caitlin Clark Take
UConn Huskies legendary basketball coach Geno Auriemma turned the women's basketball community on its head earlier this summer when he harshly criticized the Indiana Fever and its superstar rookie Caitlin Clark on a June 6 episode of "The Dan Patrick Show".
Among what the 11-time NCAA National Championship-winning coach said was, "The delusional fanbase that follows [Clark] disrespected the WNBA players by saying she's going to go in that league and tear it apart. The kid was set up for failure right from the beginning."
He also criticized Clark's physical prowess by saying, "Diana Taurasi is right. [Clark] is on the wrong team. She has the wrong skill set to handle the physicality of that league. And she's a rookie."
"[Clark is] just not built for the physicality of this league," he added. "And she's not quick enough to get away from the physicality."
"The delusional fanbase that follows her disrespected the #WNBA players by saying she's going to go in that league and tear it a part... The kid was set up for failure right from the beginning."
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) June 6, 2024
-Geno Auriemma talks Caitlin Clark pic.twitter.com/HkBwKuVS4E
Auriemma has been proven dead wrong. The Fever have been one of the WNBA's best teams over the past month and Clark is firmly in the WNBA MVP conversation for orchestrating Indiana's success.
While social media users have already called Auriemma out for his ice-cold takes, no prominent member of sports media had done the same until Fox Sports' Nick Wright blasted the legendary coach for his Clark comments during Thursday's episode of "The Herd With Colin Cowherd".
"What does bother me is some of the people I deeply respect," Wright said, per X user @CClarkReport. Their basketball credentials, their basketball history, their commitment to basketball and women's basketball, I think have really not covered themselves in glory with some of this commentary [about Clark]."
Wright went on to name Auriemma specifically before reading his harsh comments about Clark's physicality during the aforementioned "The Dan Patrick Show" episode.
Wright then continued by saying, “Geno just say you’re a UConn guy. And you thought this was gonna be Paige [Bueckers] and instead, it’s Caitlin.”
“Geno just say you’re a UCONN guy, and you thought this was gonna be Paige and instead it’s Caitlin”
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) September 5, 2024
Nick Wright goes off on Geno Auriemma’s horribly aged Caitlin Clark take pic.twitter.com/4dZngY0tmR
While UConn standout Paige Bueckers probably didn't deserve that stray shot, it's refreshing to hear a member of sports media holding Auriemma accountable for what may be one of the world takes he has ever had.
GRANT YOUNG
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.