Women's college hoops is a joke

[SoBeCuse]

This might already have been addressed, but no, no she wouldn't. She looks crazy fast with a tight handle against other women. Against a decent men's college PG (or less than decent, perhaps like KJ), she would struggle big time because her quickness advantage would be negated.

I think the biggest disservice one can do to the women's game is compare it to the men's game. The athleticism difference alone is just not close. Candace Parker is the most athletic female basketball player I know of (there's probably somebody else a little better) and she's 6'4" with a 28 inch vertical. This would be pedestrian athleticism for a DI - maybe even DII - men's college bball player, and she's the exception in the women's game. Now, vertical's not the only measure of athleticism, but I would imagine similar disparities exist in shuttle, lane agility, and sprint times. And 6'4" might not be easy to find on a high school boys team, but you'd certainly find 28" verticals without much problem.

Then there's the skill argument. These girls are certainly skilled, no question. But even if they have more skill with a basketball than a man like KJ, it's not going to matter because they'd never get their shot off. They wouldn't be able to drive to the hoop and girls tend not to jump much on jump shots, so that would have a high likelihood of being blocked.

This probably sounds like a mini-rant. It's not. My high school had a really really good girl basketball player who went on to set records at a DII college and I would go to watch her games more than the boys team. I have no beef with girls/women's basketball. Like it for what it is, though.

Good post and I agree with pretty much all of this and the comparison of women-men being a disservice and inaccurate.

I'm just going to stick to my guns re: Moriah Jefferson. She's the only female player I'm making this comment about...ever. She's 5'7 or 5'8 so not a total shrimp. Just seeing her move and cover ground on the floor would be impressive against anyone, imo. I wasn't really watching her vs SU players but more how fast she was getting the ball over halfcourt and her agility/lateral quickness. I think she would move her feet and draw plenty of offensive fouls. Granted getting a shot off for her would be hard but I think she could keep it competitive. I was just super impressed and more often than not I'm left underwhelmed.

 

[TheCusian]

HELL no he doesnt touch any of those guys. Look at his team. His team is just 150x more talented than any other team. They are bigger and faster then everyone.

What percentage of coaching is recruiting?

 

[KellySyracuse]

because anyone worth their salt coaches the men, he didn't start crushing it until summit got dementia. there is no money in coaching women anywhere except yukon, all the good coaches coach the men or in the nba. name a women's coach in the AAC

Gary Gait

Edit: unless you're specifically referring to women's basketball

 

[TheCusian]

FWIW

 

[kirbivore]

It took rule changes to kill UCLA. Freshman being able to play. A reduction in ships. Can't do that with woman because of title 9.

Also started shipping teams out to different regionals. In the 60's/70's they played a true West Regional.

 

[richard levy]

She's 5'7" and 120 lbs. Any D1 male PG would abuse her. Yes, she appears to be very quick, but you have to remember who she is looking quick against. I agree she is an excellent women's player, but it is a real stretch to say she could handle a D1 male PG. I had a friend who I played HS b'ball with, who went to Uconn. He mentioned how mens intramural teams would play against the Uconn women's team and beat them pretty handily. And these are guys who just played high school ball who maybe could have played D3. The difference between the men and women's game is enormous.

What difference does it make. My daughter ran sprints in college. I didn't sit there thinking she'll never beat Usain Bolt. I enjoyed the competition, could appreciate the training and the technique. In the UCONN game, I saw women playing hard, running the court, making shots. I didn't see Tyler Lydon taking off from the foul line to dunk the ball off the back iron when he could have pulled up and taken a jumper in the lane. That's not the women's game. I get it

 

[llandz]

It just seems unseemly to listen to Doris Burke vomit up effusive praise about all these accomplishments of UConn and their players when it certainly appears like the equivalent of losing your mind over the 85 Bears going undefeated against the Rotary Club flag football team. When your sport's championship game has a 26 point line, it's more of an exhibition than a competition. I personally think what the SU players did is far more impressive than Yukon in relative terms. The SU women and coaches took a program from nothing to the championship game, while the Yukon women basically were a 15 year old who punched their 4 year old brother in the face 75 times and claimed the title of greatest fighter on planet earth with a record of 75-0.

