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

When Michelle Obama stated, “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 received its eighth SEC event title after defeating LSU, 79-72. It was a rematch of their January showdown in Baton Rouge, through which South Carolina pulled out a troublesome highway win in enemy territory, 76-70.

They’re the 2 greatest 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 struggle happened within the sport on Sunday, we already knew the responses from the ladies who lead these packages had been destined to be dissimilar.

“I simply need to apologize to the basketball group,” Staley stated to ESPN through the post-game interview. “I need to apologize for us enjoying a component in that, that’s not who we’re. That’s not what we’re about.”

Moments after a struggle that featured a male fan hopping over a railing and the scorer’s desk to doubtlessly 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 accountability for her workforce’s actions, added context and nuance, did her greatest to guard ladies’s faculty basketball, and apologized to all who had been concerned on the opposite facet, in addition to informing us that apologies had been made to her from the LSU facet.

“We’ll get higher (at) dealing with conditions like this. So, I need to apologize for our South Carolina ladies’s basketball workforce,” Staley stated on the microphone to the gang through the trophy presentation. “LSU is a superb workforce. They’re our defending nationwide champions. And I received’t be stunned if we’re in a position, each of us, to symbolize in Cleveland for the nationwide championship sport. 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 stated after the sport. “However I’ll let you know this, I want [Cardoso] would’ve pushed Angel Reese. If you happen to’re 6-8, don’t push someone that little. That was uncalled for for my part. Let these two women who had been jawing, allow them to go at it.”

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

“However my query is: I don’t actually know the foundations, 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 suppose it’s simply the gamers that depart the bench space. I don’t know.”

If you realize something about Mulkey or ladies’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 on the subject of Mulkey. This is identical girl who defended Baylor, needed 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 ladies’s championships groups to the Oval Workplace.

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