women's basketball

[Bulldog]

I've been coaching HS girls' basketball for ten years. I agree with some of the sentiments posted here about women in sports, but not all of them. Some disclaimers:

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] I do watch D1 college women's bball on TV, and I've been to a few games in person. I'll usually watch a men's game over a women's game, but I'll watch the end of any close game because I like to see the late-game strategies.

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] I've been to many D2 college women's games, but I wouldn't go to any if it weren't for coaching and getting to know people who play on and coach these teams.

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] I have never watched an entire WNBA game, except for one I saw in person. I tried to watch Game 4 of the finals the other night and only lasted five minutes.

There is a lot to love about women's bball at the college and HS level. There is certainly far more of a team concept in the women's game--you won't see many clearouts. You'll see many screens on and off the ball, two-man game, three-man game, and other bits of bball that have begun to go by the wayside in the men's game.

I love the men's game too, but it's a different game. I can enjoy both, the same way I can enjoy basketball and football and baseball and golf.

I've worked bball camp at Penn State during several summers. Penn State's women's team is almost always in the top 20, and was in a Final Four in 2000. As do most D1 women's programs, they have a group of guys that attend every practice and play against them as a scout team. These are guys who played in HS but weren't D1 men's players. In the times I've seen them play, the men do alright but the women are clearly the better team.

Those of us helping at camp play late night pick up games with the women and some of the practice team men. These players would destroy an average bunch of guys hanging out at a Y or something. They put a superior knowledge of the game together with good teamwork and ridiculous athletic ability. While they wouldn't compete with a college men's team of any level, they would certainly defeat 95% of HS boys teams.

My point is that women's basketball may pale in some areas to the men's game. But if you appreciate the purity of basketball, you will enjoy watching a women's game at the sub-WNBA level. And if you think that it is "just a bunch of no-talent unathletic girls" running around on the bball court, you are sorely mistaken.

[Taraz]

Don't worry so much about it. People like making fun of women's basketball because, well, it's women's basketball. Most people don't understand the game, they just want to see dunks and rejections and crossovers. Those women can play.

With all that said, I there's no way you can really watch a women's basketball game without being personally involved in some way. You either have to know somebody who's playing or bet on it or something. It's just really not that exciting when compared to the men's game and doesn't have much to offer above and beyond what the men's game offers.

Even if you want to say that you like watching organized basketball with a team concept, watching the Stanford or Princeton's men's teams play provide all that plus a bunch of athleticism.

[PTjvs]

I am originally from a rather small town in Ohio (Logan), where the biggest celebrity from the town was a women's basketball player (Katie Smith). Consequently, an awful lot of residents took up to watching women's basketball while she was in college (she went to OSU), the Olympics when Katie was on the team, and there was even some interest in the pros. From my experience, elite HS & college women's basketball is very watchable (while sloppy, low end is not). I was never really able to watch WNBA games though.

jvs