Lowering The Basket In Women's Basketball?

[KBOrange23]

UConn coach Geno Auriemma brought this subject up a while ago. Now reigning WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne thinks lowering the rims would increase viewership of the women's game as it would increase dunking.

Cast me in the category of this being a horrible idea. I grew up with female relatives who played and loved basketball just as I did (and still do). They hated when the smaller ball was introduced into their game (as Cheriehoop alluded to in the "women can 3 all day long" thread). They played with the same ball me and the other guys played with in high school. The reason why they hated the smaller ball was they felt that change said their game was inferior. Lowering the basket only adds to that for them. I agree.

Candace Parker, Maya Moore, Brittney Griner and Delle Donne are some of the women players who can dunk. I don't know if some of the players on the SU women's hoop team can dunk or not, but the fact that a dunk hasn't happened in any of their NCAA tournament games (at least not yet)hasn't stopped this community from being captivated by this great run they're on.

Keep the rim where it is please. I think Parker agrees with me.

http://www.wnba.com/news/candace-parker-dunk-rim-height-discussion/

http://espn.go.com/espnw/voices/article/15090920/fagan-why-lower-rims-women-basketball-flawed

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I want the basket lowered in my over 35 pickup and league play.

 

[MG44]

I want the basket lowered in my over 35 pickup and league play.

I was going to say something similar...I think they should lower it for my old high school. Every year our center is a short, fat, white, farmboy no taller than 6 foot...lets go with 8 foot rims and let'em thro it down!
But seriously I think they should at least consider lowering it for the womens game. Id love to see them throwing alley oops, and the guards throwing it down. I get the whole "integrity of the sport" thing, but I think it would be more exciting

 

[Cheriehoop]

This has to be all about attracting viewers, fans who care more about dunks than basketball. Sad. I think if we see more innovative coaching like we've seen occur at SU now, more parity in recruiting , there will be more interest. When UConn and Tennessee were huge rivals there was more interest in the game, no one has consistently challenged UConn since - there's been no drama, little competitiveness at the top. The game has been dominated by elite talent - UConn's Lobo, Taurasi, Sales, Moore, interrupted by Baylor's Griner, ND's Skylar Diggs now UConn's Stewart.

I don't blame UConn, I blame the coaches, the media, the players themselves for not vocally challenging the theory that if you want to be the best that only UConn's Auriemma can achieve that. If you look at the top WNBA players they come from all different coaches, college programs but whose fault is it that no one realizes that WNBA greats like Lisa Leslie went to USC, Dawn Staley went to Virginia, Sheryl Swopes went to Texas Tech on and on...There are many excellent coaches and programs.

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

This is the dumbest thing I've read yet today. Watch tonight's game and then tell me the rims are too high...ridiculous.

 

[Ish88888]

The women's game is not unwatchable because of the lack of dunks; it's unwatchable because of the lack of competition and the lack of teams that can actually come within 20 points of UCONN. They already play with a different ball and lowering the rims would be the same as turning baseball into softball for the girls. Same thing, bring the fences in and use a different ball. Thing is, women's softball is very competitive and even though it's a different game than baseball, it's watchable.

 

[Melancer46]

I understand the theory behind lowering the rim, but I'd lean towards it not really helping. I'm not sure it would really hurt the game either though, so maybe it would be worth the try?

 

[SaltLakeOrange]

The women's game is not unwatchable because of the lack of dunks; it's unwatchable because of the lack of competition and the lack of teams that can actually come within 20 points of UCONN. They already play with a different ball and lowering the rims would be the same as turning baseball into softball for the girls. Same thing, bring the fences in and use a different ball. Thing is, women's softball is very competitive and even though it's a different game than baseball, it's watchable.

I agree on the lack of competition. But lowering the rim or changing the ball isn't going to lessen that gap. There are a handful of programs in the country that can compete with UCONN. And those are the programs that are willing to invest the resources to lessen that gap. The SU program has benefited mightily by the Melo Center. Coach Q has been able to use it to his advantage to recruit the talent needed to compete with anyone in the country. Until other programs are willing to invest the money required to get their talent levels up, nothing is really going to change.

 

[sabach]

As a high school varsity girls coach, the idea of lowering the baskets for the women's game actually rivals the stupidity of Mike Greenburg saying the NCAA final should be two of three.

 

[orangefog]

As a high school varsity girls coach, the idea of lowering the baskets for the women's game actually rivals the stupidity of Mike Greenburg saying the NCAA final should be two of three.

I agree, the answer is clearly having the women play on stilts. Not just any stilts, but ones with springs in their base so that they can jump really high. Let's call them "pogo stilts".

 

[Brooky03]

Making the women's game more exciting isn't going to change viewership much. Men's college basketball is somewhat of a niche sport. Women's college bball is even more so.

Women's team sports in general are probably never going to consistently attract male viewership.

 

[Ish88888]

I agree on the lack of competition. But lowering the rim or changing the ball isn't going to lessen that gap. There are a handful of programs in the country that can compete with UCONN. And those are the programs that are willing to invest the resources to lessen that gap. The SU program has benefited mightily by the Melo Center. Coach Q has been able to use it to his advantage to recruit the talent needed to compete with anyone in the country. Until other programs are willing to invest the money required to get their talent levels up, nothing is really going to change.

I agree in part and my argument isn't to lower the rims. The only difference would be UCONN winning by the same margin with a few dunks thrown in. It isn't about other programs investing the $$$, there are only 12-15 "blue chip" female players out there in any given year. UCONN gets 4-6 of them, Baylor, Tenn, and a few other schools get the rest. There just isn't the talent pool to draw from to make more than 5 teams competitive. Just look at the scores.

