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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="13524754" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jeff-walz" source="Orion">Jeff Walz</keyword> slammed the hosts of an ESPN debate show for underestimating his <keyword id="13468972" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="louisville-cardinals" source="Orion">Louisville Cardinals</keyword>.</li><li>The 15-year head coach said the "PTI" hosts were "blatant about" counting out his top-seeded team.</li></ul><p>MINNEAPOLIS — Jeff Walz isn't going to shy away from the obvious: His Louisville Cardinals are "the underdog" heading into the <keyword id="13392004" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="final-four" source="Orion">Final Four</keyword>.</p><p>But that doesn't mean everyone — media, fans, opponents — should count out the No. 1 seed before Friday night's game even tips off.</p><p>"At least let's roll the balls out, and let's see what happens," Walz said during Thursday's press conference. "And [what skeptics say] might end up being true, but I'd give us a fighting shot at it."</p><div type="image" title="Louisville head coach Jeff Walz instructs Hailey Van Lith." height="1590" width="2500" msid="90597364" hostid="261"></div><p>The 15-year head coach of the up-and-coming Louisville program — which has punched its ticket to four Final Fours since 2009 — lamented the overarching narrative that his Cardinals have no shot against the mighty South Carolina Gamecocks in their national semifinal matchup.</p><p>Specifically, he called out Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon — the co-hosts of ESPN debate show "Pardon The Interruption" — for "talking about the UConn and Stanford matchup and [how] the winner of that game is going to play South Carolina."</p><p>They didn't even acknowledge that it could be Louisville advancing to Sunday's national championship game.</p><div type="image" title="Jeff Walz." height="1666" width="2500" msid="90597365" hostid="261"></div><p>"I don't know if they know there's four teams in the Final Four," Walz said in jest. "I don't know if they've seen a women's basketball tournament or not, but we actually have four.</p><p>"When you do hear things like that and it's blatant about it, yeah, I would say we're the underdog," he added.</p><p>Walz and his Cardinals team have spoken out about not being included in national media narratives surrounding <keyword id="12055086" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="womens-college-basketball" source="Orion">women's college basketball</keyword> before. Louisville superstar <a href="https://www.insider.com/hailey-van-lith-disses-barack-obama-jimmy-fallon-doubting-team-2022-3">Hailey Van Lith went so far</a> as to say, "We don't need Barack Obama's bracket [and] we don't need Jimmy Fallon," when neither of the two celebrities picked her team to advance to the Final Four.</p><div type="image" title="Hailey Van Lith." height="1406" width="2500" msid="90597366" hostid="261"></div><p>"The media isn't including us, this and that, blah blah blah, we're not being talked about as much," Van Lith added on Thursday. "We cannot control that. That is not our fault. If they want to sleep, let them sleep. We'll come in and do us, and we're going to do us to the best of our ability."</p><p>Louisville teams have relished the role of spoiler in years past. Walz referenced the 2013 <keyword id="13357676" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ncaa-tournament" source="Orion">NCAA Tournament</keyword> — when the fifth-seeded Cardinals upset Brittney Griner and the top-seeded Baylor Bears in the Sweet 16.</p><p>Louisville went on to face UConn in the national championship game that year.</p><div type="image" title="Louisville players surround Baylor's Brittney Griner during the Cardinals 2013 NCAA tournament upset." height="1778" width="2500" msid="90597367" hostid="261"></div><p>"When someone comes out and they just flat-out say the winner of the UConn-Stanford game is going to play South Carolina, yeah, that's — I'm sure they thought that the winner of that Tennessee-Oklahoma game was going to play Baylor in '13, too," Walz said Thursday. "But unfortunately that's not what took place."</p><p>Louisville will face Dawn Staley's two-loss Gamecocks in the first of two Final Four matchups in Minneapolis Friday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. And while Van Lith acknowledged that South Carolina is "a really great team" that poses a tough challenge for her squad, she's confident that playing the David to the Gamecocks' Goliath is "nothing that we're not capable of."</p><p>"We're going to focus on us, and we're going to do what we need to do to compete," she said. "We're playing together as one. We're doing this for each other. We're not doing this for the media's attention, we're doing it because we want to win for the 14 girls on this roster and the coaches that have worked so hard all year."</p><div type="image" title="Hailey Van Lith." height="1667" width="2500" msid="90597368" hostid="261"></div><p>And when it comes to those ESPN guys?</p><p>"Yeah, we're not letting that get to our head," Van Lith said. "We're focused on us."</p>

Louisville's coach blasted the hosts of an ESPN debate show for overlooking his team in the Final Four

