The Indiana Fever taking on the Las Vegas Aces was easily the most memorable first-round matchup of the WNBA playoffs, but all for the wrong reasons, according to former college basketball player and analyst Rachel DeMita.

On the latest episode of the Courtside Club on YouTube, DeMita pointed out two key reasons why Game 3 of the Aces-Fever series was a hard watch and that she did not enjoy watching.

First, she revealed how the broadcasters did not do a good job covering the game and how it felt like even they were confused about what was going on on the court and between plays.

“I have to call out the broadcast as well. Like, there were so many moments during the game, and us as fans didn’t even know what was going on because the broadcasters didn’t know what was going on. And so like that’s actually unacceptable in the playoffs. Like the WNBA, if they want to be respected as a real league, like, that is truly unacceptable,” DeMita said.

At one point midway through the first quarter, Aces player Brianna Turner joined the Indiana Fever’s impromptu huddle, consisting of Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, Lexie Hull, and Makalya Timpson, while the officials reviewed a play involving Hull and Aces star A’ja Wilson.

Turner, who is Clark’s former teammate, was pushed out of the huddle by the Fever star. Turner flailed back following the shove. This interaction between Turner and Clark resulted in offsetting double technical fouls, which meant no team will take any free throws.

According to DeMita, she, alongside other viewers, was not aware of this situation until the very end, as even the commentators were confused about what the officials were actually reviewing: the incident between Hull and Wilson or the altercation between Clark and Turner. This is why DeMita was critical, as the broadcasting was not reliable or up to standard.

Rachel DeMita’s second gripe is something which can now be deemed as evergreen in the WNBA: officiating.

“Game one, there was a really tight whistle,” she added. “They were blowing the whistle constantly. There were a lot of ticky-tacky fouls that they were calling. Game two, both teams were beating the pulp out of one another.”

Referees were once again the focal point of the Aces-Fever series, and while DeMita thought the calls would get better in Game 3, it was quite the opposite.

“Game three, I expected them to call it tighter, but the referees did not know what was going on. And there were also multiple times that they didn’t review things that should have been reviewed,” DeMita also said.

With just under nine minutes remaining in the second quarter, Brianna Turner hooked Lexie Hull’s arm and dragged her to the ground while the two fought for position in the paint. However, it was Hull who received a foul, while Fever head coach Stephanie White was issued a technical foul for disputing the decision from the sidelines.

The next controversial call involved Caitlin Clark, who was having a frustrating night from the field. In the final four minutes of the last quarter, Aces guard Jewell Lloyd elbowed Clark while trying to gather an offensive rebound.

It was an ugly clash, as Clark tried to reason with the officials for a foul on Lloyd, showing her bloodied gum. However, the officials chose not to review the potential flagrant foul.

Caitlin Clark and officiating go a long way, and this marked another chapter of her long-running discourse with refereeing. In the end, the Aces proved to be too much for the exhausted Fever, taking the win and the series to march on to the semifinals, where they will face the Golden State Valkyries.