$1.8 million NIL-valued Angel Reese drops a bold take following Sweet 16 win over UCLA: "We're the good villains"

LSU star Angel Reese registered a double-double of 16 points, 11 rebounds and 1 assist during the Tigers' 78-69 win against the No. 2 seeded UCLA Bruins in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

During her postgame news conference, the $1.8 million NIL-valued Reese (as per On3) revealed her thoughts on how the LSU Tigers are perceived by fans all over the country.

“We’re the good villains,” Angel Reese said. “Everybody wants to beat LSU. Everybody wants to be LSU. Everybody wants to play against LSU. You’ve got to realize, like, we’re not any regular basketball team. Coach (Kim Mulkey) talks about it all the time; she calls us ‘The Beatles.’"

Reese also elaborated on how the Tigers have changed the cultural outlook of women's college basketball ever since they won the national championship a year ago.

"People run after our bus. People are coming to our games. You’re seeing sellouts, you’re seeing people buying jerseys, you’re seeing more sellouts than the men. We’re impacting the game so much, and all of us are super competitive and want to win and do whatever it takes to win. We’re just changing the game,” Reese said.

Angel Reese rewarded with a clash against Caitlin Clark

The Albany 2 Region bracket was the toughest, with No. 2 seeds, the UCLA Bruins containing Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice while the Iowa Hawkeyes had Caitlin Clark and Sydney Affolter.

Inevitably, the Tigers have prevailed to set up a titanic clash against last year's national championship game opponents, the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight which should be perceived as a gift for Reese.

This matchup is especially significant for Reese, who faced criticism last year despite winning the Most Outstanding Player award during the Final Four, with some fans arguing that Caitlin Clark deserved it more for her back-to-back 40-point games.

Since then, the fates of the two student-athletes have been tied together as they compete for supremacy as the face of college basketball.

Clark's exploits have been closely watched as she has blitzed records. Meanwhile, Reese has remained one of the best women's college basketball players expertly guiding her team to three wins away from a repeat national championship.

And yet, Clark is the favorite to win the National Player of the Year again while Angel Reese was left out of the final shortlist of four which contained USC Trojans freshman JuJu Watkins.

A face-off against Clark and the Hawkeyes presents a golden opportunity for Reese to showcase her talents. Should Angel Reese prevail again, she would be 2-0 over perhaps the greatest ever college basketball player.