 

[TheCusian]

The women's game is not unwatchable because of the lack of dunks; it's unwatchable because of the lack of competition and the lack of teams that can actually come within 20 points of UCONN. They already play with a different ball and lowering the rims would be the same as turning baseball into softball for the girls. Same thing, bring the fences in and use a different ball. Thing is, women's softball is very competitive and even though it's a different game than baseball, it's watchable.

I don't get the argument that's been all over ESPN with Geno and being the best team hurting the game.

Why can't it be both:

- UCONN's dominance hurts the game

AND

- it's not their problem

 

[Devland]

Women's basketball does have some rules that are better for the game and I would like to see the men's game adapt. I think playing quarters instead of halves really helps the flow of the game. If you are not aware of the way it works, each team gets five fouls a quarter before they reach the bonus. When they reach the bonus there is no one and one, everything is two shots. The fouls reset after each quarter. Why are the NCAA men the only league in the world that doesn't play quarters?

I also like the rule where you can advance the ball to half court with less than a minute left in the game with a time out. I adds to the excitement at the end of games and makes the use of time outs a lot more strategic.

I also wouldn't mind seeing them adapt the NBA's defensive three seconds. I admit I watch a lot more NBA than NCAA, but it drives me crazy when I watch a college game and see someone camped out in the paint not guarding anyone. For that matter the NCAA should start calling offensive three seconds. There is so much room for improvement in the college game.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Lower the rims. Women don't jump. It is political correctness to think that women are just smaller versions than men. There are only two ways to make the men's and women's game more comparable: 1) lower the female rim or, 2) raise the male rim. I've coached a women's team. I do not have good hops but I can out jump any woman that is my own height. There are 150 million women in the country and there are only about 4 that can dunk. Is that coincidence or reality?

 

[sabach]

I don't care about dunking. I care about having to lower the rim in gyms every time my girls play and then not being able to do so because no one is their to lower it. I care about playing in gyms and outdoor courts where the rims are secured and can't be lowered.

 

[xc84]

Men's college basketball is somewhat of a niche sport.

Huh? Niche sport?

 

[Brooky03]

Huh? Niche sport?

You have professional football, baseball, basketball, and college football. Then you have a hugeeee dropoff to basically everything else in terms of viewership in the US. 'Niche' might not have been the right word, but college bball outside of March is not incredibly popular. I love it. All of us here love it, but not everybody loves it.

 

[Cowtown]

I don't watch the women to see dunks. There's an endless litany of that every night on ESPN. With women's ball you still have to put it in the basket, you just have to find different ways to do it. I enjoy watching the "team play" that occurs there. Lowering the basket would change that.

And no one ever loved the sound of his own voice more than Geno.

 

[br801]

Huh? Niche sport?

It's so much of a niche sport that millions of people with only a passing knowledge of the game stop to watch it with passionate interest for three weeks every year.

 

[Devland]

It's so much of a niche sport that millions of people with only a passing knowledge of the game stop to watch it with passionate interest for three weeks every year.

I think it would be fair to compare the NCAA tournament to things like the Masters in golf, Daytona in auto racing or the World Cup in Soccer. There are a lot of people that don't pay attention most of the time but watch these events.

The College Basketball regular season is probably the most meaningless regular season in sports. Except for the Ivy League, theoretically a team could go winless in the regular season then win its conference tournament and then win a National championship.

 

[xc84]

It's so much of a niche sport that millions of people with only a passing knowledge of the game stop to watch it with passionate interest for three weeks every year.

Home attendance is 25 million and that is before the 3 weeks you cite. There are 345 D1 teams so that averages out t0 4,700 per game per team. To me, that is incredible interest given the dilution due to the number of teams. Even for TV, if you look at it per game, the NFL dominates. If you look in total, men's college hoops does fine. You have to account for 345 teams so of course, per game can't equal the e.g NFL. Like MLB baseball, college hoops is a regional thing.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Lower the rims. Women don't jump. It is political correctness to think that women are just smaller versions than men. There are only two ways to make the men's and women's game more comparable: 1) lower the female rim or, 2) raise the male rim. I've coached a women's team. I do not have good hops but I can out jump any woman that is my own height. There are 150 million women in the country and there are only about 4 that can dunk. Is that coincidence or reality?

I agree that jumping ability is definitely inferior than men. It obviously must have something to do with basic physical differences. Studies have shown that women athletes are 8 times more likely to tear an ACL than male athletes so there are basic gender based athletic variances. However men tear their achilles more often than women.

I don't agree though about changing the hoop height though for women though. Isn't making a basket supposed to be a challenge? Dunking for men isn't that much of a challenge as time elapses since the height of the basket doesn't reflect the height increases that male athletes have had since the 10 foot standard was set in 1892. Just since 1947, the average height of NBA players has increased by 4 inches and this isn't counting any increase in reach (arm length). - see the link below. Personally wouldn't it seem to follow that hoop height for men should increase by 6 inches at the least?

http://seatsmart.com/blog/history-of-the-nba-player/

 

[LAOrange]

I want the basket lowered in my over 35 pickup and league play.

I'd be good with 6 feet.

 

[Ish88888]

You have professional football, baseball, basketball, and college football. Then you have a hugeeee dropoff to basically everything else in terms of viewership in the US. 'Niche' might not have been the right word, but college bball outside of March is not incredibly popular. I love it. All of us here love it, but not everybody loves it.

74k in that stadium last night isn't a niche sport. Yes, the regular season in college hoops is a bore , but then again so is the regular season for baseball and especially the NBA where half the league makes the playoffs.