Kim Mulkey’s response to the LSU-South Carolina fight was trashy

When Michelle Obama mentioned, “After they go low, we go excessive,” she wasn’t speaking about Kim Mulkey. Class and decorum have by no means been her factor. On Sunday, No. 1 South Carolina remained undefeated and gained its eighth SEC match title after defeating LSU, 79-72. It was a rematch of their January showdown in Baton Rouge, wherein South Carolina pulled out a tricky highway win in enemy territory, 76-70.

They’re the 2 finest groups within the SEC. They’re the final two groups to win nationwide championships. They don’t like one another. And their coaches are polar opposites. So when a combat occurred within the recreation on Sunday, we already knew the responses from the ladies who lead these applications have been destined to be dissimilar.

“I simply wish to apologize to the basketball group,” Staley mentioned to ESPN through the post-game interview. “I wish to apologize for us taking part in an element in that, that’s not who we’re. That’s not what we’re about.”

Moments after a combat that featured a male fan hopping over a railing and the scorer’s desk to probably become involved, which led to a number of ejections and solely 11 mixed gamers from each groups being eligible to take part within the remaining minutes, Staley dealt with the scenario like a professional. She took full duty for her crew’s actions, added context and nuance, did her finest to guard girls’s faculty basketball, and apologized to all who have been concerned on the opposite aspect, in addition to informing us that apologies have been made to her from the LSU aspect.

“We are going to get higher (at) dealing with conditions like this. So, I wish to apologize for our South Carolina girls’s basketball crew,” Staley mentioned on the microphone to the gang through the trophy presentation. “LSU is a superb crew. They’re our defending nationwide champions. And I gained’t be stunned if we’re in a position, each of us, to characterize in Cleveland for the nationwide championship recreation. I welcome that.”

Unsurprisingly, and as anticipated, it was a distinct story with Mulkey.

“It’s ugly, it’s not good, nobody desires to be part of that,” she mentioned after the sport. “However I’ll inform you this, I want [Cardoso] would’ve pushed Angel Reese. For those who’re 6-8, don’t push someone that little. That was uncalled for in my view. Let these two ladies who have been jawing, allow them to go at it.”

As an alternative of calming issues down, a white lady poured gasoline on a scenario that concerned a combat between Black girls. Mulkey’s privilege one way or the other discovered a option to shine brighter than a kind of cheesy outfits she wears on the sidelines. She was so dangerous on Sunday that she frolicked within the postgame press convention informing us that she didn’t know the principles, as she was questioning about potential punishments for the coaches.

“However my query is: I don’t actually know the principles, why weren’t the coaches tossed in the event that they left the bench? Wouldn’t that be a hell of an ending. However I assume it’s simply the gamers that depart the bench space. I don’t know.”

If you realize something about Mulkey or girls’s faculty basketball, you’re conscious she has a historical past of claiming dumb issues out loud. They usually aren’t simply errors within the second, that is simply who she is. From not supporting Brittney Griner and allegedly telling her gamers to not be open publicly about their sexuality, there’s an enormous pile of receipts in the case of Mulkey. This is identical lady who defended Baylor, wished the NCAA to cast off COVID-19 testing, and all however pleaded to be invited to the White Home to see a president who had made it clear that he wasn’t keen on inviting girls’s championships groups to the Oval Workplace.

Who did what to who on Sunday isn’t almost as essential as who mentioned what, and the way they mentioned it after the sport. When faculty children combat, we glance to the adults to be the leaders within the room. Daybreak Staley introduced herself as an elder stateswoman of the game. Kim Mulkey behaved like a clown. Buckle up, the NCAA Match goes to be wildly entertaining. Pleased Ladies’s Historical past Month!