Geno Auriemma on Caitlin Clark's slow WNBA start: 'The kid was set up for failure right from the beginning'

Geno Auriemma said Caitlin Clark was set up for failure in her rookie year in the WNBA with the Indiana Fever.

Clark, while winning Rookie of the Month honors, has seen her fair share of first year struggles and “welcome to the league” moments of physicality. Auriemma knows how good Clark is, but there’s a target on her back from the college hype.

Plus, in a world of instant gratification, that can be detrimental. 

“I think you and I both know the landscape that we live in today, both sports wise and non sports wise, right,” Auriemma said on the Dan Patrick Show. “We are in a red-blue (world). And if you’re red, you can’t agree with blue and if you’re blue, you can agree with red. Whereas most things are in the middle. If you’re a college player and you’re a great college player, like Caitlin was, the delusional fan base that follows her, disrespected the WNBA players by saying she’s gonna go in that league and tear it apart. 

“There were actually odds on, like she’s third or fourth of betting odds of being MVP of the WNBA. These people are so disrespectful and so unknowledgeable and so stupid, that it gives women’s basketball a bad name. Okay, so the kid was set up for failure right from the beginning.”

Auriemma pointed to Clark as the reason for the disrespect factor in the WNBA. However, it wasn’t Clark’s fault. It was those propping her up.

“So if you’re a WNBA player, and believe me I’ve coached the best, and I’ve pissed them off a lot and they let me know about it,” Auriemma said. “But they were tremendously disrespected. And none of them are going to say it. But human nature is okay, this kid’s coming into the league and Diana (Taurasi) said it best. This kid’s in for a rude awakening. And they all jumped over her but they didn’t read the whole thing that she said. But nobody’s printing ‘You know, Diana Taurasi was right.’ 

“This kid’s on the wrong team. She’s got the wrong skill set to handle the physicality of that league, and she’s a rookie. And if you’re a WNBA player, if you’re any kind of player, you’re gonna say I want to make a statement. Targeted by society, targeted by her looks, targeted by her reputation, targeted by the disrespect that they’ve shown to the WNBA. There’s a huge target on this kid’s back.”

Caitlin Clark has a target on her back in WNBA

Auriemma could be saying what others are thinking. He believes Clark has a target on her back, as evident by the Chennedy Carter situation.

“I think she’s handling it great,” Auriemma said of the criticism. “I think she talks a lot of (expletive) as she gets a lot  of (expletive) back. So she deserves everything she gets because she gives it as good as she gets. She’s just not built for the physicality of this league. And she’s not quick enough to get away from the physicality. So there’s a lot of learning curve like Diana said, and when she gets it, she has elite skills that are going to really help her. (Caitlin) needs to be on a better team, and she needs to be more experienced. And that will come but for these ridiculous fans who had her slotted as the next Diana now, they’re out of their mind.

“And for these people that are waiting outside the bus for the Chicago Sky team (and Carter) what, did we become a Third World soccer country that when a soccer player gives up their own goal in the World Cup, you’re waiting for them in a bar to shoot them? Like what the hell are we doing here?”

Auriemma has a current superstar of the women’s game in Paige Bueckers, who will go to the league in 2025. Like Clark, Auriemma said her physicality is not up to WNBA standards and she’s bound for the same types of criticism.

“No (she doesn’t have the physicality),” Auriemma said. “Her game is different than Caitlin’s in that she’s more of just a distributor, get the ball, you know, her game is more like Sue Bird’s game. Alright, and not that Sue had the physicality to play in that league, but obviously she’s the best point guard ever. But I think the subtleties of her game will translate. 

“However, her rookie year, she will get it as bad as Caitlin’s getting it right now. Because that’s just the world man. That’s just the world and you gotta learn to live with it. But yes, she will have a target on her back as well. I just hope this social media thing doesn’t, you know, envelop her like they’ve done to this kid. This kid doesn’t deserve all this. Nobody deserves all this.”