Caitlin Clark Took Women's Game To New Frontiers ... Now, Media Must Catch Up

Guy walks into a press conference in Albany, New York …

Asks a perfectly legitimate question from an observation while covering an assignment, which is something real journalists do almost every day. But apparently not so much among much of the media fraternities and sororities that cover women's college basketball with kid gloves, like it's a junior high tournament. … And all Hell broke loose. 

The question by OutKick writer Dan Zaksheske was a simple one. Why did Iowa's women's team stand in unison for the national anthem while LSU's did not last Monday night before an NCAA Regional title game? LSU coach Kim Mulkey answered accurately and honestly.

LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey talks to reporters at the NCAA Sweet 16 Regional in Albany, New York, last week. (Gregory Fisher, USA TODAY Sports)

"Honestly, I don't even know when the anthem was played," Mulkey said. "We kind of have a routine when they're on the floor and they come off at the 12-minute mark. I don't know, we come in and we do our pregame stuff. I'm sorry, listen, that's nothing intentionally done."

It wasn't a protest. It was habit for years, nothing more and nothing less. And such is the case at most athletic programs around the country for all or most sports. The anthem has become so routine, it's out of the routine. And Mulkey is very patriotic and a right wing Republican who ripped her COVID mask off to open her introductory press conference in April of 2021. 

OPINION: Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry Is Right

Louisiana Republican Governor Jeff Landry also watched the LSU-Iowa game and wondered the same thing as Zaksheske And he has been trying to get college student-athletes in his state and maybe everywhere ever since to be present and accounted for from now on at national anthems before athletic events, or they may lose their scholarship.

Political stunt? Probably at first. But along the way, he stumbled upon something that makes a hell of a lot of sense. It's a pretty brief song. Pro sports teams are present for it. Why not college teams? Brash to threaten scholarship elimination? Yes, but, I would say take away NIL money. That seems to mean more to today's college athlete than free tuition, books, room and board from a scholarship.

OutKick's Dan Zaksheske Started It All

So, thank you, Dan. If he doesn't ask the question, it may not have caught Landry's eye as Mulkey's answer did. And if it doesn't catch Landry's eye, it doesn't catch LSU athletic director Scott Woodward's.

RELATED: LSU Coach Brian Kelly Discusses National Anthem Script

"At LSU, we have and will always be dedicated to the flag, the anthem and the country," Woodward, whose football team has not been out for the anthem for years because of scripted habit, not protest, said in a statement Friday. "We consistently look at all our processes and WILL DO SO AGAIN."

Wow, Zaksheske may just change the world.

Four days later, same guy walks into a press conference in Cleveland at the women's Final Four … 

Asks a perfectly legitimate big picture question about a national trend impacting women's basketball, which is something real journalists often do, particularly at national events such as the women's Final Four, men's Final Four, College Football Playoff games, Super Bowl, etc. But apparently not at the women's Final Four, where many reporters either are mentally lazy, or just want to focus on the game only and how many points Caitlin gets, and not be bothered by a "news" question of any real significance. … And all Hell breaks loose again.

OPINION: Too Many Women's Basketball Media Members Lean To PR

After 10 questions at the women's Final Four press conference in Cleveland on Saturday about the semifinal Friday and the upcoming national title game Sunday to South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, Zaksheske asked the big picture, news question. You know, like at a real press conference with real journalists. 

OutKick writer Dan Zaksheske (right) was one of the few journalists at the Final Four in Cleveland over the weekend asking real, journalist questions.

"You just talked about what a massive weekend this is for women's basketball, women's sports in general. One of the major issues facing women's sports now is the debate-discussion topic about transgender athletes, biological males in women's sports," Zaksheske began, setting up the question very professionally. "I was wondering if you could tell me your position on that issue?"

Staley, obviously not used to such good questions by the usual media contingent, was a bit surprised. It wasn't about the game.

RELATED: OutKick Asked Dawn Staley Past Due Question Earlier This Season

"Damn, you got deep on me, didn't you? I'm of the opinion that, if you're a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play. That's my opinion. You want me to go deeper?"

And Zaksheske did, so thanks, Dawn. "Do you think transgender women (formerly men) should be able to participate (as that could be unfair)?," he asked.

South Carolina's Dawn Staley Was Professional

And Staley remained more professional than some of the journalists in attendance.

"That's the question you want to ask, I'll give you that," she said. "Yes. So now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I'm okay with that. I really am."

Well, you could stay off your timeline on game days, Dawn. But thank again, anyway. She's "okay with that" because she can think about more than one thing at once, with which apparently some of the other reporters struggle. And it wasn't that big of a distraction. 

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley snips down the net after her team beat Iowa to win the 2024 women's national title at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Justin Tafoya /NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Staley and South Carolina still ended a spectacular season for women's college basketball with a win over Iowa and Caitlin Clark Sunday for the national title, despite Zaksheske's questions. 

But some media members couldn't handle him doing his job better than them, or just reporting on more than just the games.

