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Though the LSU women's basketball team took home the national title, only one of its players, star forward Angel Reese, was the talk of social media on Sunday (April 2) after an exchange with Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark.
The moment between the opposing players occurred as LSU dominated late in the fourth quarter of the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game. Reese hit Clark with the “you can’t see me," a hand motion that the Iowa Hawkeyes star previously used to taunt her opponents throughout the tournament.
With LSU on the verge of winning the title game, Reese again teased her opponent by pointing at the finger where she would soon wear her national championship ring.
Reese helped lead her team to victory but was quickly vilified online for her taunts. A number of prominent figures and social media users called out the hypocrisy in the reaction to Reese and her taunts compared to when Clark was previously praised as "confident" and "cool" for doing the exact same thing.
"If you praised Caitlin Clark as competitive, fiery, and passionate for doing the “You can’t See me” celebration and are criticizing Angel Reese for the same we already know!!" Ryan Clark tweeted.
"If it wasn’t “classless” when Caitlin Clark did it, don’t call it classless when Angel Reese does it. Let the women compete, it’s sports!!" Emmanuel Acho chimed in.
During a postgame interview, Reese addressed her critics and hinted at the double standard, per Yahoo Sports.
"All year, I was critiqued about who I was," Reese said. "The narrative — I don’t fit the narrative. I don't fit into the box that y’all want me to be in. 'I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto.' Y’all told me that all year.
"But when other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing," she continued. "So this is for the girls that look like me, that’s gonna speak on for what they believe in. It’s unapologetically you. And that’s what I did it for tonight."
"This was bigger than me tonight. Twitter is gonna go on a rage every time. And I’m happy. I feel like I've helped grow women's basketball this year."
Check out more Twitter users calling out the hypocrisy below.
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