UConn Women's Basketball

usc4valpo · March 27, 2016, 09:22:10 AM

I noticed the UConn women's team pretty much have the national title in their hands, with the remote exception of Baylor giving them a game. Yesterday they defeated a 5 seed Mississippi State team by an insane 98-38 score. A 60 point win in a Sweet 16 game! I looked at their schedule and results and the numbers are gaudy. I have to wonder - do you just appreciate the greatness and coaching of this team, or is there a competitive problem in women's college basketball?

valpo04 · March 27, 2016, 12:43:02 PM

Quote from: usc4valpo on March 27, 2016, 09:22:10 AM
I noticed the UConn women's team pretty much have the national title in their hands, with the remote exception of Baylor giving them a game. Yesterday they defeated a 5 seed Mississippi State team by an insane 98-38 score. A 60 point win in a Sweet 16 game! I looked at their schedule and results and the numbers are gaudy. I have to wonder - do you just appreciate the greatness and coaching of this team, or is there a competitive problem in women's college basketball?

Yes and Yes.

historyman · March 27, 2016, 01:30:52 PM

Stick a few good Div II men's teams in that tournament and would the UConn women still dominate it?

usc4valpo · March 28, 2016, 07:06:18 AM

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/15078260/geno-auriemma-defends-uconn-huskies-dominance-rips-critics

an interesting article where UConn coach Geno Auriemma has to defend the dominance of his team. I usually do not follow women's basketball, but to see a team annihilate their competition and show true greatness is intriguing. I do not understand why people are ripping Geno Auriemma - if Pat Summitt were coaching at this level, would she take this level of criticism? Is it because of his gender? I don't get it.

VULB#62 · March 28, 2016, 09:00:44 AM

Quote from: historyman on March 27, 2016, 01:30:52 PM
Stick a few good Div II men's teams in that tournament and would the UConn women still dominate it?

Stick a few men's DIII TEAMS / NAIA TEAMS in there.... But that's not the point. The point from my perspective is that there is a SEVERE imbalance in NCAA WBB. UCONN, year after year, scims off the cream of the crop in WBB and no one can recruit on a level playing field with them. Then Geno works their butts off, demands greatness, and coaches them up pretty good. You can't slight him for being successful at that. In the state of Connecticut those women walk on water. Their program has as much if not more visibility as the MBB program. Other than MBB, there is no real competition for the women with other UCONN sports. The Baylors, UTs, Stanfords, etc. are WBB programs existing at a secondary level to MBB and football (no matter what anyone says about gender equity). UCONN exploits this and plans and budgets accordingly. The campus is a plus as well. It's situated in the rolling CT country side and reminds you more of a quaint Liberal Arts college than a 20,000 student university. In that respect, as a father of a female athlete, that appeals much more than Mega U.

usc4valpo · March 29, 2016, 12:41:40 PM

The way the women's tournament is going, perhaps they should FedEx the trophy to Storrs, Conn. and call it a season. Nothing more exciting than some hoop mercy killings in Naptown.

usc4valpo · April 03, 2016, 08:37:17 AM

Assuming Uconn wins the NCAA title, what will be the point margin of victory over their 2 games?

I will say 72 points.

VULB#62 · April 03, 2016, 01:47:04 PM

Total or average?

usc4valpo · April 03, 2016, 04:25:12 PM

72 total, thus an average victory margin of 36 points. Based on their competition, is that reasonable?

Valpo89 · April 05, 2016, 11:56:32 AM

Quote from: usc4valpo on March 27, 2016, 09:22:10 AM
is there a competitive problem in women's college basketball?

Yes, I have always believed there is a competitive problem in women's basketball.
Why? It's simple math, to an extent.
Not as many girls grow up playing basketball - or sports in general - as boys. So there aren't as many elite players, especially when you start factoring in physical factors (height, weight, strength, athletic ability).
When there aren't as many elite players, and when all the elite players filter into such a small number of schools, it's bound to happen. If Geno recruits you as an elite player, you're almost stupid to NOT go there. Case in point - Valpo High graduate Cassie Kerns. She was an elite player. She could have done wonders at a place like VU, but she got the call from UConn and went there. She never received quality playing time, but without looking it up I'm sure she was on a national champion team or two.

When you consider the smaller pool of elite players, and most of those at the top going to UConn, this was bound to happen especially with such a great coach.

StlVUFan · April 06, 2016, 06:13:50 PM

Speaking of whom, just saw this the other day:

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/2016/04/04/demons-haunted-uconn-national-champion/82421774/

usc4valpo · April 06, 2016, 09:18:00 PM

StL - that was very powerful. Thank you for sharing this.

bbtds · April 07, 2016, 01:43:59 AM

Wow! Not the kind of story I was expecting Cassie to tell. I'm sure there will be people in Valpo that will be quite shocked to read about Kern's in this light.

StlVUFan · April 07, 2016, 06:24:18 PM

I never really followed VHS girl's basketball, I just remember her signing at UConn and thinking WOW. Then I tried following her exploits and soon realized that she was not going to be a regular member of their rotation. I do also remember she used to write a column for the nwitimes about her experience.

To be honest, I had pretty much forgotten about her, and was just really sad to suddenly hear this about her, though it sounds like there is/has been a light at the end of her tunnel.