Basketball world divided as storm erupts over champ's 'classless' act

Louisiana State University (LSU) star Angel Reese has defended her actions after causing an internet storm with a divisive gesture in the wake of her team's NCAA women's basketball triumph. LSU claimed the coveted women's college basketball title after defeating Iowa in the championship match in the United States.

Reese didn't miss an opportunity to return serve to Iowa star Caitlin Clark after celebrating the victory by waving her hands in her rival's face and pointing at her finger to signify the ring that her LSU team had just won. The hand wave from Reese was in reference to WWE icon John Cena's iconic "You can't see me" gesture.

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Clark had performed the same gesture on other beaten opponents in the lead-up to the NCAA championship game, with Reese arguing that she was simply giving the Iowa player a taste of her own medicine. However, the divisive act created a firestorm on social media, with many labelling the LSU champion "classless" and a poor winner.

Reese addressed the gesture in a post-game interview with ESPN and said she wasn't about to let Clark disrespect teammate Alexis Morris or South Carolina, who Iowa beat in the NCAA's Final Four. "Caitlin Clark is a hell of a player for sure, I don't take disrespect lightly," Reese said.

"And she disrespected Alexis and my girls - South Carolina, they still my SEC girls, too. Y'all not gonna disrespect them either... I had a moment at the end of the game. I was in my bag. I was in the moment."

Angel Reese defends actions amid social media storm

The LSU star also touched on the controversy that her gesture had caused on social media and claimed a huge double standard existed, based on skin colour. Reese bemoaned the narrative around Black athletes being labelled "classless" for such gestures, while white athletes are hailed as passionate and aggressive for doing the same thing.

"All year, I was critiqued about who I was," Reese said. "The narrative — I don’t fit the narrative. I don't fit into the box that y’all want me to be in. 'I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto.' Y’all told me that all year.

"But when other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing. So this is for the girls that look like me, that’s gonna speak on for what they believe in. It’s unapologetically you. And that’s what I did it for tonight.

"This was bigger than me tonight. Twitter is gonna go on a rage every time. And I’m happy. I feel like I've helped grow women's basketball this year."

NBA legend LeBron James was among many important voices across the basketball world to defend Reese, in the face of overwhelming backlash. “FACTS!!!! Love to see it,” James said on Twitter in response to a tweet that read in its caption, “Angel Reese to all the haters after winning the national championship.”

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