Lin Dunn: UConn Bad for the Game

[DobbsRover2]

Though what Dunn says has some validity for the small group of devoted fans of WCBB who might love seeing a contest that was open to all instead of knowing that their teams have little chance without a series of catastrophes for UConn, the fact is that most of the country is not counted as devout WCBB fans and really all they want is a handle to hang their one factoid about a sport. For WCBB it's UConn, for NCAA women's soccer it's North Carolina, and the two schools can battle it out in the field hockey semi today and then the winner can maybe knock off Duke or MD to become the handle for that sport.

As many studies of sports fans have shown, fans love having a Goliath for their teams to upset, or love being Goliath lovers.

 

[meyers7]

yeah, but I like parody too!

Actually I like parody better.

 

[Wonkster]

... There's no question most schools don't take women's hoops that seriously, but in fairness, I doubt UConn would have been much different absent Geno. The coaching talent pool seems pretty shallow and, as I've said before, how long does anyone think a major men's basketball program would keep coaches like Landers and Perreta nearly as long as they've been at their schools? The attitude, for better or worse, is different.

I think you mean to say "Blame the Athletic Directors," and I agree with that. If they had any balls they'd find a really good high school basketball coach and take a chance. But no, they routinely hire hacks with uninspiring records simply because the new choice was once a head coach at some college.

 

[hjoerring]

I think Linn is losing it- her attempt at 'clarification', notwithstanding. There have been many discussions on the Boneyard about the real diff between the top 5-10 hs girls and the next 10. Perhaps not much to brag about. Other schools have had their share of top 20 kids and they have not done much. Stanford has not always reeled in the top 10 kids, but they do a phen. job and managed to go to the final 4 all the time, just about. Coaching, rigid selections and high standards, etc. Remove Uconn, Stanford, ND, etc and what do we have-- a lot of profiling .....

 

[Fishy]

UConn's dominance is pretty good for us.

Especially after the way UConn was treated by the media in conference realignment, my concern for the welfare of athletic programs no longer extends more than an inch off the UConn campus.

UConn's bad for the game? Everyone else should either get better or go pound sand.

 

[pap49cba]

She would have made more sense if she'd said Geno is bad for wcbb.

 

[huskyblooz]

what about Duke's dynasty?

 

[bschwartz]

In fairness to her, she may be tired of losing WNBA championships to teams with UConn Alum. We should all send her some cheese to go with her whine.

 

[connboy77]

what about Duke's dynasty?

Duke has never won a National Championship so I would hardly call it "Duke's dynasty".

 

[bschwartz]

what about Duke's dynasty?

You had a typo. It is Duck Dynasty. There is no Duke Dynasty although the football team is actually good this year.

 

[DobbsRover2]

what about Duke's dynasty?

You mean the one from the 2004 article titled:

Duke’s women building a dynasty

Well, Gail did have a point. Duke had won 5 straight ACC crowns at that point, which was way more than anything that Husky team up north was going to do in the ACC. Sometimes you just have to define your dynasty. I've won two championships in my fantasy football league over the last four years, so I rightly consider myself a powerful dynasty equivalent in scope to maybe the Tang or Shang dynasties in China.

 

[Blueballer]

I don't remember hearing this crap when TENN was winning all the time. By the way was the same thing said about Wooden's teams?

 

[bruinbball]

In fairness to her, she may be tired of losing WNBA championships to teams with UConn Alum. We should all send her some cheese to go with her whine.

And they had a chance to add a UConn alum in the draft last year and passed her over...

 

[Geno-ista]

Did Lin Dunn think that Baylor's recent run was "Not good" for
WCBB? Or, Tennesee's?

Baylor should have won 3 National Championships with the team they had around Griner---they won only one---- they had the most talented team- hands down. I am more convinced the more I watch- that our raw talent isn't 15-40 pts better than everyone we play- we just play harder and smarter all the time.

 

[Geno-ista]

I don't remember hearing this crap when TENN was winning all the time. By the way was the same thing said about Wooden's teams?

