FRUSTRATION BOILS OVER IN A MAJOR WAY

If you take away only one thing from the newsletter, make it this and always remember:

The camera’s on.

And for the Indiana Fever, they learned that lesson the hard way.

Following a tough loss to the Golden State Valkyries on May 28, the Fever rolled in to Portland to take on the surprising Fire on May 30.

It was a primetime affair on CBS Sports as this was another one of Indiana’s league record 44 nationally televised games. And as long time readers of the Women’s Basketball Roundup know, a bad national TV game “shapes the conversation surrounding your team and leads to a whole bunch of questions.”

The Fever had their worst game of the season and everything that spawned from it has put them under an uncomfortable spotlight.

Indiana trailed by as much as 26 points and were non-competitive as the Fire dominated them and cruised to a 100-84 victory. The big takeaway from the matchup was the struggles of Caitlin Clark.

Prior to this game, Clark made critical errors late against the Valkyries and was not made available for media following that game. Against the Fire, she had season lows in points and minutes.

More concerningly, the Fire centered their gameplan on hunting Clark on the defensive end and shining a light on her limitations on that side of the ball. During the game, social media video of a back-and-forth exchange with head coach Stephanie White made the rounds and went viral

The camera’s always on.

In the days following their loss, the Fever downplayed this moment’s significance.

"First of all, two people being competitive, two people that really want to win,” Caitlin Clark said. “I think a lot of those things happen all the time, and I know there's a camera on me, and that's how it's gonna be.

“But, there's a lot of people out there in the media or on TV that they think they know a lot of things, and they're just blatantly wrong about a lot of things, and I ride for Steph. I ride for these girls. Steph has my back more than anybody. So nobody in that locker room, in our locker room, or Steph or our coaching staff thought twice about it. It's just another example of what everybody, all of you, want to blow up and make something that is just lost and not in reality.”

Stephanie White also chimed in:

"I think what happened in that moment is I was challenging a player. It's coaching. It's what it is. I don't often think it becomes an issue if you're watching it in men's sports most of the time. And my relationship with Caitlin is great. I love Caitlin. I ride with her. We have a great relationship, and I think that the narrative of people trying to make it something that it's not is just taking sensationalism to try to get some clicks and all the other stuff.”

Be that as it may, the Fever are 4-4 and have a lot of issues they need to address in a hurry. When they returned home to Indiana, the team held a meeting where they were open and honest about their struggles and what they need to do to be better

It doesn’t get any easier for the Fever as they have marquee matchups against the Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty on the schedule. The team is juggling a lot right now and on a recent episode of We Need to Talk, Erica L. Ayala and Alicia Jay discussed everything surrounding the Fever right now

The pressure’s only gonna rise for the Indiana Fever. They have the most attention on them in the WNBA and have big expectations. Anything less than a deep playoff run will be a major disappointment and have massive consequences.

Amazingly, the Fever managed to make things WORSE for themselves. More on that shortly.

Here’s what you need to know today:

☀️ Across the BRM Network
Sandy Brondello returns to New York with the Toronto Tempo.

🎧The Extra Possession: Are International Players Taking Jobs from Black Women?

👓 More Indiana Fever troubles
The Fever decide to punish an independent reporter and set a bad precedent.

💰 Money moves
The race for the Commissioner’s Cup is on!

🗓 Upcoming games
What’s on deck to begin the week.

📰 What we’re reading
Some great writing that’s come across our desks.

HOMECOMING!

The New York Liberty will be welcoming some old friends home on June 3.

Fans at Barclays Center will get to say hello to Isabelle Harrison, assistant coaches Olaf Lange and Brian Lankton, and former head coach Sandy Brondello.

Sandy’s time in New York ended on an acrimonious note following their first round exit at the hands of the Phoenix Mercury. Sandy quickly bounced back and landed with the Toronto Tempo and has them off to a solid start this season.

Even after all this time has passed, there’s still some lingering feelings about Brondello’s exit and how it went down

On the court and in the stands, it promises to be an emotional, competitive night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“I got an opportunity to coach there for four years, it was an awesome atmosphere and experience,” Brondello said. “And now I go back as a competitor. I think it’s fun to play in the environment.”

There are a lot of tremendous memories between the Liberty and Brondello from the past four years. It’ll also be a great chance to reminisce and celebrate folks like Sabally, Harrison, Lange, and Lankton.

“I’m really happy to see them,” Leonie Fiebich said. “I think the whole staff, people that were here the last few years are happy to see them, too.”

On the latest edition of Gotta Get Up, Erica and special guest Jackie Powell discussed all things Liberty:

Sandy Brondello’s return is a joyous occasion. She helped guide the Liberty to the best run in team history and restored them to greatness.

She leaves a great legacy behind and her success laid the foundation for the team to take more steps forward.

THE TEAM MAKES A TERRIBLE DECISION

Following their woes on the court, the Indiana Fever made a move that angered everyone across the sports landscape.

On June 2, independent journalist Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files revealed that the Fever revoked his credentials and will not allow him access to cover team events effective immediately. Fever management alleged Agness of spreading “inaccurate and unsubstantiated information” regarding Caitlin Clark’s back injury.

This decision comes on the heels of the Indiana Pacers revoking Agness’ credential due to allegedly parking in the wrong parking spot. Agness has been covering the Fever and Pacers for over 20 years and has been covering the teams even when they didn’t receive much national attention.

If the Fever thought they could punish a local reporter and not face any consequences, they were VASTLY mistaken.

Here’s a list of national outlets who’ve covered the situation:

Add Black Rosie Media to the list.

Indiana’s conduct has drawn the attention of writers across the basketball community and fans alike.

"The PBWA objects in the strongest possible terms to any reporter losing access for the act of reporting," the Professional Basketball Writers Association said in a statement. "Any effort to prevent reporters from doing the work of informing the public reflects poorly on any team and league which attempts to do so, and runs contrary to the best interests of all involved, most of all the public."

The Pacers and Fever silencing reporting they don’t agree with should raise alarms for everyone, not just those of us in sports journalism.

This set a dangerous precedent, especially as journalistic integrity is already under siege due to Artificial Intelligence, the war cry of “fake news”, and the Wild West of access journalism and influencer culture.

THE CHASE FOR THE CUP

It’s time for the Commissioner’s Cup!

The Cup returns for its sixth season, and the prizes have risen. This year, the team that captures the Cup will access a $500,000 prize pool. Each individual player from the winning team will receive $30,000 and the charity of their choice will receive $10,000.

Now, we’ve talked about the increase in pay thanks to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. So winning an extra $30k isn’t all that much, right?

“$30,000 is $30,000,” Jonquel Jones joked on June 1.

True!

JJ added:

“I think the Commissioner’s Cup is a great thing. I think it’s a way to mix things up during the season and to have high stakes games in the middle of the season, too. I was probably one of the critics early when they first introduced it, [saying] “Why are we doing this in the middle of the season?” But the more I’ve played it, the more I’ve enjoyed it. I think it’s great for our league. And $30,000 is $30,000!”

The Cup offers teams and players games where they can build on their early success from May, see how they measure up in high pressure situations, and has a great financial reward for them and the local community at the end.

The Cup is one of the best decisions Cathy Engelbert has made as Commissioner, and the games should be incredibly fun to watch.

Here’s the schedule for the next few days

At Black Rosie Media, we love to give flowers to other writers and creators in the women’s basketball community.

Here’s what we’re reading:

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