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hailey Van Lith led Louisville past the Texas Longhorns and into the Sweet 16 of <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/march-madness-2023">March Madness</a>.</li><li>After the game, Texas' Sonya Morris appeared to smack-talk Van Lith in the handshake line.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/hailey-van-lith-disses-barack-obama-jimmy-fallon-doubting-team-2022-3">Hailey Van Lith</a> has "no hard feelings" after an opposing player smack-talked her during postgame handshakes.</p><p>The junior guard scored a game-high 21 points to lead the No. 5 Louisville Cardinals to a 73-51 win over the fourth-seeded Texas Longhorns and a sixth-straight Sweet 16 appearance. After the final buzzer sounded, Van Lith joined her teammates in the handshake line and quickly found herself exchanging words with Texas guard Sonya Morris.</p><p>As the 5-foot-10 graduate student came face-to-face with Van Lith, she grabbed her hand and appeared to say "honorable mention." Just a week before Monday's game, the Louisville star <a href="https://twitter.com/Tyler_Greever/status/1636071059853115392">appeared disappointed</a> to learn that she had narrowly missed all three All-America teams but <a href="https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/35864940/aliyah-boston-caitlin-clark-headline-women-ap-all-america-team">earned honorable mention status</a> as one of the players receiving votes from the committee.</p><p>But after tempers cooled and Van Lith celebrated the victory with her team — including <a href="https://www.insider.com/louisville-coach-blasts-pti-hosts-cardinals-final-four-snub-2022-4">head coach Jeff Walz</a>, who appears entirely unperturbed in the clip above — she headed to the Cardinals' postgame press conference with a level head. Unsurprisingly, she fielded a question about her on-air spat, and she offered a mature response so as not "to dim down the fact that we played really, really well."</p><p>"I have all the respect in the world for Texas, no hard feelings," Van Lith said. "You know, sports can get chippy and the moment you play in the heat — at the end of the day I'm going to let it go. No hard feelings."</p><p>"I assume that they will do the same, and yeah, I'm just proud of our win," she added. "I don't want to focus on what happened at the end."</p><p>When <a href="https://twitter.com/Alexis_Cubit/status/1637996496330080256">The Courier-Journal's Alexis Cubit</a> asked more privately what was said on the handshake line, Van Lith offered a bit more detail about the "frustration going on" that may have led to the seemingly hostile interaction.</p><p>"I'm not gonna let no one disrespect me, but my teammates got my back," she said. "And I don't have nothing bad to say. They're coached great. They have great players. So it is what it is.</p><p>"People are sad when they lose," Van Lith added. "I'd be sad, too."</p><p>But she has nothing to be sad about now. Van Lith and Louisville are headed to Seattle for a Sweet 16 matchup against the No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels.</p><div type="image" title="Hailey Van Lith celebrates a play against the Texas Longhorns in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament." height="1666" width="2222" msid="98874713" hostid="261" sizebytes="306258"></div><p>With a win back in her home state on Friday, the 5-foot-7 Wenatchee, Washington, native would advance to the third Elite Eight of her college career. The Cardinals would have a shot at punching their ticket to a second-consecutive Final Four.</p><p>"It means a lot," Van Lith said. "I haven't been to see my family in a while. A lot of my grandparents have suffered from some illnesses lately, so they haven't been able to travel and watch me play. Just getting to play in front of those people in my hometown going to be really special for me, and it's really important for my parents, too, getting to bring me back home.</p><p>"It was the perfect situation and we executed beautifully, and we got there," she added. "Like I've been saying this whole tournament, we just need the opportunity, and we got one for next game. So we are going to take advantage of it."</p>

Louisville's Hailey Van Lith has 'no hard feelings' after an opponent trash-talked her during postgame handshakes: 'I'd be sad, too'

