Why I love the women's game

[phil sampieri]

I think you are being a bit over-simplistic. While there is a chasm, it is usually between the top 4 or so and the rest. And many seasons, including this one, there is a gulf between UConn and the rest.

The gap has little to do with fundamental skills (a problem from top to bottom in recruiting) and BBIQ which is related. In general, most coaches find it deplorable and this has been discussed many times on this board. Rather, the gap mostly results from the quality of players that the top teams have recruited and the quality of the coaching.

While I see in the men's side is that teams don't usually create the distance between themselves and an opponent that is often seen in a women's game - and can score points faster than is typical in the women's game, as well. Lesser teams that pull upsets often do so on buzzer beaters, or by a point or 2; often a not very good team loses to a better team by only a few points - in the women's game, more often there is a bigger gap.

In the women's game the players stay for the 4 years or more depending on injuries. In the men's game the best players are gone in a year or 2
Not a good chance to build a dynasty.Look back to UNLV or UCLA when players had to stay in school.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Top 4? Is L'ville that much better than CVS's RU? I think not and RU isn't even ranked. One of the Arizona teams is highly ranked and the other just won their 1st Pac12 game this weekend....guess who won by 20?Yup the unranked also ran with only 7 players on there roster healthy enough to play!! Even Stanford got walloped this weekend! Maybe UConn and ND then everybody's in the next 50 or so teams can be had though their are probably 3 tiers...the 2 I mentioned then 3-50 and everyone else. I mean are their 25 teams better with more talent(and very young) than RU? I doubt it.

Um, someone suggested the chasm between the top 8 or 9 and the rest. My argument is that the top very few - it might just be UConn and ND this year - have tended to separate themselves. I would agree more with your viewpoint in this than that of the poster to which I responded.

And I was at the Arizona / ASU game - I live in Tucson, 3 years removed from NJ and and RU grad, and root for both RU and AZ. The game was inexplicable and I wouldn't use it as a poster for anything.

 

[Sonny44]

The men have outgrown the court; the women have not, yet.

 

[Buster]

The men have outgrown the court; the women have not, yet.

Then why don't they raise the men's basket?

 

[NickyNewark]

Um, someone suggested the chasm between the top 8 or 9 and the rest. My argument is that the top very few - it might just be UConn and ND this year - have tended to separate themselves. I would agree more with your viewpoint in this than that of the poster to which I responded.

And I was at the Arizona / ASU game - I live in Tucson, 3 years removed from NJ and and RU grad, and root for both RU and AZ. The game was inexplicable and I wouldn't use it as a poster for anything.

That seems to be the difference between MBB and WBB....inexplicable results! The pool of WBB players is too shallow to have enough depth to produce more then a few dominant teams but saying that I still prefer it to the mens game because of the selfishness of it.But you are correct in that this yr theirs only 2 teams then the rest because Duke and to a lesser degree L'ville are very overrated. I hope their are better teams like RU floating under the radar as depth of competition makes everyone better.Have you seen the video of Sharita Parker from Va on youtube? Imagine RU's backcourt in 2 years? Maybe best all-time?

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Who was hurt?

Khadijah Sessions, our starting point guard. She got hurt her ankle during the game and missed the next 4 or 5 games after that.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

That seems to be the difference between MBB and WBB....inexplicable results! The pool of WBB players is too shallow to have enough depth to produce more then a few dominant teams but saying that I still prefer it to the mens game because of the selfishness of it.But you are correct in that this yr theirs only 2 teams then the rest because Duke and to a lesser degree L'ville are very overrated. I hope their are better teams like RU floating under the radar as depth of competition makes everyone better.Have you seen the video of Sharita Parker from Va on youtube? Imagine RU's backcourt in 2 years? Maybe best all-time?

Nicky hit the nail on the head. For whatever reason, young women are not encouraged to spend time on sports as much as are young men. Let's be honest here; we live in a culture that is still somewhat sexist and there is an attitude among many that women aren't as good at a lot of things. As the son of a feminist, I'll tell you that's a bunch of hogwash. Look at college graduation rates, etc.

 

[Geno-ista]

I was looking at the NCAA stats, and noticing which ones are correlated with success, and which ones not. The assists was, which seemed quite reasonable. I hadn't considered that it might be different for men. Sounds like fodder for a study.

Phil- just a suggestion - if you are looking for stats that correlate with success- i'd start with "wins"! Then work down! xo

 

[UcMiami]

In my case, the reason I became a UConn fan was the quality of play and coaching. I was a fan of women's sports long before. Having a soccer-player daughter can do that.

What amazes me is the chasm between the best 8 or ten womens' teams and the rest. The lack of fundamental skills and game situation awareness (BBIQ if you prefer) in the next 20 or so WCBB teams is absurd. The men's game is a much more even. Let me put it this way: An unranked MCBB team with a losing record can beat a top level team on a given day. Would anyone seriously think that someone below Sagarin's top 25 could beat Geno's team? Not I.

