ESPN’s Holly Rowe on the Explosive Growth in WNBA’s Popularity | The Rich Eisen Show

The world is catching on to the WNBA the world is catching on to the WNBA obviously because of Angel ree because of Caitlyn clerk you've been covering it since its Inception you understand this game may be better than anybody else so what has it been like having the world catch up to the talent and the excitement that you see all the time so were you ever that little kid and you were like hey over here I have something really cool that you can watch and nobody would come and see your cool thing it feels a little bit like that like we've been screaming from the mountain tops about how talented how deep how great the WNBA is and now there's because of some of these you know um kids that went through college and had the nil marketing I think people are forgetting both Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese their games and their results were exciting but they've also been marketed in a way that no College athletes ever have been before major box brands getting behind them and marketing them while they're in college so those eyeballs have translated over to the WNBA Caitlyn Clark is must watch basketball right now period She Is So Exciting her passing and so it's been really fun because I think we're ushering in a lot of new fans and they're seeing that the product is phenomenal and um I'll give you one example so my little nephew he's 10 years old he's obsessed with Caitlyn Clark but now he's also obsessed with Kelsey Mitchell because she plays with Caitlyn Clark on the Indiana Fever and so that you know what is the saying Rising Bo tide lifts all boat and I think that's what we're seeing in the W yeah it was very cool when Rich and I Did Team USA make a mistake not including Caitlyn Clark were overseas in in June um a cab driver asked us about Caitlyn Clark and now normally they'd want to talk about football the NBA what have you but uh in halting a time this guy's asking me about Caitlyn Clark which I think was so exciting do you think that Team USA made a mistake not including her and Angel Reese to go overseas oh this is a hard question because at the outset when they made that decision I don't think it was a mistake you know Angel and Caitlyn were both coming off their college Seasons they had not participated in any of the camps people have to remember that there are training sessions and camps that lead up to the Olympics that Brianna Stewart and Asia Wilson and Britney grinder they're all participating in and because they were still in college Caitlyn and Angel did not have a chance to participate in any of those camps and start building that chemistry with Team USA so at the initial outset I did not think it was a mistake as I have watched Caitlyn Clark evolve in the WNBA her passing is game-changing and and I think you know if that decision was being made today it could be it could have been different but you know it's hindsight is 2020 um Caitlyn's playing great I think she is one of the best passers in the WNBA right now as a rookie she just set the WNBA record with 19 assists in a game um but but their players on Team USA are phenomenal you know when you talk about the decision you have have to ask well who would you have left off and and that's where the decision was very difficult yeah I mean I'm sure that bana Should Team USA have evolved Stewart would love to have that conversation with you the the question is though is should the team have evolved there seems to be and this is from the outside looking and so I want your take on this it seems to have so much there seems to be so much tension between the women that set the stage before and obviously you know Team USA has always rolled they've never lost in the Olympics but is there is there a perceived idea that there is tension between this younger class that's gotten so much more attention and the women that came before and set the stage for them I honestly have not seen that in person I know what social media likes to say and how social media likes to blow everything up but as I was watching Caitlyn Clark interact with Diana terazzi and and interact with Team USA when I saw Angel Reese and neuma you know high-fiving and interacting I don't see that tension I do think that social media exacerbates that so any little thing you know blows up but I think one thing people are forgetting this is competitive you know Caitlyn Clark is competing against these women and for some reason we expect women to be nice when they're being competitive and um Drake has a great song Susie called nice for what and that's what I want to shout to the world of it's supposed to be competitive there is supposed to be tension with Caitlyn and other teams in the WNBA so um you know Angel Reese has been very well accepted I think she's getting a lot of love from veterans and I do think that that is something that social media has exacerbated but I'm not seeing it in person um particularly at the All-Star game where everybody was really getting along great and it looked great I mean it looked like a serious Rowes most exciting player to watch NBA All-Star Game environment where it just it just looked like I've never actually wanted to be at a game as much as I wanted to be at that one of course I was at visiting day in Maine which is exactly the same thing but you know Holly I just have loved seeing this develop and and the idea that women have to be so nice I like how chippy it is I like the fact these girls are standing there taking these fowls and going in hard um who's your most exciting player to watch if you had to leave Kaitlyn aside well right now the most the thing I'm the most excited about that I really think got lost during the Allstar Weekend because everybody's talking about Caitlyn Clark and Angel ree playing together for the first time and I think what got lost is that Brianna Stewart and Asia Wilson are playing together on Team USA you know these two are often pitted against each other because they are often the two finalists for MVP and so there's kind of this feeling of Asia and Stewie you know whose Camp are you in and what I thought was really essential during the all-star weekend and then in their game yesterday against uh Germany is that Brianna Stewart and Asia Wilson are the two best players in the world period and they are on the same team and how fortunate we are that we get to watch them play basketball they have combined they've played two games now for Team USA and they have combined for 86 points and 36 rebounds that is great basketball and so to me the Asia Stewie Dynamic on Team USA is what I'm looking forward to for the Olympics they don't play again until July 29th when they open the games with the team Japan that a lot of people in Team USA will tell you Japan has given them the most difficult game in the last few years so this is a game for people to watch but my eyes are squarely on Brianna Stewart and Asia Wilson the two best players in the world make no mistake catch the rich eyes and 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