Carnac
That venerable sage from the west
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Excerpts from ESPN’s "Around the Rim" Podcast with LaChina Robinson and Chiney Ogwumike - Air date: March 23,2016
They’re joined by ESPN's Debbie Antonelli. Plus, Seattle Storm's Sue Bird joins to weigh in on UCONN's dominance and if the Huskies can compete in the WNBA.
Thoughts shared in this show:
People that want more parity in women’s college basketball, got it during this past NCAA WCBB tournament. You had a #1 seed (UConn, a #2 seed (Oregon State), a #4 seed (Syracuse), and a #7 seed (Washington) in the final four.
The Pac-12 was one of the better conferences in WCBB this year. Two of their teams made it to the final four. #4 Stanford (Pac-12) knocked #1 Notre Dame out of the tournament. #2 Oregon knocked off #1 Baylor.
Antonelli - "UConn is not bad for the game. Shame on us for not being able to play and execute for 40 minutes against them. He (Geno) gets 3 McDonald’s All-Americans. There are 17 others, where did they go? Its not on Geno. He needs to keep doing what he’s doing". LaChina (in the back ground) is imploring her to preach.
Antonelli’s ideas on how to grow the women’s game: (3 major areas)
1. More offensive scoring. She erged the players to get in the gym, and work on their craft.
2. Re-brand and separation of the corporate partner program, increase the cynergy, and get a new entity to sell the women’s program there during that time period.
Remove the four regionals. Move the sweet 16 to Las Vegas, similar to what they do in Oklahoma City and Omaha for softball and baseball. Going to Vegas would attempt to tap-in to the 18-35 year old male demographic market.
She suggested that there’s no better place to hold a basketball tournament than Las Vegas. 2 men’s & 1 women’s conference hold their conference tournaments there in every March.
3. Begin an offensive incentive Plan - If a team shoots 45% from the floor against like competition and like teams in conference play, combined with less than 14 turnovers a game, the league (all the leagues) commissioners would put aside some $$$ and reward that school with a monetary payment.
She used the SEC as an example: She suggests $100,000 to that school for the women’s basketball program to use in whatever way they see fit. Antonelli related that she spent 8 years in collegiate athletics in marketing at Kentucky and Ohio State, responsible for promoting women’s basketball.
She said: "it comes down to who can score. Everything else, the 4 p’s: product, price, promotion and place. It’s about the product first. If you don’t have a good product, nobody is going to buy it. That’s the way we need to looking at our game. Our product has to get better. Some "dramatic" needs to be done.
Sue Bird - They addressed the Dan Shaughnessy matter which we’ve already discussed ad nauseum. She also addressed ow hard Uconn’s practices are, and how each player is held accountable on every play, in every practice, everyday. Bird said they would look forward to games, because they were always easier than practices. As far as a UConn team playing an WNBA tean, Bird said they wouldn't have a chance. The worst team in the W could beat them. The players are all older, smarter, faster and savvier.
You can listen to the podcast in it's entirety here: Only Four Remain
OK everybody, chime in.
They’re joined by ESPN's Debbie Antonelli. Plus, Seattle Storm's Sue Bird joins to weigh in on UCONN's dominance and if the Huskies can compete in the WNBA.
Thoughts shared in this show:
People that want more parity in women’s college basketball, got it during this past NCAA WCBB tournament. You had a #1 seed (UConn, a #2 seed (Oregon State), a #4 seed (Syracuse), and a #7 seed (Washington) in the final four.
The Pac-12 was one of the better conferences in WCBB this year. Two of their teams made it to the final four. #4 Stanford (Pac-12) knocked #1 Notre Dame out of the tournament. #2 Oregon knocked off #1 Baylor.
Antonelli - "UConn is not bad for the game. Shame on us for not being able to play and execute for 40 minutes against them. He (Geno) gets 3 McDonald’s All-Americans. There are 17 others, where did they go? Its not on Geno. He needs to keep doing what he’s doing". LaChina (in the back ground) is imploring her to preach.
Antonelli’s ideas on how to grow the women’s game: (3 major areas)
1. More offensive scoring. She erged the players to get in the gym, and work on their craft.
2. Re-brand and separation of the corporate partner program, increase the cynergy, and get a new entity to sell the women’s program there during that time period.
Remove the four regionals. Move the sweet 16 to Las Vegas, similar to what they do in Oklahoma City and Omaha for softball and baseball. Going to Vegas would attempt to tap-in to the 18-35 year old male demographic market.
She suggested that there’s no better place to hold a basketball tournament than Las Vegas. 2 men’s & 1 women’s conference hold their conference tournaments there in every March.
3. Begin an offensive incentive Plan - If a team shoots 45% from the floor against like competition and like teams in conference play, combined with less than 14 turnovers a game, the league (all the leagues) commissioners would put aside some $$$ and reward that school with a monetary payment.
She used the SEC as an example: She suggests $100,000 to that school for the women’s basketball program to use in whatever way they see fit. Antonelli related that she spent 8 years in collegiate athletics in marketing at Kentucky and Ohio State, responsible for promoting women’s basketball.
She said: "it comes down to who can score. Everything else, the 4 p’s: product, price, promotion and place. It’s about the product first. If you don’t have a good product, nobody is going to buy it. That’s the way we need to looking at our game. Our product has to get better. Some "dramatic" needs to be done.
Sue Bird - They addressed the Dan Shaughnessy matter which we’ve already discussed ad nauseum. She also addressed ow hard Uconn’s practices are, and how each player is held accountable on every play, in every practice, everyday. Bird said they would look forward to games, because they were always easier than practices. As far as a UConn team playing an WNBA tean, Bird said they wouldn't have a chance. The worst team in the W could beat them. The players are all older, smarter, faster and savvier.
You can listen to the podcast in it's entirety here: Only Four Remain
OK everybody, chime in.