LOVE this. I told the women last night that they were the National Champions of college basketball because UCONN is not part of that. Told them there is UConn and the rest, and that they were the NC of the rest!!! They liked that.
And you are so correct that I would take the excitement of our season and our accomplishments over the droll win of another UConn championship. I don't even see how their fans and players can get excited anymore. When you take the excitement out of the game you might as well be a paid pro player. College sports is about the excitement and the achievements.

 

[llandz]

Plus they act like men. Gross.

There are some pretty hot girls on our team. You should have seen them dressed up for the special dinner. Not that this should be any sort of factor in any way shape or form. We could put you in a short short dress with 4 inch heels and see how you, as a man, stack up to them.

 

[llandz]

So you shouldn't compare him with men's coaches because he's better than the woman's coaches?

Now this may be a little bit of a sexist response, but any male coach who can coach a bunch of hormonal women, and deal with monthly cramps in a game situation, and all that comes with coaching women, has earned my respect over any male coach coaching men.

 

[Forloveoforange]

Is it lost here that Syracuse had a 16 to 0 run? Connecticut was up 33, and then it was only 17. It was starting to get interesting.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Calipari gets talent with the tradeoff that it's in the form of freshman. UConn gets the talent and gets them for 4 years. Some people are talking about how only one of his recruiting classes was ranked #1 in the last 4 years. That doesn't tell the whole story when they stay though. I think UConn had 5 players who were ranked top 10, 2 #1's, 1 #6, and 2 #9's. That's pretty much ballgame.

I don't know if I saw it here or not but somewhere I heard the WNBA doesn't pay salaries as high as some overseas women's leagues, so that would be an additional incentive for women players not to leave early but stay and get their degrees. Obviously some marquee players like Stewart will cash in, but maybe not the "lesser" pro level athletes.

 

[zhanjuzi]

because anyone worth their salt coaches the men, he didn't start crushing it until summit got dementia. there is no money in coaching women anywhere except yukon, all the good coaches coach the men or in the nba. name a women's coach in the AAC

It would seem natural that schools that did want to compete would try and hire away one Geno's long time assistants if he truly had some secret sauce to his success. As for watching the women's game, the Orange women's semi final against Washington was an excellent game .. but as for the championship game, Uconn was at completely other level albeit not as bad as the drubbing Nova laid on OU in the men's semi.

 

[llandz]

Fairly certain that Brittany Sykes will leave this year. Pretty much had a conversation with her last night and said I know you are most likely not coming back and I just want to say think you. Also a couple of others from the staff think the same. In all fairness her decision will be based so much on the 2 torn acls and her recovery. She will be getting her degree also. Personally I think she should go to play professionally while she can. She can always go back for a masters degree while working as an assistant coach or somehow on a college athletic staff.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

She's 5'7" and 120 lbs. Any D1 male PG would abuse her. Yes, she appears to be very quick, but you have to remember who she is looking quick against. I agree she is an excellent women's player, but it is a real stretch to say she could handle a D1 male PG. I had a friend who I played HS b'ball with, who went to Uconn. He mentioned how mens intramural teams would play against the Uconn women's team and beat them pretty handily. And these are guys who just played high school ball who maybe could have played D3. The difference between the men and women's game is enormous.

THAT is interesting, assuming your friend was correct.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

There are some pretty hot girls on our team. You should have seen them dressed up for the special dinner. Not that this should be any sort of factor in any way shape or form. We could put you in a short short dress with 4 inch heels and see how you, as a man, stack up to them.

I could be wrong but I get the feeling the poster you are chastising might have meant what he said facetiously.

 

[leftytg]

She's 5'7" and 120 lbs. Any D1 male PG would abuse her. Yes, she appears to be very quick, but you have to remember who she is looking quick against. I agree she is an excellent women's player, but it is a real stretch to say she could handle a D1 male PG. I had a friend who I played HS b'ball with, who went to Uconn. He mentioned how mens intramural teams would play against the Uconn women's team and beat them pretty handily. And these are guys who just played high school ball who maybe could have played D3. The difference between the men and women's game is enormous.

exactly. I don't understand why that is so hard for some people to grasp. It isn't putting down the women's game. It's just that the games are played in a very different way, mainly due to the massive differences in athleticism. People just appreciate the women's game for what it is and resist the urge to put it in context via the men's game.

