Raven Johnson should be chilling and preparing for a tough matchup against UConn in the Final Four, after disposing of No.3 seed TCU (78-52) in an Elite 8 matchup on Monday night.
Johnson scored 10 points with 8 rebounds and six assists in the game.
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While Johnson hasn’t said anything to give her opponent any bulletin board material, she did appear on a podcast to drop a megabomb on basketball, claiming that the women’s game is more skilled than men’s basketball.
“If you watch the NBA it’s a one man show… if you’re watching women’s basketball you’re watching people COMPETE,” Johnson said in a recent interview on “I Am Athlete,” podcast.
Johnson is Dawn Staley’s do-it-all senior leader, averaging over 10 points, about four rebounds and more than five assists a game. Her all-around contributions are crucial to South Carolina’s chance to capture Staley’s fourth National Championship and stop defending-champion UConn from making a mockery of the tournament once again.
“I think women’s basketball is more skilled than men’s basketball. I think so,” Johnson said.
“I feel we put our blood, sweat and tears into it just like the men put theirs,” Johnson continued.
Johnson’s point is noted. There is a narrative that some carry that the women’s game is less one-on-one basketball and is more pleasing to the eyes for basketball pursuits. That’s debatable, but we understand where Johnson is going with this.
Fans, however, had their varying opinions in response.
“I mean less and less people are watching men lol she ain’t wrong,” one fan said in support of Johnson.
“She not lyin they’re much more fundamentally sound, especially since most cannot dunk..” said another.
“She aint lie. Not one lie was told. I don’t disagree,” a third fan said.
There were plenty of male fans who thought Johnson’s comments were absurd and setting herself up for retaliation.
“Female athletes have to stop setting themselves up for slander. Its okay to hype up women’s basketball without lying about men’s basketball,” one fan noted on X.
“Why black woman always wanna compete with men? Why can’t she just talk about women’s basketball,” another quipped.
“Better team doesn’t mean better skill. They rely more on each other because of their lack of skill,” one fan on X clarified.
