Caitlin Clark is the biggest story in all of sports right now, but her adjustment to the WNBA hasn’t gone as seamlessly as many expected.

Clark and her Fever squad are currently sitting at 3-10 on the year and following their latest 89-72 loss against the Connecticut Sun, her head coach Christie Sides called out the team for their lack of effort.

It is expected for a team that is centered around a rookie to struggle, but it has also become abundantly clear that opposing teams are going that much harder at Clark.

Something we saw with the Chennedy Carter incident, and just in the way that teams are choosing to guard Clark as she often picked up full-court and at times has seen as many as three defenders blitz her when she has the ball.

However, Clark’s college coach at Iowa, Lisa Bluder, recently revealed in an interview with the Washington Post that the league itself isn’t helping the young star and recent No. 1 pick get acclimated by any means.

Feb 15, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts with head coach Lisa Bluder after the game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against the Michigan Wolverines. During the game Clark would break the NCAA women’s all-time scoring record. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

When talking with Sally Jenkins, Bluder highlighted two major factors that she believes have hurt Clark more than helped, starting with the number of games the Fever started the season off with and who they played against.

“I’m looking at it from Caitlin’s perspective and nobody else’s because I’m biased right? The League did them no favors by this unbelievable schedule they had to begin with,” said Bluder referring to the Fever playing the most games in the opening month of the season.

“It was grueling and you know playing the best teams right off the bat, I’m not sure that that was smart. Who knows, I don’t know about scheduling in the WNBA Sally, so I am no expert on this but to me they did them no favors in starting her career like that with no rest…and playing so many games in such a short amount of time.”

Bluder also singled out an aspect of the league that she thinks is due for a change.

“I feel like the officiating has got to change,” said Bluder. “I feel like its’ got to get better and I feel like there has to be a little more freedom of movement. For example, people want to see people score and right now the league is very physical and they almost brag about how physical it is and how…tough it is.

People really like offense and they like to see people score. I mean that’s what our team did last year and so I think you’re going to have a little bit more freedom of movement with the officials in order for that to happen.”

The physicality has been the most glaring aspect that Clark has struggled with, which is to be expected when making the jump to the professional level. However, clearly not everyone is loving what the WNBA has been hanging their hat on.

Bluder retired following Clark’s last collegiate season, which marked the second year in a row that they made the title game. While it is unclear if she would have any interest in it, fans have already been calling for her to replace Sides as the Fever’s head coach.