“Black players who built women’s hoops… haven’t been acknowledged,” and “it matters that the faces of the future look like the faces of the past” a USA Today writer asserted in an op-ed.
The Thursday piece first highlighted by Fox News was headlined: “Women’s basketball needs faces of future to be Black.”
Lindsay Schnell, an enterprise reporter for the outlet, wrote JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo are set to become the future of women’s basketball yet have little of the marketing support needed to reach that end.
“Not lost on any of the powerbrokers in the game: Both of these players are Black. And in a game built by Black women, it matters that the faces of the future look like the faces of the past,” Schnell wrote.
Schnell noted marketing tactics have centered around Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and Paige Bueckers.
“Too often, the Black players who built women’s hoops — and who now dominate the professional level, where the WNBA is 70% Black — haven’t been acknowledged,” she continued.
Hannah Hidalgo #3 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish puts up a shot against the Louisville Cardinals during the second half of the game in the Quarterfinals of the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 8, 2024 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Lance King/Getty Images)
“Part of that has to do with position. Casual fans fall hard for playmakers, athletes who have the ball in their hands and create shots. Paint players might have great footwork, but that doesn’t usually translate to highlight reels. Consider that power forward A’ja Wilson, arguably the best player in the world, whose award résumé is longer than a Walgreens receipt, doesn’t have near the star power of Clark.”
Schnell further set out LSU’s Angel Reese was criticized for the trash talk she handed to Clark during their NCAA title game last year, “though Clark had talked plenty of trash throughout the tournament herself.”
Clark later said on ESPN Reese should not have been criticized “at all.”
