I find that amazing that there is such a market for them overseas.
Makes you think, why even play for 100k during the summer and jepordize your 7 digit paydays in the winter.

For da love of the game

Exactly...A W championship means much more to them than one in Russia or Spain.

I saw something about her on ESPN. Didn't she leave because she was essentially burnt out and didn't return to basketball for 2 years?

Yes. Her family is filthy rich and she had been pushed by her "stage dad" father. She had a personal trainer at age 8. T%he one thing that she never was taught is work ethic. She relies totally on her shooting ability and ball handling skills. As a freshman at Delaware, she played volleyball. She is now a redshirt soph for basketball.

I went to see her at Yale a month ago. She rarely runs, and never all out. She trots. She does not rebound much despite being the tallest player on the team. She scored 40 against Yale but was gassed at every time out. She saw the writing on the wall when she visited UConn. She was unwilling to put in the necessary work to play at UConn's level. She would have spent her career in Geno's doghouse

She prefers being the big fish in the little pond

I guess my point was not playing for more than 2 years sort of implies she really was burnt out and not just not wanting to put in the necessary work. Not the first time we've seen a parent ruin a sport for their child.

I came across this...was this just a family excuse for the situation??

It turns out, though, that Delle Donne’s biggest reason for returning to Delaware emerged: She really missed her sister Lizzie. Lizzie was born blind, deaf and with cerebral palsy, and she and Elena have a tremendous bond.

For me, that would be a tough situation to deal with, being as physically gifted as she is and having to witness the complete opposite in her sister every day of her life. I'd feel some guilt. This thread is the first time I have ever heard of this Delle Donne girl.

Women's Beach Volleyball has a tendency to capture my attention.

I actually think the two streaks are extremely comparable. I wonder what the lines were in the VAST majority of UCLA's games. I bet the competitive level was shockingly similar. Division I men's hoop was a LOT different back then and UCLA was absolutely stacked. No doubt UConn has a similar competitive advantage, though many women's programs have gotten much stronger since Diana and Sue were playing there.

It's an amazing achievement and I bet Bill Walton would agree with me.

Not an excuse at all. During the reruiting process, UConn, Villanova , and Tennessee were the frontrunners. I always thought she would go to Villanova for a nuimber of reasons. It was 30 miles from home. They run a Princeton style offense which is basically slow down basketball that depends heavily on three point shots.....perfect for her

By chosing UConn which I am sure was Daddy Dearest's choice she put herself in a position due to a special Big East rule to never be able to play the sport she signed a letter of intent for at any other Big East school.

This is all a smoke sdcreen....of course I have a biased opinion
http://www.usatoday.com/video/index....nt/51404007001

Biased--maybe.

Stupid--of course.

Just saw this and it made me think of this thread.

http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=5952813

I have to admit that I don't watch but I find it shockingly hard to believe that the highest profile school in the country with a 90 game win streak that regularly beats teams by 30+ points doesnt have a huge talent disparity when compared to the other "top" teams.

http://www.wnba.com/features/confere...9_bigeast.html

When looking at the 24 WNBA players from the BIG EAST, the 12 players from the University of Connecticut jump off the page. We could have easily created an All-UConn squad that probably could have competed with some other conference squads.

In the history of the NCAA womans tourney, Uconn and Tenn have won more championships than every other team combined, 15-14. The talent pool is simply not that deep and the teams getting the premier players (currently Uconn and formerly Tenn) win 50% of the championships. The difference in the little womans basketball that I watch seems to be the bottom teams have practically no chance to ever beat a top team.

Over a period of 10 or so years, how many championships did UCLA win?

I'm not saying it is the SAME....just that it is MORE comparable than many people realize. I doubt you find that an outrageous claim.

oooooohhh, Bill Walton

Does UConn get top recruits? Definitely, but other schools, Duke and Tennessee specifically, get players who rated just as highly coming out of high school. What makes UConn different? They have a great, great coach who knows which players to recruit to fit his system and he knows how to develope them once they get to his program.

In '99, UConn had their first great recruiting class. BTW's girl Sue Bird was rated #10 in that class. She was recruited as a shooting guard but when the point guard went down before her college career began, Sue took over the reins. She ended her college career as a three time Lieberman Award winner (Best point guard) and the 2002 player of the year. She became the #1 pick in the W draft and is presently considered the best point guard in the world.

OTOH, in '08 Tennessee signed the #2 player coming out of high school (same year as Maya Moore). In '09 they had one of the best classes of all time with 6 players ranked in the top 20. In the last two seasons, they have won two NCAA tourney games. Last year, Baylor as a #4 seed beat #1 Tennessee and #2 Duke in their region, making it to the final four. Why? They have a great coach in Kim Mulkey who is second only to Geno.

Cannon, there is much more parity in the women's game now than there was ten years ago. UConn and Baylor just happen to stand alone this year just as UConn and Stanford did last year. This year unranked DePaul beat #3 at the time Stanford by 20. Unranked Syracuse beat #6 at the time Ohio State by 10. #20 Georgetown beat #5 Tennessee by 11. #14 at the time Florida State lost to Ivy cellar dweller Yale.

I guess all winning streaks are comparable to some degree.

