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Stephen A. Smith is no stranger to confrontation, and this time he's calling out USC women's basketball head coach Lindsay Gottlieb.
The day after Selection Sunday, Smith was asked about Gottlieb's response to the Trojans' placement as the fourth overall No.1 seed on an episode of First Take. The sports commentator did not mince his words while giving his opinion, saying that the coach sounded like she was”scared” of her team's competition following USC's loss to UCLA in the Big Ten Championship game.
“You don't get to complain when you just lost the conference championship game to a team you beat twice in the regular season,” Smith said. “It almost sounds like you're lamenting the fact that you've got to go up against UConn eventually, who's the No.2 seed in your region.
“You scared, say you're scared.”
Smith continued to explain his thoughts further and assured he wasn't trying to speak on Gottlieb or the team's behalf.
“I'm not accusing them of being scared, I'm just saying that's how the coach sounds,” he said. “I get where you're coming from … but you beat (UConn) earlier this season, beat them again. That's the bottom line.”
Gottlieb had a rant of her own following the March Madness draw, calling out the NCAA and selection committee for the decision to place her squad in a stacked Spokane 4 region with the likes of UConn, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.
“For me, I never thought I'd be a one seed and feel disrespected. You tell me if you think that bracket that we got should have been the one that it was. It makes no sense. We went to UConn this year on the road. Why would you want to send them back to us?” she questioned.
“This was not on my bingo card to be a little bit frustrated after being a one seed. It's not arrogance of any kind. … Sometimes I don't understand people who make decisions in women's basketball and why they do what they do, and certainly with this committee, I would love to ask them questions.”
Even if Gottlieb's comments did come from a place of concern for her team's March Madness chances, her feelings would be justified since Paige Bueckers and the Huskies were the ones who bounced USC from last year's tournament in the Elite Eight.
The coach wasn't the only one who expressed displeasure with the committee's decisions. Sports fans and commentators alike pointed out how big of a mistake it was to guarantee that a USC-UConn matchup would happen short of the Final Four, missing out on the potential ratings boost that could've come from the surge of popularity women's basketball has been experiencing.