I feel a lot of the evenness in the mens game is achieved simply because the best players leave early so you have a few teams at the top with absolutely mad talent, but little team chemistry because this is the first year they have played together and then you have a bunch of schools with good talent that has been around for three and four years and play a better team game especially on the defensive end. So you end up with inexperienced extreme talent playing against experienced lesser talent and you can get all variety of results.
On the women's side the extreme talent sticks around for 4 years and becomes experienced so the lesser teams do not have any advantage over the top teams.

 

[reno tony]

Then why don't they raise the men's basket?

Geno, is that you?

 

[reno tony]

I prefer most women's sports because there is much less foolishness. I can't stand seeing some 6'11" player dunk the ball, turn to the opposing player and thump his chest. Too much taunting and "Look at me!" stuff goes on in men's sports. I seem to see more sportsmanship in the women's sports as well. But I must admit, I like the weekly top plays in the men's sports. Their athleticism is fantastic.

 

[Wally East]

It also explains why I am always rooting for ... Duke on the men's side.

Well, not to overstate it but you are dead to me. I have literally forgotten everything else you wrote.

 

[Patrick Lilly]

Well, not to overstate it but you are dead to me. I have literally forgotten everything else you wrote.

That gave me a good laugh Wally East….thanks

 

[Buster]

Geno, is that you?

 

[HuskyNan]

BTW, the UConn men had 24 assists on 28 made baskets vs USF the other day. And all of you snobs that disdain men's basketball missed a doozy of a game yesterday.

The men's game has more athletic players that are able to muscle their way into the paint which is why there are more unassisted shots. The UConn guys run an uptempo game and fastbreak baskets aren't always assisted, nor are baskets off steals (you go, Lasan Kromah!). A dunk isn't necessarily a "show me" move; it's a high percentage shot that's very difficult to block. Watch some good teams with great chemistry & teamwork, like the UConn men, and you might change your minds.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Different teams play differently, for both men and women. Watch or don’t watch, but seems fair to me that analysis and/or critique should include having viewed the teams and players in question with more than cursory attention. Yesterdays UCONN men’s game was so much fun…

 

[ctfjr]

The Wooden quote was:
“To me, the best pure basketball I see today … is among the better women’s teams.”

 

[Buster]

Geno, is that you?

No, but if the men have outgrown the court, they should deal with that and not impact the women's game. We're doing just fine, thank you very much!

 

[mauconnfan]

The last 2 posts typify the general feeling Nan and you can't help that along. But again it's their prerogative……..

 

[HuskyNan]

The last 2 posts typify the general feeling Nan and you can't help that along. But again it's their prerogative……..

ctfjr was actually correcting a previous post, pointing out that Wooden didn't say women's basketball was a more pure game but that the better teams play a more pure game. Wooden knew, like some in this thread apparently don't, that much of women's basketball is unwatchable. It is getting better but slowly.

 

[UcMiami]

BTW, the UConn men had 24 assists on 28 made baskets vs USF the other day. And all of you snobs that disdain men's basketball missed a doozy of a game yesterday.

The men's game has more athletic players that are able to muscle their way into the paint which is why there are more unassisted shots. The UConn guys run an uptempo game and fastbreak baskets aren't always assisted, nor are baskets off steals (you go, Lasan Kromah!). A dunk isn't necessarily a "show me" move; it's a high percentage shot that's very difficult to block. Watch some good teams with great chemistry & teamwork, like the UConn men, and you might change your minds.

ctfjr was actually correcting a previous post, pointing out that Wooden didn't say women's basketball was a more pure game but that the better teams play a more pure game. Wooden knew, like some in this thread apparently don't, that a much of women's basketball is unwatchable. It is getting better but slowly.

Nan - I agree with both of these posts.
I think a lot of the issue with the men's game is that the individual skill level and athleticism has outgrown the game we older posters remember - Dr. J was a revelation and a precursor of things to come. Combine that with the showboating/trash talking that has become the norm in all sports and it loses some of its 'innocence' and simple joy. The interesting thing to me is that for all that increased individual skill the shooting percentages haven't really changed in the men's game, and I think that is partly to do with the more individualistic nature of play - a great player still shoots 50% because he feels justified in taking high difficulty shots rather than really working to get a good shot for himself or a teammate.
Aside:
I always loved the Chris Carter quoted response to an early touchdown celebration by Randy Moss (I believe) in his rookie season 'Try to act like you've done it before.' That attitude is very 'old school' and I doubt anyone playing today in any pro sport would think of making such a comment.

 

[whaler11]

The phenomenon you are seeing isn't that it's more of a team game. It's that the top women's teams score so many more relative baskets than the other teams. Higher relative assists totals are just an artifact of the nature of so many blowouts.

Without looking I'm sure Syracuse is light years from the top of team assists leaders in men's basketball. It isn't because they lack teamwork - it's because they play at a pace that keeps their games in the 60s many of which come on 3's. Fewer field goals equals fewer assists.

The disbursement of talent around to hundreds of teams instead if dozens allows teams to play different styles. If you are scoring 85 a game and a better team is scoring 55 game do you inherently have better teamwork because your assists totals are higher?