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="13391712" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="hailey-van-lith" source="Orion">Hailey Van Lith</keyword> is marching through the 2022 <keyword id="13357676" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ncaa-tournament" source="Orion">NCAA Tournament</keyword> with a chip on her shoulder.</li><li>The <keyword id="13468972" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="louisville-cardinals" source="Orion">Louisville Cardinals</keyword> star is irked that people slept on her squad while making their brackets.</li></ul><p>Hailey Van Lith isn't letting anyone off the hook for underestimating her Louisville Cardinals.</p><p>Not even Barack Obama or Jimmy Fallon.</p><p>The superstar sophomore point guard for Jeff Walz's top-seeded team dissed everyone who didn't show faith in the Cardinals while filling out their 2022 women's March Madness brackets. And that included the former president of the United States and the host of "The Tonight Show."</p><div type="image" title="Hailey Van Lith." height="1667" width="2500" msid="90450490" hostid="261"></div><p>"We don't need the people picking the <keyword id="13357677" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bracket" source="Orion">bracket</keyword>s," Van Lith declared during a press conference ahead of her team's Sweet 16 game against Tennessee on Saturday. "We don't need Barack Obama's bracket. We don't need Jimmy Fallon. We don't need [any] of that.</p><p>"We're still here," she added. "That is what it is. We're going to keep playing Louisville basketball and do us. If you match up with us, you better be ready to play. That's all I'm going to say because we're coming to win."</p><p>The first-team All-ACC guard and her squad — which has ranked in the Top 5 since late December 2021 — went on a tear through the first weekend of this year's NCAA Tournament. Louisville notched a 32-point victory against the Albany Great Danes in the opening round before readily taking down the No. 9 Gonzaga Bulldogs two days later.</p><div type="image" title="Louisville head coach Jeff Walz instructs Hailey Van Lith." height="1590" width="2500" msid="90450492" hostid="261"></div><p>Van Lith herself finished with 20 and 21 points, respectively, and averaged 50.0% shooting from the floor and from beyond the arc.</p><p>"She's obviously really confident shooting the basketball," Walz said of his point guard. "She's scoring from all three phases. She's shooting the three well, the pull-up, she gets to the rim, then she's able to step up and knock free throws down."</p><p>But Van Lith is hardly concerned with her individual accolades. When a member of the media asked what drew her — a native of Washington state — to join the Cardinals halfway across the country, she offered a "simple" answer: "I came here because I wanted to win."</p><div type="image" title="Louisville's Hailey Van Lith handles the ball." height="1667" width="2500" msid="90450494" hostid="261"></div><p>"I think everyone else did, too," Van Lith added, referring to her teammates. "That's why we win when we come here, because everybody wants to win."</p><p>Louisville will look to continue its winning ways against a young but talented Volunteers team on Saturday. Should the Cardinals advance, the winner of Michigan-South Dakota State awaits them in the Elite Eight.</p><p>But no matter what time is in front of them, Van Lith and the rest of the stacked Louisville squad have their eyes locked on the prize. So forgive her for starting to "get mad" that people are sleeping on the Cardinals — or don't. She doesn't care.</p><div type="image" title="Hailey Van Lith." height="1406" width="2500" msid="90450496" hostid="261"></div><p>"We're kind of like the Bad <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">News</keyword> Bears; we upset everyone's bracket, we piss people off that we're good," Van Lith said. "Everyone gets mad when we beat teams. You learn to love that about it. It's unfortunate that it has to be that way.</p><p>"I mean, we got our fans back home, and that's all we care about," she added. "We are going to ride or die for them, they're going to ride or die for us. That is all we need."</p><p>Check out her full answer from the pre-Sweet 16 press conference below:</p>

A Sweet 16 superstar dissed Barack Obama and Jimmy Fallon for doubting her team

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The 2021 <keyword id="11932023" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ncaa" source="Orion">NCAA</keyword> tournament was marred by controversy following the weight room scandal.</li><li>Social media posts revealed disparities between the resources at the men's and women's tourneys.</li></ul><p>With increased parity across the board, bigger stars emerging each season, and more coverage of the sport itself, the women's NCAA tournament has been steadily making gains.</p><p>But in 2021, focus shifted from the hardwood to the weight room as <keyword id="12832958" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="march-madness" source="Orion">March Madness</keyword> was embroiled with controversy.</p><p>Thanks to a video shared on social media by Oregon Ducks star Sedona Prince, blatant disparities between the resources offered to athletes at the men's and women's tournaments were broadcast for all to see. Most notably, players at the men's tournament had access to a sparkling weight room filled with rows of top-notch machinery. At the women's tournament, players were expected to make due with a pile of yoga mats and a pathetic-looking rack of dumbbells.</p><p>Nearly a year later, four of college basketball's biggest superstars — Louisville's <keyword id="13391712" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="hailey-van-lith" source="Orion">Hailey Van Lith</keyword>, Baylor's <keyword id="13391711" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nalyssa-smith" source="Orion">NaLyssa Smith</keyword>, Michigan's <keyword id="13391713" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="naz-hillmon" source="Orion">Naz Hillmon</keyword>, and UConn's <keyword id="13391714" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="christyn-williams" source="Orion">Christyn Williams</keyword> — reflected on the experience during an exclusive roundtable with TOGETHXR.</p><p>"I mean, that was crazy," Williams said. "You can't even make that up."</p><p>"They tried us, for sure," Smith added with a laugh. "They tried to play us."</p><div type="image" title="UConn's Christyn Williams looks to pass the ball." height="1855" width="2500" msid="90234718" hostid="261"></div><p>Williams then recounted the moment she and her Huskies teammates saw the weight room situation with their own eyes, a hint of disbelief in her voice.</p><p>"Like, honestly, we went to the gym and saw it had like five yoga mats and two-pound dumbbells," Williams said. "I'm like, WHAT?!"</p><p>"Our practice gym, like, had the lights turned off," Van Lith chimed in. "There was no lights in the practice gym! It was like a ballroom."</p><div type="image" title="Louisville's Hailey Van Lith handles the ball." height="1667" width="2500" msid="90234719" hostid="261"></div><p>Williams then broke down <a href="https://twitter.com/MarchMadnessWBB/status/1372676389208477696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1372676389208477696%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.insider.com%2Fncaa-sexism-images-show-inequality-mens-womens-march-madness-2021-3">the NCAA's "reasoning"</a> for the uneven resources provided to the men's and women's basketball stars. Leadership of the governing body for college <keyword id="11893855" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sports" source="Orion">sports</keyword> initially claimed that a lack of space at the women's tournament resulted in the lackluster weight room situation, but that turned out to be <a href="https://www.insider.com/ncaa-sexism-images-show-inequality-mens-womens-march-madness-2021-3">an easily debunked excuse</a>.</p><p>"They had a whole new gym the next day, didn't they?!" Hillmon said, referencing the replacement weight room the NCAA cobbled together after the scandal erupted.</p><p>"They got it quick!" Williams added. "I'm like, y'all could've just did this at the beginning."</p><div type="image" title="Michigan's Naz Hillmon grabs a rebound." height="1667" width="2500" msid="90234720" hostid="261"></div><p>All four athletes commended Prince for making the initial video that shined a light on the NCAA's wrongdoing. Hillmon also noted that the powers that be will always find a way to cut corners "if we don't continue to hold them accountable."</p><p>"That took guts, too," Van Lith said of Prince. "If I was her, I don't know about going against the NCAA like that. That's big time."</p><p>Check out the full video — in which Van Lith, Smith, Hillmon, and Williams discuss NIL, March Madness, social media, mental health, and more —below:</p>

