VIDEO: Dawn Staley Says Trans Women [Men!] 'Should Be Able to Play' Against Women; I Say This Would Undo Success & Attention Female Athletes Are Getting Now

Women’s basketball is finally getting the attention and respect it deserves, thanks in large part to the skill on display whenever Iowa’s Caitlin Clark takes the court. But it’s not just Clark. It’s Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo, and, of course, the South Carolina team as a whole, which is led by basketball legend Coach Dawn Staley. I saved her for last because of her comments this weekend endorsing “transgender women” (i.e., men) competing against women. I had already been planning to address this topic, but her comments have sped me up. So here we go.

Up until now, no team has defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks this season. After losing to the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Final Four last year, Staley’s team will have a chance to exact revenge as they square off in a redo against Iowa in the championship game Sunday afternoon.

Iowa’s Clark, of course, is a phenom, a walking record-breaker, and an awards hoarder. To name a few of her accomplishments, she is the leading scorer of women and men in NCAA Division 1 basketball history, she has the most career assists in the NCAA tournament, the most career three-pointers in the tournament, she’s the Naismith Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, and the AP Player of the Year for the second year in a row. That’s just a drop in the bucket of the honors she holds. See more here and here.

But what if Dawn Staley’s “opinion” that a transgender woman (i.e., a man) “should be able to play” against women became the norm? Here’s what I had been thinking even prior to the reporter posing the question to her. What if Caitlin Clark, the incredible player she is, had to battle against men night in and night out? Would we be talking about her as we are? Would women’s basketball be on the map as it is? Would men, who admit to watching the game because of her, and the media, who are now covering her, be as enthralled with her? Would women players in general, as a result, be recognized for the skills they possess in their sport? Would Staley’s incredible—and incredibly tall—center Kamilla Cardoso—be as dominant as she is, even at her height of 6’ 7’’? We know the answer to each of those questions is no. Speaking of Cardoso alone, her nearly seven-foot frame is no match for the strength of a man at the same height or a couple of inches shorter, even.

This is no disrespect to women athletes. I’ve played basketball against men. I’ve beaten many of them. IFKYK! 😊 So I know women can ball. But game after game on the collegiate or professional level against the weight, speed, and strength of a man—it’s not happening, and it’s not safe. I’m disappointed in women who have chosen woke over reality. I watched Staley in her playing days as well as her coaching days, and I have always respected her intensity, her talent, and her leadership. I’ve made it clear I don’t share much of her worldview, but I can respect what she has done and how she has helped pave the way for today’s players and continues to pour into them through her coaching. Why would she be willing to jeopardize all of the gains women are experiencing, particularly at this pivotal moment, by saying something as obviously ridiculous as she said? If she had had to compete against men, no one would be talking about her right now. She likely would never have enjoyed the success she did as a player and may not, therefore, have been given a chance to coach. The undefeated record her team boasts now would most likely—I’m being kind here by saying “most likely”—not exist if her players had to play against just a couple of dudes pretending to be girls. Maybe she needs to have a chat with Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer who has been fighting on behalf of women since Lia Thomas chose to pretend to be a woman athlete, stole success from real women, and sucked up all the oxygen in the room—erasing women in the process—or maybe a chat with a volleyball player who nearly got her face knocked off by a transgender spiking the ball. And let’s not forget how all of this is affecting scholarships.

This simply should not be. Staley didn’t bring up the topic; she was asked. And it would have been no disgrace to answer there are men’s leagues and women’s leagues for a reason, that the men should play where they play, and women should play where they play. It would not have meant that women don’t have skill. Clearly, we do, and it deserves to be witnessed in the proper lane. What it would have meant is that she honors her girls, the girls she will face on Sunday, and the girls she played with and against back in the day. And, perhaps more important than any of that, it would have shown that her sense of reality hasn’t been lulled to sleep by the culture of wokeness.

Like many others, I’m looking forward to Iowa and South Carolina battling for the national championship on Sunday at 2:00 p..m. Central/3:00 p.m. Eastern, and I’m hoping for a great matchup—which I assume consists of women taking on women only. I’ll be cheering for Iowa and can’t wait to see Caitlin Clark do what Caitlin Clark does. She’s the best in the game and really is just getting started, as she is expected to be the first pick in the WNBA draft on April 15. If a man dressing up as a woman had kept her from the success she is enjoying or found himself poised to take her spot in the draft... how shameful. I wish Staley would rethink and retract her statement, and I hope her full-throated endorsement of men taking over women’s sports, including the one that’s rocking right now, didn’t open the door to more of the foolishness we’re already seeing in other sports.

Photo: Lance King/Getty Images