So as many people may know, both the mens and womens basketball tourneys are going on. At this time of writing 2 of the mens teams and 1 of the womens know they are in the Final Four (one of the mens teams happens to be Villanova which of course is in Philadelphia, thus not far from my house). Later tonight is the final two mens games and tomorrow is the final 2 womens games.
I'm really excited about tomorrow's game UConn vs Texas. I'm a huge fan of the Huskies as they try to make two points of history. The first is to become the first womens team to win 4 titles in a row. Both them and the long time nemesis Tennessee have gone 3 in a row, but never have done the 4 in a row. If that happens, then possibly the best womens college player of all time Breanna Stewart would go out with 4 titles (and the scary thing is she is likely not even the best UConn player). The second piece of history is for their coach Geno Auriemma who would pass the great late John Wooden of UCLA for the most titles regardless of sex. (It should be noted that in 2010 when the Huskies passed Wooden's consecutive wins streak, his grandson was there. UCLA still holds the mens record for Division 1)
However, not everyone is a fan of UConn's dominance.
UConn Women beat Miss St. 98-38 in NCAA tourney. Hate to punish them for being great, but they are killing women's game. Watch? No thanks— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) March 26, 2016
For those who don't know Dan Shaughnessy is a writer for the Boston Globe (Boston is the closest major city to Storres, CT where UConn is located). However, he doesn't even cover basketball, he covers the baseball. And guess what, he has no clue what he's talking about.
First off yes UConn wins by quite a bit in almost all their games (only Notre Dame and Maryland where within 12), however it's not their fault that they worked hard in practice and leave their egos at the door. Also they aren't "killing" the womens game like he says they are. In fact Washington (a 7 seed in the tourney and unseeded in both of the polls) upset Maryland and Kentucky on their home floors before beating Stanford today. Syracuse shocked South Carolina (a 1 seed!) and is leading TN at half at this time of writing. Baylor who is likely your 4th team is going to have their hands full with Oregon State who just a few years ago was where UConn was more then 20 years ago.Oh and it should noted that UConn gets NO help in it's conference where most of the teams finish below .500 (only South Florida was made the tourney from their conference, but comparison the SEC which is the conference that TN is in sent 7 (themselves, South Carolina, Miss St, Florida, Texas A&M, and Georgia).
Yes there may not seem to be a lot of parity in womens basketball, but its more then you think. Next year it's going to be better as Breanna, her teammate Moriah Jefferson and possibly their other teammate Morgan Tuck will be in the WNBA (Morgan has an extra year of eligibility due to a knee injury she suffered, but most are thinking she leaves).
So no Mr. Shaughnessy, the Huskies are not "killing" womens basketball. It's a shame you are going into the Hall of Fame this year with Ken Griffey Jr. whose hit more homers then you have and didn't play in a city that believed in a curse like the team you cover. Oh and bit more class then you do. I hope you enjoy covering David Ortiz' last year in the last place again.
Sorry guys, I needed that. My blood was boiling after reading that.
No comments:
Post a Comment