4 college basketball stars blasted the NCAA for the 'crazy' 2021 March Madness weight room scandal

<ul class="summary-list"><li>WNBA legend Sue Bird surprised Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes before their Elite Eight game.</li><li>Clark said Bird offered the team advice that proved salient during Iowa's matchup against Louisville.</li></ul><p>Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes got an epic surprise during the latest leg of their NCAA Tournament run.</p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/category/sue-bird">WNBA legend Sue Bird</a> visited Clark and her teammates at practice ahead of their Elite Eight matchup against the Louisville Cardinals Sunday. The newly retired Seattle Storm point guard — who won four WNBA championships and earned 13 All-Star nods before calling it quits — spoke to the Hawkeyes from the floor at Climate Pledge Arena, where she played her final professional season.</p><p>She offered them some sage advice, which Clark credited with helping Iowa power its way to its first Final Four appearance in 30 years.</p><p>"What she preached is like, 'Things are going to be hard in this game,'" Clark recalled after Iowa's 97-83 win over Louisville. "'There's always hard moments. Not everything's going to go your way.'"</p><p>That sentiment rang true early for the Hawkeyes, who found themselves down 8-0 early against the Cardinals and <a href="https://www.insider.com/hailey-van-lith-sonya-morris-handshake-spat-video-postgame-comments-2023-3">their star, Hailey Van Lith</a>. But, as Clark noted, Iowa has "a group that is old enough to understand it's not going to bother us."</p><div type="image" title="Caitlin Clark celebrates making a three-pointer." height="1665" width="2220" msid="99099140" hostid="261" sizebytes="176156"></div><p>The Hawkeyes bounced back, shifting their defense and maintaining their composure to chip away at Louisville's early lead. By the end of the first quarter, Iowa claimed its first lead. And despite an impressive offensive performance from Van Lith, the Hawkeyes never relented from there.</p><p>"We came out and changed our defense and really from there I thought we played really, really good basketball," Clark said. "But all we kept thinking was next play, and that's what Sue said in our circle today — is you just got to move on to the next play. So I think that just speaks to the toughness of our team."</p><p>Of course, <a href="https://www.insider.com/caitlin-clark-triple-double-elite-eight-final-rebound-ncaa-rules-2023-3">Clark's historic 40-point triple-double</a> — the first ever in either the men's or women's NCAA Tournament — didn't hurt Iowa's efforts. She scored a whopping 41 points on 57.9% shooting from the field and 8-of-14 from beyond the arc to lead all scorers on the night.</p><div type="image" title="Caitlin Clark snags the game ball after dropping a 40-point triple-double in the Elite Eight." height="1666" width="2222" msid="99099143" hostid="261" sizebytes="192662"></div><p>And with 12 assists to boot, the West Des Moines, Iowa, native had a hand in 70 of her team's points — the most from a single player in an NCAA Tournament game since the turn of the century, <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1640337876251557889" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">per ESPN Stats &amp; Info</a> — which amounted to 72.2% of their total team offense.</p><p>Clark will look to have another other-worldly performance on Friday, as her Hawkeyes face the No. 1 overall seed South Carolina Gamecocks at the Final Four in Dallas. Should she and Iowa upset <a href="https://www.insider.com/aliyah-boston-ready-for-special-final-run-with-south-carolina-2022-5">the reigning champions</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/lisa-leslie-south-carolina-aliyah-boston-dominant-center-position-2023-3">the reigning National Player of the Year</a> in the semifinal, the Hawkeyes will advance to their first-ever national championship game in program history.</p><p>But just making it to Dallas is surreal for Clark, who recalls setting the goal of a Final Four appearance with head coach Lisa Bluder way back when she first committed to join the Hawkeyes.</p><div type="image" title="Caitlin Clark puts her hand to her ear during Iowa's Elite Eight win over Louisville." height="1665" width="2220" msid="99099145" hostid="261" sizebytes="117656"></div><p>"A lot of people told me it would never happen when I came to the University of Iowa," Clark said. "But she [Bluder] believed in me, and that was really all that mattered. And we made our locker room believe and when you dream and work really hard, a lot of really cool things can happen."</p>

