It seems like Chrissy Sides is pointing the finger at Caitlin Clark and her teammates after their poor performance against Connecticut.
In a recent article, Chrissy Sides stated that Caitlin Clark, NaLyssa Smith, Kelsey Mitchell, and Christy Wallace sat on the bench for most of the second half. She emphasized that a lack of effort was a significant factor in that decision on Monday night. “You can’t coach effort at this level,” Sides said. “I felt like we were just trying to ask them to keep playing hard. You can’t play in this league if you have to coach effort; it’s just too hard.”
Sides essentially criticized Clark and her teammates, Smith, Mitchell, and Wallace, for not playing defense or showing any effort. She stressed that if you’re a coach, your team needs to play with effort, and if they don’t, it’s a sign they’ve lost faith in you. Sides drew comparisons to other successful player-coach relationships, like Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson or Paige Bueckers and Geno Auriemma, implying that players perform for coaches they believe in.
She suggested that the current situation indicates a deeper coaching issue, where the players have lost all confidence in her leadership. Sides noted that the media attention and the visible lack of effort from the players are signs that she is not meeting the team’s expectations. According to her, when players stop listening to their coach, it’s clear that a change is needed.
