Where did the racism attacks against Caitlin Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes fans start, you ask? Dawn Staley. Staley, after being beaten 77-73 by Caitlin (41 pts, 8 asst, 6 reb) in the 2023 Final Four, immediately played the race card in Staley’s post-game press conference to try to deflect from SC not repeating as National Champions and having SC’s 42-game winning streak shattered by the Iowa Hawkeyes. Dawn Staley famously sought to equate Lisa Bluder's observation that playing under the basket against South Carolina and attempting to rebound was like being in a bar fight, and Staley then tried to turn that observation about Staley's team's style of play INTO A RACIST SLUR: Which it never was. Staley referenced supposed overheard comments by unnamed national reporters calling South Carolina "bullies" and moved from that to state: “We're not bar fighters. We're not thugs. We're not monkeys. We're not street fighters" — seeking to equate Bluder’s observation about the highly physical play into racism, demanding: "[S]o don't judge us by the color of our skin," when the lone observation about style of play by Bluder neither said nor implied anything about anyone’s skin color or race. Continued Staley, in trying to deflect from her loss (and intimidate referees from calling fouls on SC for their style of play): "And you may not like how we play the game -- you may not like it -- that's the way we play -- that's the way I coach -- I'm not changing -- we've found success with it... I'm not changing, I'm not changing...." Kim Mulkey built on and amplified Staley’s racist narrative pulled out of thin air in Mulkey’s LSU locker room to motivate her LSU team, including Angel Reese, in the National Championship game a few days later…. In short order in the 1st quarter of the National Championship game, the refs piled 8 fouls atop Iowa, to just 1 against LSU, making clear how the game was going to be officiated and deflating Iowa. LSU won 102 to 85. And now, as Paul Harvey used to say: The rest of the story: As to SC Coach Dawn Staley: Interestingly, the next season, Staley called her own team street fighters and equated the style of play she coached her team to play as what she learned growing up in North Philly.... Neither of those descriptors are themselves racist or based on skin color, but both sound like a team presenting with a pretty darned physical style of play rebounding under the basket... Staley would go on to be on the Committee -- headed by the CT Sun GM -- that would leave Caitlin off of the 2024 Olympic team in favor of injured veteran WNBA players who never saw a minute of Olympics play. As to LSU Head Coach Kim Mulkey: Subsequent to the Iowa-LSU National Championship game, Mulkey admitted to talking to refs before the game about how Caitlin and Iowa should be officiated. After the Iowa v. LSU game, a special commission was appointed by the NCAA to evaluate the, uhhh, unusual refereeing calls during that game. To this day, the NCAA has refused to release that report about the officiating abnormalities evident in that LSU v. Iowa National Championship game, over the strident protest of members of the committee who prepared the report. As to Iowa Hawkeyes Head Coach Lisa Bluder (and Caitlin Clark), the NCAA scheduled them in a bracket the following year intended to derail a repeat appearance in the 2024 National Championship game. Instead, the Hawkeyes beat LSU 94-87 in the Elite 8. Then Iowa defeated UConn in the Final 4. Iowa went on to play SC in the National Championship game. Caitlin set a single-quarter scoring record for a national title game, scoring 18 points in the first quarter. But, alas, Bluder’s season-long decision to not develop or play her bench led to the exhaustion of the starters and SC won the game 87-75, capping off an undefeated 38-0 season. Staley? Staley would be instrumental in keeping Caitlin OFF of the 2024 US Olympic team, which came within a basket of losing the gold by choosing instead injured Old Guard WNBA players who never saw a minute of Olympics play time.