Caitlin Clark credited Sue Bird's advice with helping the Iowa Hawkeyes advance to the Final Four

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Iowa star Caitlin Clark earned the first-ever 40-point triple-double in NCAA Tournament history.</li><li>Fans questioned whether her final rebound should've counted toward her historic effort.</li></ul><p>Caitlin Clark is in a class of her own.</p><p>The Iowa superstar recorded the first-ever 40-point triple-double in the history of the NCAA Tournament — on both the men's and women's side — to lead her Hawkeyes to their first Final Four appearance in 30 years.</p><p>Clark scored 41 points, on 57.9% shooting from the field and 8-of-14 from beyond the arc, to lead all scorers in Iowa's 97-83 Elite Eight win over the Louisville Cardinals. She added 12 assists in the historic effort, giving her a hand in 70 of the Hawkeyes' points on the night — the most from a single player in an NCAA Tournament game since the turn of the century, <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/1640337876251557889">per ESPN Stats &amp; Info</a> — which comes out to 72.2% of their total team offense.</p><div type="image" title="Clark (right) and Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Lisa Bluder celebrate her 40-point triple-double performance in the Elite Eight." height="1668" width="2223" msid="99042494" hostid="261" sizebytes="287558"></div><p>While the 6-foot point guard undoubtedly put on a masterclass in Seattle Sunday night, some fans were skeptical that she'd truly earned the stat line she recorded. Clark's 10th and final rebound — which helped her secure the triple-double with just over a minute remaining in the contest — was dubious enough that Clark herself, the entire crowd at Climate Pledge Arena, and most fans watching from home were unaware it had actually happened.</p><p>With her team trailing by 13, <a href="https://www.insider.com/hailey-van-lith-sonya-morris-handshake-spat-video-postgame-comments-2023-3">Louisville star Hailey Van Lith</a> stormed through the paint and attempted a layup that ricocheted off the glass. Flanked by a pair of Cardinals, Clark jumped up and tapped the ball out towards the free throw line, where teammate McKenna Warnock grabbed the ball on the run and dribbled out of traffic.</p><p>Because the play didn't feature a traditional rebound in which Clark came away with clear possession of the ball, some viewers accused the game's statisticians of helping the junior out. But Clark's tap-out absolutely deserved to count as a rebound, according to <a href="http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/Stats_Manuals/Basketball/2023EZ.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the NCAA's 2022-23 Basketball Statisticians' Manual</a>.</p><p>Yeah, that's a real thing. And, yeah, we found it.</p><p>Under "Section 3 — Rebounds," the manual's authors suggest that a player can earn an "individual rebound" in any of the following ways:</p><ol><li>By gaining control of the ball.</li><li>By tipping or batting the ball in an attempt to score a goal.</li><li>By tipping or batting the ball to a teammate so that the teammate or another teammate is the first to gain control.</li><li>By retrieving a rebound simultaneously with an opposing player and having his or her own team be the first to be entitled to the ball.</li><li>By blocking an opponent's shot and purposely batting the ball to a teammate who is the first to gain control."</li></ol><p>No. 3 — "tipping or batting the ball to a teammate" — fits the bill when it comes to Clark, making rebound No. 10, and her entire triple-double, completely legitimate.</p><div type="image" title="Caitlin Clark puts her hand to her ear during Iowa's Elite Eight win over Louisville." height="1665" width="2220" msid="99042496" hostid="261" sizebytes="117656"></div><p>Clark and her Iowa teammates will head to Dallas this week for the Final Four. They'll face the winner of Monday night's matchup between top-seeded South Carolina and the No. 2 Maryland Terrapins on Friday with a trip to the national title game on the line.</p>

