Women's Basketball

[erpowers]

Something that has been an issue in women's basketball, but was not discussed that much this year is the issue of parody (the ability of the teams to compete with each other). For years it has been argued that there is no parody in women's basketball in that Tennessee and Connecticut were always in the final four and usually faced off against each other in the final game.

I was thinking about this and realized if people want to argue that there is no parody in the women's game it can be said that there is no more parody in the men's game than the women's game. The only difference between the men's and the women's game is that on the men's side the same coaches take different teams to the final four. For example Rick Pitino took three different teams to the final four. The coach of UNC has been to the final four many different time and his team is legendary in NCAA tourney. In addition, many of the coaches who made it to the final four has been there on numerous occasions. On the women's side the it seems that coaches like Pat Summit and Gino Arumina spend their whole career at one school and that school becomes great. Therefore, there is no more parody in men's basketball than in women's basketball.

[jakefrep]

1. There's definitely no parody in women's basketball...

...I don't find it especially humorous.

[1gobluedem]

2. I think you mean 'parity'

What I like about women's b-ball is the team mentality and they play as a team. They're much more disciplined than men's basketball which always has a few showboaters.

My brother coaches women's college basketball and says that women are very coachable.

[erpowers]

9. Yes

I realized that later in the day.

[chelsea0011]

3. I don't think so.

There are many teams males can go to in Division 1. For many years the choices were much smaller for women to go to a top Division 1 team, not only because the choices were limited, but also because there were fewer women in oragnized sports. Title VII(?) changes all this. And as they became successful ala Tenn.,these schools could attract better players and spend more on scholorships. But more women were playing basketball. My HS in the 70's never had a girls BB team. Now the parity is increasing. Look at Baylor. It has more to do with numbers of players available than with coaches staying for years at a school.

[ThorsHammer]

4. Neither UConn or Tennesee made the final

I think the biggest difference in the men's game is the amount of 1st/2nd round upsets. Teams like Wake Forest, Syracuse, and Kansas were all seeded highly and fell, while the women's side went more or less according to form. After that, I think there is parity on both sides, but the men's side goes a little deeper.

[joeybee12]

5. Thank God Tenn didn't make the final!!!!

I'm in Prague and just found out today--believe it or not, the newspapers here don't cover women's basketball!

[ThorsHammer]

7. True, but it also makes our loss hurt even more

I really thought from the beginning of the tournament (actually about halfway through the season) that this year was wide open, as neither UT nor UConn was up to their normal standard. We also had a talented, experienced team, and had played with and beaten the best teams in the country (wins over Duke, UConn, Rutgers, tOSU, and an OT loss to MSU). I really think this would have been our best chance to win it, especially since we lose Jackie next year. Nothing against Baylor or MSU, who are both good teams, but neither is really dominating like UConn the last few years or those old UT teams.

[erpowers]

10. What Team

What team are you talking about?

[ThorsHammer]

13. Notre Dame; joeybee12 and I are both big ND fans

[joeybee12]

14. True--they should have done a lot better. But after they went out and

then UCONN, all I care about is that Tenn doesn't win! The Duke of women's basketball!

Heading to the train station to catch the night train to Cologne. Na shledano!

[skippysmom]

6. On parity

I think parity takes on different forms in the men's game and the women's game. In the men's game, I would argue that you have probably 25-30 teams who are at the top of the game. The teams that are always there -- Duke, UNC, UConn, Syracuse, etc. -- usually, but not always, have a coach for a very long time. Then you mix in some teams that have an up year.

In the women's game, for about a decade, you had three tiers: Tennessee and UConn, about 8-10 other teams, and then everyone else. UConn and Tenn both had great coaches and their pick of players -- hence their dominance. Now that they both had down years, they came down to the level of the other 8-10 good teams, plus there is more women's talent and it spreads out more. I think women's players are more interested in being a star than in sitting on the bench for a potential champion.

Another interesting thing to note is that Pitino isn't the first coach to bring 3 teams to the final four -- C. Vivian Springer took Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers there.

I also think it's interesting that the usual favorites (LSU, Duke, Tenn, UConn) in the women's tourney all lost -- leaving Michigan St and Baylor standing. While the men's tourney comes down to the two teams everyone thought were the two best in the nation a\most of teh year.

Just my babble...

[camitche]

8. Check out these stats.

Women's champions (last 20 years)

1985 Villanova
1986 Louisville
1987 Indiana
1988 Kansas
1989 Michigan

1990 UNLV
1991 Duke
1992 Duke
1993 North Carolina
1994 Arkansas

1995 UCLA
1996 Kentucky
1997 Arizona
1998 Kentucky
1999 Connecticut
2000 Michigan St.
2001 Duke
2002 Maryland
2003 Syracuse
2004 Connecticut


Men's Champions (Last 20 years)
1985 Old Dominion
1986 Texas
1987 Tennessee
1988 Louisiana Tech
1989 Tennessee
1990 Stanford
1991 Tennessee
1992 Stanford
1993 Texas Tech
1994 North Carolina
1995 Connecticut
1996 Tennessee
1997 Tennessee
1998 Tennessee
1999 Purdue
2000 Connecticut
2001 Nortre Dame
2002 Connecticut
2003 Connecticut
2004 Connccticut

Women:
20 years 10 champions
Tennesse 6 championships, Connecticut 5 championships
In last 10 years, 4 different schools have one

Men:
20 years 16 champions
Duke 3 championships
In last 10 years, 9 different schools have won

Conclusion:
Thee is much more parity in Men's basketball than Women's. For further proof of this just peruse the final four records, the end of year rankings, etc. I do not claim to know the reasons for this.

[bigwillq]

11. You have the champions reversed

The men's is first, women's second.

[camitche]

12. very true.

that doesn't help make my point does it?