My question to you is how accurate are the rankings for womans basketball, especially in regard to high school player? The mens rnkings can be pretty skewed and there is probably 1000 times more coverage/attention paid to that. Hell in football every year we hear how great of a class Notre Dame gets then once they actually hit the field we hear how slow they are or how the SEC schools get all the talent.

The only similarity between the two teams is they both like p.ussy.

I don't fault anyone that likes fish, but of course, looking at the source of this statement, it is just another of your idiotic generalizations inferring that all women that play basketball are dykes.

It's a joke, you dumb creepy f.uck.

I agree with you about the accuracy of the ratings. When Maya Moore was rated #1 in her class, the #2 player Angie Bjorkland chose Tennessee. Maya will be a 4 time All-American. Angie never will. There are 30 players in the country better than her. UConn's freshman point guard was ranked anywhere from 10 to 14 in the various rating services. She might be the best frosh in the country. My point is that Geno is very good at schmoozing kids that are not at the top of the list that turn out to be extremely good players.

Cannon, the recruiting in wcb is a lot more intense than you might think. Because of Title IX, the women receive just as many scholarships as the men. That money is going to be spent even if the program loses money.

You talk a lot but say nothing.

I especially enjoyed your psychological analysis of a girl you only know through watching her play basketball. And all of your "insider" information on her father.

Just come out as a true douche and post your sports blog, you long-winded Faux intellectual.

I'll be back later and expect you to reply in kind, slewbopper. You need to address the hypocrisy or do the wise thing and leave a much more powerful troll be. You don't and cannot f.uck with me. No matter how old school you are, son.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...ient=firefox-a

http://ladyvols.blogspot.com/2007/11...ker-alert.html

Can't have it both ways. Child please.

Wow....I guess you put me in my place. I feel fulfilled knowing that I was able to finally elicit more than a one sentence response from you after the 19,000 insulting one line posts you have made over the years.

So what is your point? I am a racist because I accused my fellow Huskie fans of just that? I go to more games than ever because more good seats are available. And regarding the Aurabass character, he isn't worth mentioning and got everything he deserved from me

Just out of curiosity, what year were you a freshman in high school?

I agree. Its actually quite comparable.

The difference in talent that UCLA was getting back then in comparison to what most other teams were getting is staggering. There were a few teams back then that went undefeated. If not for injuries in 1975, the hoosiers would probably have done it two years in a row. Isn't it interesting that since that 1976 Hoosier team, no NCAA men's team has finished undefeated? Why is that?

The game was much different then. There were a maximum of 25 teams in the tournament until 1975 when they expanded to 32 teams.

Recruiting was different then. It was more regional. There certainly weren't any other teams out west that were getting kids to come nationally like UCLA was. Other programs simply weren't paying the kind of money to kids that UCLA had been paying. That being the case, UCLA had a huge advantage. Sure they played midwest and east coast powers too, but a majority of the win streak came against overmatched west coast schools. Then they get to the tournament when you have to play a couple of tough games but the tourney for them back then was only like three games with no conference tourney.



Basketball was a much different game then. Yes, if you had a mens basketball team go on an 88 game winning streak TODAY, comparing UCONN'S winning streak would be pretty dumb. But taking into account the differences in the men's game back then and UCLA's massive competitive advantage over its foes, I think the streaks are much more comparable than some think.

How are you in a position to make this judgement? What constitutes a "c" level high school basketball team? Does this vary by region? What is the size of this "c" level team? How tall is the front line?

Now, if you want to say that they would get beaten by a pretty good boys high school basketball team, I could agree with that. Heck, we have some boys teams in our area that could beat some men's college teams. Dematha or Montrose Christian would beat some division 1 men's teams. There is little doubt in my mind that they could handle UConn women.

The difference is mainly in size and not as much in skill although that would vary depending on the team. Top high school teams will have 6'6 wings and centers 6' 8" and up while women's teams are generally going to be shorter and smaller. In my mind, a "c" level high school team will have players that are about the same size or even smaller than the Uconn women and probably wouldn't be anywhere near as skilled and certainly not anywhere near as well coached or seasoned. The same would go for most division 2 or 3 schools and even some bad division 1 schools.

dalakhani.... The top women's programs practice against men that attend their school, generally former high school players that are not good enough for the men's program. Probably the coaches at UConn, Tennessee, Duke, etc. would have the best idea what level men's teams they would be competitive against. Most of us can only speculate

The streak will in all likelihood end tonight at Stanford. UConn is a very thin team that depends on 7 core players with two frosh sharing the post duties, one of whom is undersized at 6'1. Stanford has five quality post players ranging from 6'2 to 6'5. UConn's senior back up guard is out with a foot injury. Maya will play 40 minutes but it means that none of the 1 2 or 3 positions will get a rest. Early foul trouble to any player will be a killer

Nice call slewbopper.:tro:

Anyone know if there was a line?

Probably not, hence another reason why most people don't give a damn.

Reguardless, it was still a good call by Slew.

From a lesbian trapped in a man's body, take that pantywaist puss/y pants

That's your team. It's a win-win for you because you're a troll and all you really care about is being right. Add to the fact you're a sissy and of course you're going to pick against your team on the road because what's the worst that could happen? They win?

You might as well ask tampax to sponsor your post.

Uconn was minus 11.

In Bizarro Vegas?