That is the best and most obviously appropriate observation yet------ the fact that Geno is a Male- Is Italian - and is "the way he is" is most of the reason the "status quo" doesn't think Uconn is good for Women's basketball. Great Post Blue Baller---- when it was Tenn/Virginia-Old Domion & LSU--- there probably wasnt many detractors. Pathetic!!!!

 

[boontonbomber]

She's right. Remember how bad heavyweight boxing was when Tyson dominated? Boxing is in such a better place now.

Sports are built on three things:
1) Dynasties
2) Great Rivalries
3) Transcend player(s)

A sport better have 2 out of 3 if it wants to grow. Uconn is carrying WCB right now. She should simply say thank you and be on her way.

so who's the heavyweight champion at the moment? i really don't know.

 

[UcMiami]

UConn hasn't won back to back titles in a while. There are teams out there that can compete.

I know!!! Its been like two years in the wilderness since our last streak ended and our next one began! We were on life support!

But to your real statement - maybe this year is going to be undefeated, but I think she is wrong in stating there is no one competing with Uconn - what is true is there are not enough teams competing. Over the past three years Baylor, ND, Stanford, and aTm could be said to have competed well. So that is 5 at the top and you could add in Duke and Louisville and maybe a few more. That is still a bit meager but it is not insignificant and is an improvement over the early 2000s say.

 

[uconnfan68]

Lin Dunn ‏@coachlindunn 1h
@debbieantonelli @CAROLYNPECK Conn dominating CWBBall not good for our game, Why dont we have 4- 5 teams at top who can beat each other!?

What does she mean by "our" game? The old girls club for mediocre coaches?

 

[HoopsFan21]

Dunn only clarified her comments because she got called out. No reason the original statement could not have been framed better unless this reaction was her intent all along.

 

[bruinbball]

One of the Klitchkos but I only care because I think he is marrying the cheerleader from Heroes. ...

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

[HuskyNan]

What is bad for the game is spoiled kids that think they are gods gift to basketball. They are told they are "special", even though they lack fundamentals. They pick a college based on an opportunity to start as a freshman, and college may be the first time they have heard the word no.

Girls (and boys) get participation trophies, and guaranteed playing time when they are young. Then in AAU they play so many games, winning becomes irrelevant . The word sacrifice is foreign to most of them.

I can't believe 6 people actually Liked this post. Talk about generalization! It's like saying all people of a certain age, ahem, are cranky curmudgeons. Certainly some are, but painting all with such a broad brush is just wrong. And this comes from someone who's constantly in our high school, as a robotics team mentor and now as a band parent.

 

[xHunt3r]

Ehhh, 3 different schools have won the last 3 championships. 5 different schools have won the last 8. Has UConn won more then rest? Yup. Does UConn win "all the time" ?? Nope.

 

[SWHuskyFan]

A dynasty is always good for the sport from a ratings/money point of view. The casual fan is always more interested when there's one team or player that dominates. They either root for them or against them but there's certainly more interest.

From the more serious fan point of view it's only generally more interesting if you're a fan of the dominating team/player.

So my basic premise is that whether it's good for the sport or not is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[msf22b]

UConn's dominance is pretty good for us.

Especially after the way UConn was treated by the media in conference realignment, my concern for the welfare of athletic programs no longer extends more than an inch off the UConn campus.

UConn's bad for the game? Everyone else should either get better or go pound sand.

I certainly subscribe to this argument
But:

I could imagine a hypothetical situation in which UConn (Yukon) was able to complete next season's recruiting class w a tall Southern girl and then come back the following season with a couple more who have been discussed regularly.

Geno has been speaking of late of players who are ready to play, sure, need coaching but whose talent is virtually game ready.

That is a bit of a step up from only a few years ago.

Could lead to a batch of undefeated seasons, National Championships as far as the eye can see.

As Doggy has correctly pointed out, the conference fiasco has had little or no effect on recruits.

Could three or four undefeated seasons cause some justifiable discontent?

Perhaps.

Let's see how this all plays out.

 

[jdubct]

Forget about bad for the game, how about "Bad to the bone."