Parity?

[Aluminny69]

Let's look at the Men's and Women's Sweet Sixteen to compare parity. The Women seeds for sweet sixteen: 4 #1s, 2 #2s, 3 #3s, 2 #4s, 2 #5s, 1 #6, 2 #10a. IOW, 11 favorites, 3 slight upsets, and 2 major upsets.

For the Men: 3 #1s, 2 #2s, 2 #3s, 3 #4s, 1 #5, 1 #8, 1 #10. 2 #11s, and 1 #15. IOW, 10 favorites, 1 slight upset, and 5 major upsets.

Still much more parity in the Men's game.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Let's look at the Men's and Women's Sweet Sixteen to compare parity. The Women seeds for sweet sixteen: 4 #1s, 2 #2s, 3 #3s, 2 #4s, 2 #5s, 1 #6, 2 #10a. IOW, 11 favorites, 3 slight upsets, and 2 major upsets.

For the Men: 3 #1s, 2 #2s, 2 #3s, 3 #4s, 1 #5, 1 #8, 1 #10. 2 #11s, and 1 #15. IOW, 10 favorites, 1 slight upset, and 5 major upsets.

Still much more parity in the Men's game.

Not all that surprising to me given that during the time most of today's players were in high school, there were roughly 1/3 more boys playing HS basketball than girls. When you have a greater talent pool to pick from, there will be more depth farther down the rankings. And since you have one-and-dones in basketball, it's much harder to sustain dynastic teams the way that UConn, for example, can keep infusing new top 5 recruits onto its roster every season without having to lose all its prior top 5 recruits.

 

[LoboDays]

It’s not men’s vs Women’s. It’s the progress. There are more Women’s teams today that can put a competitive team on the floor. A team with the ability to upset a top team. Wasn’t long ago when a top team could have a terrible game and it didn’t matter because the opponent had no chance anyway. Now, there are a lot more teams that can beat a top team from time to time. The sport is headed in the right direction.

 

[Plebe]

Let's look at the Men's and Women's Sweet Sixteen to compare parity. The Women seeds for sweet sixteen: 4 #1s, 2 #2s, 3 #3s, 2 #4s, 2 #5s, 1 #6, 2 #10a. IOW, 11 favorites, 3 slight upsets, and 2 major upsets.

For the Men: 3 #1s, 2 #2s, 2 #3s, 3 #4s, 1 #5, 1 #8, 1 #10. 2 #11s, and 1 #15. IOW, 10 favorites, 1 slight upset, and 5 major upsets.

Still much more parity in the Men's game.

I agree with @TheFarmFan that the talent pool on the men's side is just a lot broader and deeper, but no question that the potential for upsets is even further suppressed on the women's side due to the home-court format of the first weekend. The entire men's tournament is played on neutral courts.

 

[LETTERL]

It’s not men’s vs Women’s. It’s the progress. There are more Women’s teams today that can put a competitive team on the floor. A team with the ability to upset a top team. Wasn’t long ago when a top team could have a terrible game and it didn’t matter because the opponent had no chance anyway. Now, there are a lot more teams that can beat a top team from time to time. The sport is headed in the right direction.

Exactly. The WCBB NCAAT used to be so predictable...and it wasn't oh so long ago. Now, noone can be sure who is going to win the games, especially in the earlier rounds of the tournament. It has made things much more exciting and interesting for fans of the sport...and I'm sure, much more stressful for the ones running the teams!

 

[triaddukefan]

Let's look at the Men's and Women's Sweet Sixteen to compare parity. The Women seeds for sweet sixteen: 4 #1s, 2 #2s, 3 #3s, 2 #4s, 2 #5s, 1 #6, 2 #10a. IOW, 11 favorites, 3 slight upsets, and 2 major upsets.

For the Men: 3 #1s, 2 #2s, 2 #3s, 3 #4s, 1 #5, 1 #8, 1 #10. 2 #11s, and 1 #15. IOW, 10 favorites, 1 slight upset, and 5 major upsets.

Still much more parity in the Men's game.

Take out the SEC (both) and the Big 10 (mens).. and the amount of upsets diminishes greatly

 

[UcMiami]

I actually think more than the players, the coaches are just getting a lot better down the ranks in WCBB - Seton Hall for example was willing to keep a terrible coach for 25 years because the admin just didn't care, not making waves was more important than performance as a coach. Good coaching and commitment can make mediocre players in to a really good team.

Yeah, I think the breadth of talented players has broadened, but the majority of the best players are still committing to a fairly small universe of schools which continue to populate the top end of the rankings.

 

[bballnut90]

Let's look at the Men's and Women's Sweet Sixteen to compare parity. The Women seeds for sweet sixteen: 4 #1s, 2 #2s, 3 #3s, 2 #4s, 2 #5s, 1 #6, 2 #10a. IOW, 11 favorites, 3 slight upsets, and 2 major upsets.

For the Men: 3 #1s, 2 #2s, 2 #3s, 3 #4s, 1 #5, 1 #8, 1 #10. 2 #11s, and 1 #15. IOW, 10 favorites, 1 slight upset, and 5 major upsets.

Still much more parity in the Men's game.

If womens games are on neutral courts, there's a very good chance of up to 8 major upsets on the women's side. Strong chance Arizona, Iowa State and LSU don't make it out of the 1st round and UCONN/Tennessee/Indiana all lose in the 2nd round. I can't remember a year like this.

 

[Dynastic]

Transfer portal = parity