Iowa star Caitlin Clark's dubious 10th rebound of her historic 40-point triple-double was the right call, according to the NCAA rulebook

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Angel Reese helped lead the No. 3 LSU Tigers to their first-ever national championship in basketball.</li><li>The superstar forward trolled Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark in the waning moments of the title game.</li></ul><p>Angel Reese was an unstoppable force for the LSU Tigers throughout their run to the 2023 national championship.</p><p>But instead of feeling love and adoration from college basketball fans as she recorded a record 34 double-doubles on the season, Reese said she "was critiqued about who I was" all season long.</p><div type="image" title="Angel Reese celebrates." height="1666" width="2222" msid="99220945" hostid="261" sizebytes="217812"></div><p>That sentiment came to a head in the last minute of Friday's title game, where the Baltimore native recorded an impressive 15 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists. With the clock winding down and her Tigers up a whopping 17 points against the second-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes, <a href="https://www.insider.com/angel-reese-caitlin-clark-you-cant-see-me-ncaa-championship-2023-4">Reese took the opportunity to do some trolling</a>.</p><p>The 6-foot-3 forward pulled out John Cena's famed "You can't see me" celebration — which <a href="https://twitter.com/wslam/status/1640183608517464064">Clark herself deployed during an explosive Sweet 16 performance</a> — to taunt the National Player of the Year. She also pointed to the finger where she plans to wear her championship ring.</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/JamieJarosik/status/1642647582764670976" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Critics</a> immediately <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/status/1642648288280162305">headed to social media</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1642649593140637706">slam Reese for her antics</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/Khristina/status/1642661461825581057" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"No class" was trending on Twitter</a> in the immediate aftermath of the game, almost surely in reference to the Tigers star later named <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/1642665704053788672">the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four</a>.</p><p>By contrast, Clark was <a href="https://twitter.com/jackbarlow_STS/status/1640417714744307714">widely celebrated as "competitive" and "cold"</a> — in a good way — after she made the same gesture to Louisville's Hailey Van Lith in the Elite Eight. Reese understandably took issue with the double standard and used her platform in the postgame press conference to address her concerns.</p><p>"I don't fit the narrative. I don't fit in a box that y'all want me to be in," Reese said. "I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year."</p><p>"But when other people do it, y'all say nothing," she added. "So this was for the girls that look like me, that's going to speak up on what they believe in. It's unapologetically you. That's what I did it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. It was bigger than me."</p><p>Seemingly undeterred by the skeptics, Reese leaned in on social media after the game. She shared a still image of herself taunting Clark almost immediately after the buzzer sounded — perhaps as a way to show the naysayers just how little their unsolicited input impacted her.</p><p>Reese noted that she's "happy" and unbothered by watching folks on Twitter "go on a rage every time" she does something on the court.</p><p>"I don't care about anybody else and what they have to say about me. That's the difference between me and a lot of people — I don't," she said. "The biggest goal for me is the national championship... That's what I can just brag on."</p><div type="image" title="Angel Reese speaks to the press following the 2023 national championship game." height="1666" width="2222" msid="99220948" hostid="261" sizebytes="168946"></div><p>"Twitter can say what Twitter can say," she added. "I love reading those comments. I have all the screenshots of what everybody has said about me all season."</p><p>"What are you going to say now?"</p>

LSU star Angel Reese called out trash-talking double standards in women's hoops after viral championship moment