"Person who asked the question (about transgender athletes) scurried away as soon as Dawn answered," USA Today's Nancy Armour tweeted Saturday. "Confirming he was only there to try and stir up faux outrage."

Wrong, Nancy, he left to write a real newsworthy story, not more on the game, though he wrote about that as well. After I asked Staley in January about her stance against BYU, I also left before Mulkey's turn at the podium to write that story. It's what journalists do at times on deadline. Some of us go to press conferences to work, not to sit in judgment and visit with cronies.

OutKick's Dan Zaksheske Asked Pertinent Transgender Question

Dan was doing the job you should've been doing, Nancy, or should I call you Karen? Had you known what Staley would have said, you probably would've wanted to ask the exact question Dan asked.

Instead, at another point, Armour and other "reporters" were talking about Zaksheske right in front of him at the Final Four.

"I actually had to say to the group next to me, 'Hey, that’s me, you know, if you wanted to talk to me directly," Zaksheske said.

And, of course, no one did.

"Not one," Zaksheske said Monday. Press conference moderators also skipped Zaksheske's questions at times, which is extremely unprofessional and juvenile and flows with the kid gloves philosophy toward women's college basketball.

When Zaksheske noticed that South Carolina's and North Carolina State's teams were both out for the national anthem on Friday, unlike LSU and many others in various sports, he asked a South Carolina writer if SC is usually out for the anthem, or was this new.

"He rolled his eyes, let out a huge scoff, and said, ‘I have no idea how that matters, but yes they were out there,'" Zaksheske told me Monday. 

Wow. Go back to your stats, pal, and keep thinking inside the lines. 

What's amazing, OutKick may have inadvertently helped the transgender movement by asking a pertinent question about it. Staley's answer has been embraced by transgender athletes wanting inclusivity who were once male and now female. Sorry, Nancy, Dan beat you at your own game without having your agenda.

"Don't know if people fully understand how powerful and remarkable it is for Dawn Staley to back the trans-community on such a big stage," wrote Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman on X on Saturday. Wonder if he realized that answer he spoke of came from a question by OutKick. I would've included his tweet here, but he blocked me. Wow, how non-inclusive.

RELATED: The Usual Suspects Got Mad

Lindsay Gibbs, who authors a women's sports newsletter tweeted this. "Dawn Staley says trans-women should be allowed to play women’s sports. Says she knows she’s going to get heat now before the biggest game, and she’s okay with that. What an incredible statement of inclusivity from Dawn. Wow."

You're welcome, Lindsay, Dan says.

Zaksheske drew high praise by a bigger time sports journalist than Armour - Jason Whitlock, formerly of OutKick.

"Thank you, young man, for being a journalist and asking a pertinent question. Thank you," Whitlock tweeted.

A columnist for the Baton Rouge Advocate, however, went after Zaksheske's previous national anthem question to Mulkey in Sunday editions.

"OutKick.com, a pot-stirring conservative sports website, had a writer covering the NCAA Albany regional who was no more interested in the actual games than I am in what a taxi ride costs in Nepal."

Actually, Zaksheske wrote about all the games, too, while also writing newsier stories and actually asking real questions. He was also at the Final Four and wrote more about the games there than the transgender issue. The Baton Rouge Advocate, however, was not at the Final Four because LSU wasn't there.

The headline on the above Advocate column said, "Mulkey deserves apology from Landry."

Not exactly, because Landry never targeted Mulkey. He wants everyone at anthems before games. The Advocate, on the other hand, should apologize to Zaksheske and Landry for missing the point and being incorrect.

Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark has made women's basketball a go-to sport to watch. Now, can the reporters who cover women's basketball catch up? (Getty Images)

Women's basketball has come a long way in the last 30 years, particularly over the last two because of Caitlin Clark.

It's time many of the media members who cover it catch up to it and to Zaksheske.

RELATED: Women's Basketball Has Come A Long Way, Baby

"The Final Four is the one time of the year when women's basketball has a captive audience: CBS, meeting its two-for-one contract, and a platoon of third-string journalists from various newspapers, many of whom would prefer to be working the men's games."

Washington Times columnist Tom Knott penned that sentence for editions of Sunday, April 3, 1994 - the day of the women's national championship game in Richmond, Virginia, in which North Carolina beat Louisiana Tech.

RELATED: Big Man Classic Tonight, But Will It Resonate Like Women's Final?

Much of Knatt's right-on opinions are finally no longer true 30 years later. TV ratings are way up for the women the last two years. And many journalists last year - including me - and this year would have preferred to be at the women's Final Four over the men's, where Connecticut will beat Purdue tonight (9:20 p.m., TBS). Because UConn will wrap a second straight thoroughly dominant - and not so watchable - steamrolling of the rest of the field.

But that "platoon of third-string journalists?" Some remain to this day.

In fact, they were in Cleveland and Albany getting slam dunked by women's NCAA Tournament co-MVP … Dan Zaksheske.