Dawn Staley is well-known for being able to have a no-nonsense approach, and now she's officially bringing that philosophy to the newest members of Fever guard Caitlin Clark's fan base. When the iconic South Carolina head coach appeared on Kylie Kelce's podcast “Not Gonna Lie” and was asked about her personal collegiate experiences interacting with the WNBA superstar, the Hall of Famer had some brutally honest opinions to get off her chest while showering Clark with praise.

“I only coached against [Clark] twice, right? Both times, she had over 30,” Staley began. “I don't think there was a player I coached against that had 30 points against us in the two times that they played — one's a win, one's a loss. [Clark] was probably the most difficult to scout, to play against, in [the sense] that she can beat you a variety of ways.

“So yes, I think she's quite incredible, quite an anomaly when it comes to how many eyeballs that she's bringing [to] the game, and new eyeballs,” Staley continued. “The newness of those eyeballs only want her to do well, only want you to speak very highly of her, only want you to agree with what they agree with. And that's kind of hard when we're critics to everyone that plays the game.”

As a staple in women's basketball as both a coach and player, Staley has more expertise about the game than most. She applied some of that insight to the trend she's noticed among the influx of new WNBA fans — and those claiming to support Clark in particular.

“[Critique] is a part of the fabric of sports … that's what we do!” Staley explained as Kelce chimed in to agree. “You want to highlight Caitlin Clark for what she does well, but if you are her opponent, you want to zero in on the things that she doesn't do well, right?

“No one plays this game perfectly. No one.”

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“You know, she's a risk-taker when it comes to passing the ball, so she'll turn the ball over some,” Staley pointed out, which drew a more passionate response from the host.

“It's really interesting to know that the opinions that are coming in are [from] those fresh eyes, are maybe people who haven't sort of been in sports throughout their life to understand that that is the competition that drives these games,” Kelce elaborated. “[Clark] would probably respect the fact that people are picking apart her weaknesses, cause she's on a journey to try and eliminate those weaknesses herself.”

Staley capped the exchange off with mutual understanding and the perfect statement to sum up the pair's feelings.

“That's sports! That's the heart of it!”