‘Let me do the talking’: Lisa Bluder encourages Caitlin Clark, Hawkeyes to let go of officiating

Fair or unfair — officiating in women’s college basketball has been a hot topic of conversation for fans and media.

In Saturday’s 92-73 win over Nebraska, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder noticed her players were paying a little too close attention to how the game was being officiated. Specifically, Caitlin Clark — who she actually pulled aside during a timeout.

“My message is to let me do the talking to the officials,” Bluder said. “That’s my job — I just want to do my job.”

“I think that what I love about Coach Bluder is that she coaches me when I’m not giving my best,” Clark admitted. “That’s what’s going to make me play really, really hard. There’s other people that maybe can’t take that but that’s what I want and I want to embrace that.”

Bluder confessed last night she understands that officiating is always going to be inconsistent in college basketball.

“When you have three people on the floor you never know who’s gonna be where,” Bluder said. “You have a different group every night and they call it differently. It’s never going to be consistent because it’s subjective, right? It’s human. It’s not a computer doing this.”

“I have a great relationship with a lot of the officials,” Caitlin Clark added. “They love me, we love talking. But I’m feisty and I’m competitive and they know that and I think they do a great job. We’re not perfect, but sometimes I disagree with them.”

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