“That’s such a slap in the face to every WNBA player”: When Geno Auriemma talked about Caitlin Clark’s MVP odds

Geno Auriemma, UConn Huskies coach, was not pleased with the WNBA MVP odds last year. While Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson won the 2024 WNBA MVP, Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark finished third. According to Fox Sports, Clark had +7,500 odds to become the MVP.

Clark was awarded the 2024 Rookie of the Year after her stellar performances. In a conversation with SNY in June last year, Auriemma expressed his disappointment in the MVP odds, the impact it had on Clark's performances and what it meant for other players in the league.

"I do really feel for anybody who's in that situation, and that's happened to a lot of athletes over the years, where they become a cause rather than just an athlete trying to play a game, you know, they become a movement.

"You know, like I said earlier, they actually had odds that you know, she was like third or fourth in the betting odds to be MVP at WNBA, that's such a slap in the face to every WNBA player," Geno Auriemma said.

He talked about the odds and also admitted that Clark had nothing to do with them.

"It's unbelievable. It comes from a place where people want it so bad, but it's misguided, and certainly she's not driving it. She's not out there campaigning for it. She's handling her own playing, she has good days, she has bad days, she makes shots, she does not make shots," Geno Auriemma said.

Clark averaged 19.2 points on 41.7% shooting, including 34.4% from the three-point line and 90.6% from the charity stripe in her debut season. She also grabbed 5.7 rebounds, dished out 8.4 assists, stole the ball 1.3 times and recorded 0.7 blocks in 35.4 minutes per game in 40 games.

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Why did Geno Auriemma skip on signing Caitlin Clark?

In an interview with CT Insider in April last year, Geno Auriemma discussed why he did not recruit Clark, citing that he had already committed to Paige Beuckers to lead the backcourt.

"Well, there's a lot of kids we didn't recruit and there's a lot of kids who don't want to go to UConn," Auriemma said. "I committed to Paige Bueckers very, very early and it would have been silly for me to say to Paige, 'Hey listen, we're going to put you in the backcourt and then I'm going to try really hard to recruit Caitlin Clark.' I don't do it that way."

Auriemma has not made many changes to his roster heading into next season. He only added five-star point guard, Kelis Fisher, who ranks No. 17 nationally, fifth in her position and second in Florida, per On3's Industry Rankings.