The physicality and the inconsistent foul calls imbued into the WNBA culture have brought out reactions from several renowned players and coaches over the last couple of months. Despite WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s claim, back in July, that she would look into remedying the officials’ situation, nothing has happened. While this continues making the games tougher for the veterans, it is no picnic walk for the newly arrived players either. After all, for people like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, it represents the opposite of what they have been taught.

A few hours ago, WNBA legend and 4x league champion Sue Bird hosted another episode of her ‘A Touch More With Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe’ show. ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco joined as her guest. During the conversation, Ruocco said the most “crystallizing” thing he observed this season regarding officiating came from Paige Bueckers’ remarks.

The Dallas Wings rookie and No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft went viral in July after saying, “I’ve had to learn how to defend while fouling again. In college there was such a focus for me to defend while not fouling. And here I’ve realized I can get away with this”. Ruocco then emphasized that Bueckers didn’t have any hidden agenda. She was simply reacting honestly to what she experienced on the court. He further noted that while the comments shed light on officiating, the responsibility shouldn’t fall solely on the referees.

“Like I see it with my eyes calling the games. And so, yeah, maybe you can defend by the letter of the law certain things are being called certain ways or not called certain ways based on how the game is currently, you know, outlined with the rules. But I think there probably should be some level of public acknowledgement, you know, from the league level, whether it’s…. whether it’s from as high as the commissioner’s office, or whether it’s from, you know, our, you know, our officiating body, or whether it’s, you know, from other places when you talk about competition committees, whatever” said Ruocco.

Now, that is very similar to what Paige Bueckers’ college coach, Geno Auriemma, recently said regarding the physicality in the W. “And I don’t blame the officials… I don’t think it’s the people actually officiating the games. I think it’s what’s either in the rulebook or what’s accepted as, ‘This is the style of play that we want.’ Because if they didn’t want that style of play, they wouldn’t have it”.

The ESPN analyst also added that “I think it probably would go a long way to help the conversation to just have some sort of public acknowledgement of ‘look, we’ve heard so many of the biggest voices in our game express their feelings this year about the way the game play is unfolding and you know we are going to give it a really thorough review and make sure we’re working in conjunction with our partners to try and find a best path forward.”

The focus on the calls Paige Bueckers was getting came to the spotlight during a matchup between the Dallas Wings and the Indiana Fever back in August. Two minutes into the game, the Dallas guard landed on Sophie Cunningham’s foot after she jumped for a 3-point attempt. That call was upgraded to a flagrant 1 foul, thanks to which Bueckers got three free throws.

However, during the later part of the game, Dallas guard Grace Berger landed on Kelsey Mitchell’s foot after a 3-point attempt from Mitchell. Berger was not called for a flagrant foul, with the officials telling the scorer’s table it was because Mitchell landed on two feet before Berger landed on Mitchell’s foot. It is important to remember that, in both cases, the defender impeded the landing space, and the shooter fell to the ground. Yet, there was inconsistency in how the plays were called. 

Also, even Caitlin Clark has highlighted this gap in physicality between college basketball and the WNBA, though in a different way. “I love women’s college basketball. But if you go back and watch the way people guarded me in college, it’s almost, like, concerning. They didn’t double me, they didn’t trap me, they weren’t physical.”

One of the most recent incidents of physicality in W that occurred was during Game 3 of the Lynx-Mercury series. Alyssa Thomas stole the ball from Napheesa Collier near the Lynx’s three-point line and converted a layup. During the steal, Thomas’s lower body collided with Collier’s left knee, causing her ankle to roll. When Thomas wasn’t fouled over the same, the referee received an earful from Cheryl Reeve, the Lynx head coach. The action caused Reeve to be ejected from the game and suspended from the next game.

It is not as if Cathy Engelbert hasn’t addressed these issues. However, she hasn’t done so well, prompting a renowned analyst to call her out over the same.

Rachel A. DeMita Criticizes Cathy Engelbert Over Response to Better Officiating

A few days ago, in the aftermath of Cheryl Reeve’s ejection, Rachel A. DeMita hosted another segment of her ‘Courtside Club’ show. She addressed the incident involving the Lynx head coach and said, “We have seen far too many contact injuries this season. And I also tweeted this last night, and I’m also going to stand by this. I said Cathy needs to say something publicly after this. She cannot keep hiding behind meaningless fines and ignoring the chaos happening daily in her league.”

The WNBA commissioner did publicly address the lapses in officiating once this year, right? Well, Rachel A. DeMita did highlight that moment on her show, which took place during one of Engelbert’s recent interviews. During the same, the WNBA commissioner was asked about the steps the league is taking to ensure fair and consistent calls during the playoff games.

In response, Engelbert said that this issue comes up every year, and “in every sport”. To her, this means that people care. Cathy Engelbert gave some assurance by stating, “So, as our game evolves, we’ll continue to work hard on officiating.” Unfortunately, that response didn’t do much to please the WNBA analyst.

“I can’t get past that every time it comes up about officiating, she’s like, ‘Well, every sport complains about officiating.’ It’s so glaring in the WNBA. And a lot of new fans who came into the WNBA are shocked by what goes on in these games,” DeMita added. “The level of physicality, the mantra of, oh, it’s just a physical league.”

Cathy Engelbert’s WNBA is also allegedly sending a signal that criticism about the officiating will not be tolerated. While players like Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham have received fines for calling out referees, coaches like Stephanie White have even been fined for defending Cheryl Reeve over her viewpoint. Until these issues are addressed, Paige Bueckers and others will have to continue playing in a manner they weren’t accustomed to in college.