Basketball

[O Really]

Caitlin puts up 21 in her first pro game. Sure, it's pre-season, but still.

[GoCubsGo]

Caitlin puts up 21 in her first pro game. Sure, it's pre-season, but still.

[Vrede too]

Caitlin puts up 21 in her first pro game. Sure, it's pre-season, but still.

https://y.yarn.co/a7e9a042-ba48-4075-b3 ... a_text.gif

https://twitter.com/redapples/status/17 ... 3629759780

Five 3-point shots and 21 points was tied for the game-high tally

... “There will never be another @CaitlinClark22 & there will never be another 22,” the Iowa women’s basketball team tweeted on April 10. “The #Hawkeyes will retire Clark’s No. 22.”

ICYMI:

No one was airing Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso's WNBA preseason debuts, so an X user livestreamed it

The WNBA rookie class of 2024 is entering the league with unprecedented interest and Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese are two of its biggest names. So you would imagine people want to watch their preseason debuts with the Chicago Sky.

Unfortunately, those fans couldn't on Friday. That was despite the WNBA League Pass app saying otherwise, as it listed every preseason game as available for streaming. The truth was that fans could only watch Caitlin Clark's debut with the Indiana Fever on Friday, but not the Sky's game against the Minnesota Lynx.

The WNBA posted an apology clarifying the situation, but that was little help for fans of Cardoso, Reese or the Sky. The more helpful party turned out to be an X user with the handle @heyheyitsalli, who attended the game in Minnesota.

Minutes before tip-off, she posted a query on whether fans would be interested in her livestreaming the game from her phone.



The answer turned out to be an emphatic "yes."

As @heyheyitsalli streamed the game over the next two hours, her stream peaked at 173,381 viewers and has since hit more than 400,000 views through replay. It was grainier than professional broadcasts and shot in vertical mode for an hour, but it was clearly better than nothing.

Nearly the entire game. I've never seen a 2-hour tweet before:


529.4K views!!!

... The WNBA is basically in a situation where interest is surpassing its capacity to capitalize on it, and the only real answer is increased investment from the league's stakeholders. That has been a recurring conversation in the league for years, but there are fewer excuses as the 2024 class brings the viewers the league has been waiting for.

[Vrede too]

GO Knicks > Pacers
NY leads series 1-0

[Vrede too]

Caitlin puts up 21 in her first pro game. Sure, it's pre-season, but still.

https://y.yarn.co/a7e9a042-ba48-4075-b3 ... a_text.gif

https://twitter.com/redapples/status/17 ... 3629759780

Regular season opener tonight, first opener sellout for Connecticut in two decades. Clark jersey is the top seller for a rookie in any sport.

[GoCubsGo]

Regular season opener tonight, first opener sellout for Connecticut in two decades. Clark jersey is the top seller for a rookie in any sport.

Do you know if it's being broadcast?

Edit: ESPN2.

[Vrede too]

Regular season opener tonight, first opener sellout for Connecticut in two decades. Clark jersey is the top seller for a rookie in any sport.

Do you know if it's being broadcast?

Edit: ESPN2.

Thanks.

Indiana Fever at Connecticut Sun
Live 7:30 PM EDT

[Vrede too]

Fever got stomped, but Caitlin scored a game-leading (tie) 20. Not bad for a debut.
https://www.espn.com/wnba/boxscore/_/gameId/401620219

[Vrede too]

WNBA Refs Accused Of 'Rigging' Game Against Caitlin Clark



Where's billy.pilgrim when we need him?

[Vrede too]

Caitlin Clark's Debut Drew Largest TV Audience for WNBA Game in 23 Years

... Even though it wasn't broadcast on ESPN's main channel—it was aired on ESPN2—the Fever-Sun clash brought in 2.13 million television viewers.

That is the WNBA's highest single-game ratings since the Los Angeles Sparks and Houston Comets matched up on NBC in 2001. That game brought in 2.44 million viewers. This means, though, that the Fever–Sun game brought in the biggest audience for a WNBA cable game in history.

Clark's teams have been breaking ratings numbers for months now. Iowa's Final Four game vs. UConn in April was the most-watched NCAA women's basketball game ever with 14.2 million viewers. That matchup beat out the Hawkeyes' Elite Eight game vs. LSU, which had just reset the record with 12.3 million viewers the week prior....

Clark and the Fever might continue to break viewership records as 36 of the team's 40 regular season games this season will be broadcast on national television.

[Vrede too]

Caitlin Clark scores 9 points in home debut as Fever lose

Guard Caitlin Clark took to the newly designed floor for the Indiana Fever on Thursday along with three other WNBA No. 1 draft picks, two past MVPs and the player she watched closely throughout high school. In the Fever's home opener, a sellout crowd of 17,274 showed up for Clark's official introduction to Indianapolis fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

But the New York Liberty, one of two franchises dubbed superteams last season (along with Las Vegas), did their part to spoil the party, beating the Fever 102-66.

"We've got to get to a level of toughness," Indiana coach Christie Sides said. "When things are going south on us, we're not stopping the bleeding."

Clark finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, going 2-of-8 from the field. After 10 turnovers in Indiana's season-opening loss at Connecticut on Tuesday, Clark had three against the Liberty.

Thursday was the first time since January 2021 in her freshman season at Iowa that Clark -- the all-time Division I scoring leader -- was held to single digits. She had eight points against Northwestern then, but she's now facing the best players in the world.

Ouch.

Clark, who had 20 points against the Sun, said the good thing about the WNBA's busy schedule is that there's no time to sulk. The Fever next travel to New York to face the Liberty again Saturday.

Ut-oh.

There has been tremendous excitement around the Fever because of Clark. But this is still a franchise that hasn't made the WNBA playoffs since 2016 and starts players who are in their third, second and first years in the league -- NaLyssa Smith, Aliyah Boston, and Clark -- along with Katie Lou Samuelson, who is on her fifth team in five years in the WNBA.

All four players were lottery picks, while the most experienced Fever starter is Erica Wheeler. She was undrafted out of Rutgers in 2013 but made her way to the league. The Fever are in the earliest stages of finding themselves, while the Liberty return all five of their starters from last year's WNBA Finals team that fell to the Aces.

Like Boston and Clark, the Liberty also have two past No. 1 picks: Forward Breanna Stewart (2016) and guard Sabrina Ionescu (2020). Stewart and Jonquel Jones are former MVPs, and Thursday they combined for 45 points, 20 rebounds and 8 assists.

Ionescu had an NCAA-record 26 triple-doubles at Oregon, and Clark said her family bought a subscription to the Pac-12 Network while she was in high school so she could watch her....

Let's hope they build rather than create a dead end.

Las Vegas Aces sell out a WNBA-record 15 of 20 home games

The Las Vegas Aces, who are chasing a third consecutive championship, continue to be a hot ticket by selling out 15 of their 20 home games, the most in WNBA history.

Las Vegas in March became the first team to sell out its allotment of season tickets....

The WNBA has arrived.