<p>UConn is about to defeat Notre Dame. If they win it will be their 9th women’s national championship and their 4th or 5th undefeated season. An absolutely fantastic program that typically has very personally appealing student-athletes. I really enjoy women’s college basketball, but a comment from a sportscaster got me wondering. He argued that it will be hard for the women’s game to match the wide appeal (and overall financial success, meaning the tournament) of the men’s program because of the frequent lopsided scores in the women’s games. In his opinion too many games are just not competitive enough. I am sure that the fans of each winning team would disagree, but maybe he has a point. I just checked the season results for UConn. Their closest game was 11 points and that was a rare occasion. The women regularly won by 18 points or more. Even over top ranked competition like Baylor U, last year’s champions.</p>
<p>Is the criticism unfair? Did people complain when the great John Wooden frequently beat opponents, even very good opponents, by 25 points or more? Will fans continue fill the arenas if they know the game will be a blowout?</p>
<p>I think it is a problem, but I have no solution. Gino is simply one of the greatest coaches in any sport- ever- no matter what we may think of his personality. The strong programs attract the strongest athletes- and it seems more concentrated in women’s sports. </p>
<p>I wonder how he would do coaching a men’s program?</p>
<p>GP- would he have the better players?</p>
<p>Gino has been given the opportunity to move to other programs. He has declined…so far. </p>
<p>I agree, he is a fabulous coach but he also has a great coaching and recruiting TEAM…Chris Daley, Tina Charles, Shea Ralph…who else? It’s a team effort with an outstanding steward. </p>
<p>And because of their success, they do attract top athletes.</p>
<p>But UConn women have had less than stellar seasons as well. </p>
<p>Last night’s game would have been more competitive if ND’s center hadn’t torn her ACL 2 games ago. It’s still likely UConn would’ve won though.</p>
<p>It’s not longer automatic that UConn gets the top players coming out of HS. Schools like ND, Baylor, Tenn, South Carolina, UNC, Duke and Louisville are also attracting those players, so maybe in time there will be more competition. I think it’s unlikely that women’s basketball will ever garner the sustained popularity of men’s basketball, and I’m a fan of both.</p>
<p>But aren’t the NDs, Baylors, Tennessees, Carolinas and Dukes already beating the daylights out of their competition, just like Connecticut? They do compete well with one another, but its the other 100 or so division 1 women’s teams that they typically embarrass with blowouts. I think that was the sportscaster’s point; that the talent in women’s basketball is very concentrated and uneven.</p>
<p>Even in John Wooden’s day, UCLA would be occasionally upset by so-so teams like Oregon and Oregon State. However, in the women’s game today you rarely see the top half dozen teams being upset. On paper the top teams in the women’s game are evenly matched, but the rest of the field are literally “the Sisters of the Poor,” to use a sports metaphor.</p>
<p>Your point is valid, but, even in the men’s game, there are some really bad teams that get beat consistently. Look at the standings of any of the men’s conferences and see what the records are of teams at the bottom of those conferences. </p>
<p>The talent in women’s basketball is more concentrated than in men’s, but I think we’re starting to see them spread among more teams than even 10 years ago. Another part of the problem is that women’s basketball doesn’t get the same investment of money, energy, and resources at alot of schools that men’s basketball gets, so if you’re a good women’s basketball player you’d probably prefer to go to a school where your sport is appreciated. It kind of becomes a vicious cycle.</p>
<p>Just want to say hello to fellow fans of women’s college basketball! My daughter and I have been following it for years. Who do you think will be the top 5 draft picks? Do you think the tournament play changed anyone’s chances? </p>
<p>"…so if you’re a good women’s basketball player you’d probably prefer to go to a school where your sport is appreciated. It kind of becomes a vicious cycle."</p>
<p>No doubt you’re right about that, Shellfell. Top programs like Connecticut and Tennessee essentially stockpile star players, just like UCLA in the Wooden era. And yeah, it was worse when Stanford and Texas were the only women’s superpowers in basketball. That’s one of the reasons I often rooted for the gals from Louisiana Tech back in the day; a great program at an obscure college. Don’t know if we will ever see another winning program come out of nowhere like LaTech, or the Jackie Stiles (“the female Michael Jordan”) teams from SW Missouri State.</p>
<p>I think it’s possible for a star player like Jackie Stiles at SW Missouri State or Elena Della Donne at UDel to make their teams competitive and relevant for as long as they’re students there, but once they’re gone, those programs drop again. </p>
<p>missypie - I think Chiney Ogumike will be the top pick. After that, I think Odyssey Sims, Alyssa Thomas, Stef Dolson, and Kayla McBride are likely to be among the top picks. Alot of it depends on what the particular needs are of each WNBA team.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with the commentator. I am a women’s sports enthusiast and I turned off the game at half time. It is not good for the game when the same few teams win all the championships. You could basically fill,out the women’s bracket going straight chalk and be correct 80+% of the time. OTOH, the men’s bracket is totally nuts by the end of the first weekend. Much more compelling.</p>