The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s basketball tournament concluded with Louisiana State University (LSU) and The University of Iowa competing against each other to win the championship game on April 2, 2023. Louisiana State University was victorious in securing the championship win against The University of Iowa with a final score of 102-85. Although LSU was considered the champions, there was a negative reaction from some spectators based off of a reaction from one of the LSU players.  

 Before the championship The University of Iowa defeated South Carolina University with a score of 77-73 on March 31, 2023. Though throughout that game Caitlin Clark, point guard for The University of Iowa was seen doing professional wrestler John Cena’s signature “You Can’t See Me” hand gestor to South Carolina players. After Iowa’s win Caitin Clark was then seen being praised by spectators through the media based on her actions. Even John Cena himself took it to Twitter and congratulated her by saying “Even if they could see you…they couldn’t guard you! Congrats on the historic performance [Caitlin] and to [Iowa] on advancing to the Final Four!” 

The day of the championship game with LSU in the lead Angel Reese, shooting guard and small forward for LSU was seen doing the same as Caitlin Clark, John Cena’s signature “You Can’t See Me” towards Caitlin Clark. In Angel Reese’s post-game interview, explained the reason behind her action was because she did not appreciate Caitlin Clark disrespecting South Carolina’s University’s team a few days prior. She said that “Caitlin Clark is a hell of a player, for sure, but I don’t take disrespect lightly and she disrespected Alexis. South Carolina, they’re still my SEC girls too, so y’all not gonna disrespect them either.”  

Though some spectators did not appreciate Angel Reese taunting Caitlin with such actions. Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, called Angel Reese classless because of what she had done, but because of this it made people start to realize how double standard the world is. Tony Yayo who is the inspiration behind John Cenas “You Can’t See” had gesture spoke to TMZ Sports and said, “I think it’s kinda crazy because Angel Reese does it and it’s a problem. But then when Caitlin Clark did it, it wasn’t a problem. So of course, it looked crazy out there. You had sportscasters that were calling a young, Black female all kinda crazy stuff online and these are professional guys.” As well as “It was kinda crazy to me because in basketball, any kind of sport, talking trash is a part of the game. I mean, it was for the championship game. Shout out to LSU and [University of Iowa]. And shout out to Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. But I feel like it’s competition.”  

In an interview Caitlin Clark mentioned that she saw no issue with Angel Reese’s reaction by saying “I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all, no matter which way it goes.” Followed by saying, “I believe that’s what makes this game so fun,” she said. “That’s what draws people to this game. That’s what draws it to the pro level, the college level, to the high school level. Furthermore, that is exactly what happened, the championship women’s NCAA basketball game between Louisiana State University and The University of Iowa was the most watched game in the history of women basketball with nearly 10 million people watching. By players reaction the game should be watched, enjoyed, and talked about by many and based off of reactions the game created history.