ESPN Panel Says Public Is Wrong For Criticizing Angel Reese After Loss To Iowa

A panel of female ESPN analysts ripped fans who have criticized Angel Reese for her postgame comments on Monday.

After Reese’s LSU Tigers lost in the Elite Eight of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament to the Iowa Hawkeyes, a reporter asked Reese about the criticism she has faced over the past year. 

While shedding tears, she stated that the pressure she’s faced has taken a toll on her emotionally.

"I've been through so much, I've seen so much, I've been attacked so many times," Reese said. "I'm still a human. All this has happened since I won the National Championship and I said the other day I haven't been happy since then. And it sucks, but I still wouldn't change anything. I would still sit here and say I'm unapologetically me. I'm gonna always leave that mark and be who I am and stand on that."

Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter, and Chiney Ogwumike discussed the backlash Reese has received for those comments on the "Elle Duncan Show." Needless to say, they weren’t happy in the slightest.

The "Elle Duncan Show" Panel Believes Reese Shouldn't Be Criticized For Her Comments

Duncan got the conversation rolling by attacking people for Reese’s show of emotional vulnerability, which Carter echoed.

"Angel can be this player that has a big personality and is unapologetically her and she talks trash…and her feelings can get hurt for people attacking who she is as a young woman. Two things can be true," Carter said.

Ogwumike followed Carter’s words by saying Reese doesn’t need to apologize for being herself, or for her emotions at the end of the journey.

"She was crowned one of the faces of college basketball based on her success. The way she got there was not only being the best on the floor, but also being unapologetically herself," Ogwumike said. "For me it takes such a level of poise to be able to withstand what she has withstood saying that since she won (the national title last year) she hasn’t fully been happy. But she has to show up in every space…not let people down."

Duncan than said that Reese's reputation for being a villain is more due to the fact that people have painted her that way rather than her willingly accepting that role.

"This whole she embraced the villain role she was made that way. It’s been that way since she won the national championship next year," Duncan said. "Being a woman is impossible."

The Panel Failed To Realize People Were Upset With The Hypocrisy Of Reese's Comments

Before going any further, I agree with these three women to a certain extent. Why any human being would make death threats to an athlete is beyond me, and anyone who did to Reese should be ashamed of themselves.

I’m also not against Reese crying, especially after a game of that magnitude. I’ve cried on occasion after sports games in settings far less consequential than the Elite Eight (as a young kid, of course).

But at the same time, there is a level of disconnect between this panel’s perspective on Reese's words and what many people were actually upset about.

Angel Reese certainly shouldn't receive death threats. But she also shouldn't be surprised that she gets criticism when she does something wrong. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

People were not calling out Reese because she showed some emotion or was mad over the death threats (those "people" include Emmanuel Acho and Stephen A. Smith, not just online trolls). They were upset because she has acted in ways that invited criticism over the past year, yet appeared to be incapable of handling it when it came.

Reese taunted Caitlin Clark to an unsportsmanlike extent in last year’s national championship game, and called the media racist for asking her questions about it. Time and again, she has shown that being unapologetically herself (to borrow a phrase from Ogwumike) means to taunt whenever she gets the chance, yet avoid accountability whenever she's called out.

Furthermore, Reese also said that she welcomes being in the role of the villain when she plays. Duncan made a mistake by saying she didn’t ask for that perception.

Reese also posed on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit magazine and regularly posts revealing content on her social media, and then complained about getting sexualized.  

What this panel failed to realize was that people are upset about the underlying hypocrisy in Reese’s comments on Monday. Again, not all the flack that Reese has dealt with is warranted, and she has a right to be upset about that. But some of the criticism is valid, and Reese has shown she can't handle it when it comes.

As Carter said herself, those two things can be true at once.