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="12137456" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="south-carolina-gamecocks" source="Orion">South Carolina Gamecocks</keyword> bested the <keyword id="13468972" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="louisville-cardinals" source="Orion">Louisville Cardinals</keyword> 72-59 in their <keyword id="13392004" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="final-four" source="Orion">Final Four</keyword> matchup.</li><li>The top team in the country led throughout the second half to head to the national championship game.</li></ul><p>MINNEAPOLIS — The South Carolina Gamecocks are just one win away from a national championship.</p><p>Dawn Staley's wire-to-wire No. 1 team in the country took down the Louisville Cardinals 72-59 in the first of two Final Four matchups at Minneapolis' Target Center Friday evening.</p><p>South Carolina superstar Aliyah Boston — who earned consensus National Player of the Year honors — recorded a game-high 23 points and 18 rebounds to notch her 29th double-double on the season and lead her Gamecocks on to the title game.</p><div type="image" title="Aliyah Boston pulls down a rebound during South Carolina's Final Four game against the Louisville Cardinals." height="1667" width="2500" msid="90602364" hostid="261"></div><p>Though Louisville managed to claim a brief lead midway through the second quarter, the Gamecocks used an early second-half surge to pull away from the Cardinals. Junior guard Zia Cooke stretched South Carolina's six-point halftime lead to double-digits all on her own to start the third quarter, scoring five unanswered points on a quick three-pointer and a steal-turned-layup on the next trip down the floor.</p><p>The Gamecocks' lead never dipped below six points after Cooke's early-half heroics. Though the Cardinals managed to string together an 8-1 run late in the third quarter, Boston stymied their momentum with a huge lay-in through contact with four seconds left in the period.</p><p>She sank the free throw to complete the three-point play and put South Carolina up by nine at the end of the quarter.</p><div type="image" title="Zia Cooke (left) dribbles as Hailey Van Lith defends." height="1510" width="2262" msid="90602365" hostid="261"></div><p>Despite serious offensive struggles to start the contest — including a handful of layup attempts that missed the rim entirely — the Cardinals managed to climb back from their early nine-point deficit, thanks to a stellar stretch from forward Emily Engstler. The New York native was held scoreless through the first five minutes of the contest but pulled in 10 points and seven rebounds in the first half to keep Louisville close and lead all scorers.</p><p>The senior transfer led the Cardinals with 18 points and nine rebounds when the final buzzer sounded — even though she fouled out with 4:56 remaining in the contest.</p><p>Hailey Van Lith — the star guard who has been on an offensive tear for Louisville throughout the team's run to the Final Four — went 1-of-4 from the floor through the first two quarters and finished the game with six points in 40 minutes on the floor.</p><p>The Gamecocks will move on to face the winner of Friday night's second national semifinal between the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal and No. 2 UConn Huskies. South Carolina will pursue the program's second-ever national title Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.</p>

South Carolina continues near-flawless run to national championship with big Final Four win over Louisville

<ul class="summary-list"><li>UConn superstar <keyword id="12594572" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="paige-bueckers" source="Orion">Paige Bueckers</keyword> is one of the most well-known athletes in college <keyword id="11893855" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sports" source="Orion">sports</keyword> today.</li><li>That fame translates directly to her money-making potential now that we've entered the <keyword id="12467960" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nil" source="Orion">NIL</keyword> era.</li></ul><p>Paige Bueckers is getting paid.</p><p>The superstar <keyword id="12096003" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uconn-huskies" source="Orion">UConn Huskies</keyword> point guard — who may very well be the most famous college athlete in the country at present — has taken full advantage of recent legislation that allows NCAA stars to make money off of their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). She's inked lucrative deals with <a href="https://www.insider.com/paige-bueckers-gatorade-first-college-athlete-nil-2021-11">Gatorade</a>, Cash App, and StockX, in addition to <a href="https://boardroom.tv/paige-bueckers-brand-uconn/">filing a trademark for "Paige Buckets"</a> — presumably to create her own line of merchandise.</p><p>But social media marketing may be her biggest cash cow of all. With 968,000 followers on Instagram, 3.6 million likes on TikTok, and an additional 65,000 followers on Twitter at the time of this article's publication, she has as powerful a social media influence as anyone else in college sports.</p><div type="image" title="Paige Bueckers." height="1546" width="2500" msid="90426945" hostid="261"></div><p>According to Axios Sports' recent analysis of NIL data from Opendorse, Bueckers is thought to be the highest social media earner of all the <keyword id="12055085" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="college-basketball" source="Orion">college basketball</keyword> stars competing in the Sweet 16 of this year's men's and women's NCAA tournaments. Just one social media post from the 20-year-old Minnesota native is estimated to be worth a whopping $62,900.</p><p>Not a bad payday in exchange for the push of a button.</p><p>Cinderella superstars like <a href="https://www.insider.com/march-madness-stars-nil-deals-experts-2022-3">Saint Peters' Doug Edert</a> and soon-to-be NBA lottery picks, such as Chet Holmgren and Paolo Banchero, don't even come <em>close </em>to matching Bueckers' earning potential. In fact, her massive social media valuation is so far ahead of the rest of the field, a single post from the reigning National Player of the Year is worth more than a post from each of the nine highest social media earners still playing on the men's bracket combined.</p><p>On her own, Bueckers is silencing the skeptics who argued that NIL would actively harm female athletes should it come to fruition. But she's not the only star on the women's side raking it in.</p><p>Louisville Cardinals star Hailey Van Lith is next on the list of top earners at $44,200 per social media post, and 11 of the top 20 are women. And <a href="https://twitter.com/kendallbaker/status/1506967188628033543">according to Opendorse</a>, women's basketball players have earned 18.5% of all NIL compensation — behind only football players but ahead of every other sport's athletes, including men's basketball players.</p><p>Bueckers next takes the court Saturday at 2 p.m. ET as UConn faces the No. 3 Indiana Hoosiers in the Bridgeport region, on ESPN.</p>

Paige Bueckers can rake in more NIL money than the top 9 men's stars in the Sweet 16 combined