Put another way, the gap between Jefferson and Kaleb Joseph is bigger than the gap between Kaleb Joseph and Russell Westbrook.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Now this may be a little bit of a s e xist response, but any male coach who can coach a bunch of hormonal women, and deal with monthly cramps in a game situation, and all that comes with coaching women, has earned my respect over any male coach coaching men.

Never thought of that. Maybe because I never had that particular problem as a female. My hormonal issues didn't really start till I was around 40 and perimenopause kicked in. And I do mean KICKED! 15 years later it's still having severe ramifications, not so much physically though.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

It would seem natural that schools that did want to compete would try and hire away one Geno's long time assistants if he truly had some secret sauce to his success. As for watching the women's game, the Orange women's semi final against Washington was an excellent game .. but as for the championship game, Uconn was at completely other level albeit not as bad as the drubbing Nova laid on OU in the men's semi.

Yes. That 16-0 run the Orange made can't have happened often to this Uconn squad. It bodes well for the Orange's future success in general.

 

[HoustonCuse]

There are some pretty hot girls on our team. You should have seen them dressed up for the special dinner. Not that this should be any sort of factor in any way shape or form. We could put you in a short short dress with 4 inch heels and see how you, as a man, stack up to them.

Have to admit to a little crush on Brianna Butler...

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Yes. That 16-0 run the Orange made can't have happened often to this Uconn squad. It bodes well for the Orange's future success in general.

I heard UConn lost 3 quarters all tournament. 3!

 

[Devland]

She's 5'7" and 120 lbs. Any D1 male PG would abuse her. Yes, she appears to be very quick, but you have to remember who she is looking quick against. I agree she is an excellent women's player, but it is a real stretch to say she could handle a D1 male PG. I had a friend who I played HS b'ball with, who went to Uconn. He mentioned how mens intramural teams would play against the Uconn women's team and beat them pretty handily. And these are guys who just played high school ball who maybe could have played D3. The difference between the men and women's game is enormous.

I think your friend is b.s.ing you there are NCAA rules against student athletes playing intramural sports. There have been cases where athletes have lost a year of eligibility for playing intramural sports.

 

[shandeezy7]

I think your friend is b.s.ing you there are NCAA rules against student athletes playing intramural sports. There have been cases where athletes have lost a year of eligibility for playing intramural sports.

UCONN women don't play intramurals. They have a male practice squad that they practice against.

 

[Devland]

UCONN women don't play intramurals. They have a male practice squad that they practice against.

I know that and they hold try outs for the practice squad. Not just anyone can be on the practice squad.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Linda, do you know why Danielle Minott didn't play at all at the end?

Also what a great grad transfer Maggie Morrison (Vanderbilt) ended up being. She was a real speed boost, energizer bunny with decent 3 point shooting ability. I love Cornie Fondren's toughness - she's an undersized but relentless pitbull inside.

Losing Brittney Sykes (she's a woman who can jump, amazing despite her 2 ACL injuries and the best mid range jumper on the team)*, Brianna Butler (streaky 3 point shooter but when she's on - wow), Morrison, Fondren and Taylor Ford is going to really hurt this team next year. Very heavy laden senior class team to replace but maybe Brittney Sykes will return as a 5th year senior, however she's eligible to be drafted so her return is a question. I don't see immediate high impact replacements on the bench but hoping I'm wrong. Next years 4 incoming recruits are all guards, one 5 star recruit, two 3 star recruits and one unranked, the class was ranked 25th in the country. Hope the Day sisters who will be seniors next year work on their upper body strength, they are athletic but not particularly strong and that Alexis Peterson's dislocated shoulder doesn't start to be a chronic issue. Awesome year and hoping they can build on it.

Phenomenal deal alert: You can get courtside season tickets for the womens' team for $125!

 

[Cheriehoop]

UCONN women don't play intramurals. They have a male practice squad that they practice against.

Playing against guys as practice isn't unique at all. Tennessee had been doing that for years and I even know of local high schools that have done it for ages.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/womensbasketball/2007-01-15-women-men-practice_x.htm