When Michelle Obama stated, “When they go low, we go high,” 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 gained its eighth SEC event title after defeating LSU, 79-72. It was a rematch of their January showdown in Baton Rouge, through which South Carolina pulled out a troublesome street win in enemy territory, 76-70.
They’re the 2 finest 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 struggle occurred within the sport on Sunday, we already knew the responses from the ladies who lead these applications have been destined to be dissimilar.
“I just want to apologize to the basketball community,” Staley stated to ESPN in the course of the post-game interview. “I want to apologize for us playing a part in that, that’s not who we are. That’s not what we’re about.”
Moments after a struggle that featured a male fan hopping over a railing and the scorer’s desk to probably become involved, which led to a number of ejections and solely 11 mixed gamers from each groups being eligible to take part within the closing minutes, Staley dealt with the state of affairs like a professional. She took full accountability for her staff’s actions, added context and nuance, did her finest to guard girls’s faculty basketball, and apologized to all who have been concerned on the opposite facet, in addition to informing us that apologies have been made to her from the LSU facet.
“We will get better (at) handling situations like this. So, I want to apologize for our South Carolina women’s basketball team,” Staley stated on the microphone to the gang in the course of the trophy presentation. “LSU is a great team. They are our defending national champions. And I won’t be surprised if we’re able, both of us, to represent in Cleveland for the national championship game. I welcome that.”
Unsurprisingly, and as anticipated, it was a distinct story with Mulkey.
“It’s ugly, it’s not good, no one wants to be a part of that,” she stated after the sport. “But I’ll tell you this, I wish [Cardoso] would’ve pushed Angel Reese. If you’re 6-8, don’t push somebody that little. That was uncalled for in my opinion. Let those two girls who were jawing, let them go at it.”
Instead of calming issues down, a white girl poured gasoline on a state of affairs that concerned a struggle between Black girls. Mulkey’s privilege by some means discovered a solution to shine brighter than a kind 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 foundations, as she was questioning about potential punishments for the coaches.
“But my question is: I don’t really know the rules, why weren’t the coaches tossed if they left the bench? Wouldn’t that be a hell of an ending. But I guess it’s just the players that leave the bench area. I don’t know.”
If you recognize something about Mulkey or girls’s faculty basketball, you’re conscious she has a historical past of claiming dumb issues out loud. And 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 in the case of Mulkey. This is similar girl who defended Baylor, needed the NCAA to put off COVID-19 testing, and all however pleaded to be invited to the White House to see a president who had made it clear that he wasn’t keen on inviting girls’s championships groups to the Oval Office.
Who did what to who on Sunday isn’t almost as essential as who stated what, and the way they stated it after the sport. When faculty youngsters struggle, we glance to the adults to be the leaders within the room. Dawn Staley introduced herself as an elder stateswoman of the game. Kim Mulkey behaved like a clown. Buckle up, the NCAA Tournament goes to be wildly entertaining. Happy Women’s History Month!