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Minneapolis is serving as the host city for this weekend's women's <keyword id="13392004" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="final-four" source="Orion">Final Four</keyword>.</li><li>A handful of <keyword id="11896033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wnba" source="Orion">WNBA</keyword> superstars are in town for the week for USA Basketball camp.</li></ul><p>MINNEAPOLIS — Just last summer, <keyword id="13515472" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="breanna-stewart" source="Orion">Breanna Stewart</keyword> and <keyword id="12137455" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aja-wilson" source="Orion">A'ja Wilson</keyword> were competing side-by-side in Tokyo to earn Team USA's seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal.</p><p>But just a few years back, the two superstar bigs were memorably battling it out in the college game.</p><p>Worlds have collided for Stewart and Wilson, as well as plenty of other WNBA stars, this week as they come together in Minneapolis; USA Basketball is hosting a national team camp just across the street from the Target Center, which will play host to this weekend's women's Final Four.</p><div type="image" title="Wilson (left) and Stewart pose with their gold medals from the Tokyo Olympics." height="1516" width="2500" msid="90571546" hostid="261"></div><p>The crossover has seemingly transported some of the best pros on the planet back to college, with Team USA's stars smack-talking one another — in good fun, mostly — before their alma maters face off for a chance at a national title.</p><p>"There's definitely gonna be some banter," Stewart told Insider. "Especially with Stanford, South Carolina, and Louisville [in the tournament]."</p><p>A four-time national champion and three-time Player of the Year at UConn, Stewart is set to watch her alma mater face the reigning champion Stanford Cardinal in Friday night's semifinal. Though the Huskies have made it to the Final Four a whopping 14 years running, they'll play the underdog to a red-hot Stanford squad that hasn't lost since December.</p><div type="image" title="Breanna Stewart walks across the court at the 2015 women's Final Four." height="1602" width="2136" msid="90571547" hostid="261"></div><p>But the other semifinal features the favorite to win it all: Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks. After sweeping the Naismith postseason awards — <a href="http://insider.com/dawn-staley-naismith-coach-of-the-year-award-with-staff-2022-3">Staley as Coach of the Year</a> and superstar center Aliyah Boston as Defensive Player of the Year and Player of the Year — the two-loss Gamecocks are ready to chase some more hardware. But Hailey Van Lith and a dangerous Louisville Cardinals team look to stop Boston and company in their tracks before Sunday's title game.</p><p>A'ja Wilson — the 2020 WNBA MVP and a national champion under Staley — stands firmly on the South Carolina side of the bracket. But her former Las Vegas Aces teammate, five-time WNBA All-Star Angel McCoughtry, is representing Louisville.</p><p>Needless to say, things have gotten a bit chippy at USA Basketball camp ahead of Friday's showdown of the one seeds.</p><div type="image" title="A'ja Wilson celebrates winning the national championship with the South Carolina Gamecocks." height="1625" width="2500" msid="90571548" hostid="261"></div><p>"Angel's chit-chatting like Louisville's doing something," Wilson told Insider with a chuckle. "Yeah, she's chit-chatting like it's something."</p><p>But regardless of their personal biases and alma mater-based rivalries, Team USA's players are just looking forward to exciting games that showcase <keyword id="12055086" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="womens-college-basketball" source="Orion">women's college basketball</keyword>.</p><p>"I mean, it's gonna be a great Final Four," Stewart said. "All the teams are stacked, and I think that it's amazing just for women's basketball to continue to get eyes and viewership, hopefully from different perspectives."</p><p>South Carolina-Louisville tips off at 6 p.m. ET Friday night, with Stanford-UConn following shortly thereafter at 9:30 p.m. Fans can watch all the action unfold on ESPN.</p>

You Searched For "hailey van lith" and got 10 results

Louisville's coach blasted the hosts of an ESPN debate show for overlooking his team in the Final Four

Meredith Cash

Louisville's Hailey Van Lith has 'no hard feelings' after an opponent trash-talked her during postgame handshakes: 'I'd be sad, too'

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A Sweet 16 superstar dissed Barack Obama and Jimmy Fallon for doubting her team

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4 college basketball stars blasted the NCAA for the 'crazy' 2021 March Madness weight room scandal

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Caitlin Clark credited Sue Bird's advice with helping the Iowa Hawkeyes advance to the Final Four

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Iowa star Caitlin Clark's dubious 10th rebound of her historic 40-point triple-double was the right call, according to the NCAA rulebook

Meredith Cash

LSU star Angel Reese called out trash-talking double standards in women's hoops after viral championship moment

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South Carolina continues near-flawless run to national championship with big Final Four win over Louisville

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Paige Bueckers can rake in more NIL money than the top 9 men's stars in the Sweet 16 combined

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WNBA superstars are smack-talking each other before their college teams face off in the Final Four

Meredith Cash

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