UConn Women Vs. UCLA
 

Great non story. Discuss.

"I just know that there wouldn't be this many people in the room if we were chasing a women's record," Geno Auriemma told a packed news conference in trademark sardonic fashion. "The reason there's everybody in this room, the reason everybody's having a heart attack the last four or five days is a bunch of women are threatening to break a men's record. And everybody is all up in arms about it. All the women are happy as hell and they can't wait to come in here and ask questions. All the guys that love women's basketball are all excited. And all the miserable bastards that follow men's basketball and don't want us to break the record are all here because they're pissed."

Apples and oranges Gino...But faux outrage is my favorite kind.

They keep separate records for men's and women's collegiate sports, why does UConn's record have anything to do with UCLA's?

Good for UConn, they should be proud of their accomplishment, but this is a complete non-story that is being played up by the media that is desperate for controversy to report on.

It is being played up by ESPN and UConn in particular. A C level men's high school team would dismember Uconn. Beyond non-story.

you are sooo off base when you say a C level high school team would crush UConn no way in hell.

I agree,Uncly.


The Cavs would get scorched.

I could hang with the HS boys on the bball team when we played pick up in HS. And I have like .2% the skill of those women.

Gino is full of crap! No attempt at graceful discussion, what a bitch!

Blah blah blah, I know middle school teams who could play with them.

Bet you got fouled ..a lot.

While I'm not saying a c-level high school team could beat the current UConn women's hoops teams, I understand randall's point. We had a #1 ranked in the state girls high school team when I was a freshman in high school, and as a big tune-up for the playoffs, their coach asked the freshmen boys coach if we could scrimmage them for an hour or so. We beat them by 30, and it wasn't even close.

you know, nothing.

Comma is in the wrong spot there Ace.

I understand his point too & I'm not saying they'd beat every HS team in the country. But they'd beat 90-95% of them.

These women are very fast, great shooters, great ball handlers, great defenders and very athletic / big. Its not like the men would have that great of a size advantage at that age. The men would most likely be faster.. but I wouldnt under estimate UCONN's speed. and their skills would overcome the speed.

you know, absolutely nothing.

Randall,

You know............. nada.

OMG:zz:

dont let your sexism hit you in the ass on the way out.

Did you know that Reggie Miller's sister used to absolutely school his ass... even when he was in HS?

I think the one adjustment that most women have difficulty making in playing against guys is the larger basketball.

we're talking High School basketball players compared to a handful of the greatest women players in the world.

It's not sexism, it is apples and oranges. Could the Little League WS winner play well against a high school team? Of course not....Congrats to Uconn but Gino is an idiot in his comments.

I dont think UCONN women could compete with any men's college team.

High school is a whole different story. like those fruits you mentioned.

OOOHH.....bilingual!

BTW, I'm not one of those women who think that women and men are nearly equal in athletic ability.

Women cant even compete with men in golf and tennis on the highest level.

But we are talking about kids age 14-18

I went to UConn. I have been an ardent supporter of the Hussies for 20 years. I have been to well over 100 of their games. I was at the XL Center last night for the 89th straight. It was a sell out. 16,294. There were probably not more than 50 empy seats in the house. The atmosphere was electric, so the people that matter, the fans, certainly thought it was noteworthy. Magic Maya Moore poured in 41.



There is no comparison between men's and women's basketball. Saying a lower level boys' or men's team would kill them serves no purpose. They are both what they are. In UCLA's 88 game streak, they beat 16 top 25 teams. UConn has beaten 31 in the 89 game streak, and only two of all the wins were by fewer than 10 points. No matter how you slice it, it is an outstanding achievement and should not be diminished by narrow minded fools like the OP. Maybe he should actually watch MM play sometime. She ranks right up there with Cheryl Miller, Diana Taurasi, and Candace Parker.

Aka apples and oranges so Gino is an idiot and out of line which was my point.

The Uconn team is so stacked that they SHOULD win every game. It would be like taking the NBA All Star team and playing D league teams. They are playing top 10 schools who have no players that could make their team. Gino has created a monster program and certainly can recruit. But womans basketball is just not that competitive of a sport at the highest level and while it is a notable accomplishment, the idea that it is the equal of a mens streak is laughable.

:tro: Merry Christmas Chuck.

The Beef O Bradys Bowl, featuring Louisville and Southen Miss, outdrew the landmark 89th win 2 to 1 in the television ratings.

89 straight wins in any sport is an awesome accomplishment. Doesn't matter whether it was a men's or a woman's team. Im sure their coach has some ears burning with the comment he made.

This is simply not true, at least not this year. Maya was the #1 highschooler in the country as a junior and senior. Of the rest of the roster, none were ranked higher than #10. Other programs (Tennessee, Duke, UNC) are more "stacked" according to HS rankings. Tennessee presently has a roster of at least 6 players that were ranked in the top 10 in HS. Why haven't they even been able to reach the Elite 8 the last two years? Coaching.

Geno goes after players that will fit into his system....essentially a team of unselfish role players....players who were stars in high school, but buy into his team concept.

Prior to the '08-'09 season, UConn signed the #1 HS player in the country, a 6'5 guard named Elena Della Donne. She is probably the greatest pure shooter in the history of the women's game. She attended a pre-season two week get together in June when the team held voluntary uncoached scrimmages and practices. She packed her bags and went home to Delaware after two days. She knew at the time she would be unable to give the intensity needed to play at UConn. In August, she officially left UConn and enrolled at Delaware. She is now playing there in obscurity with little chance of ever making it to the NCAA tournament, and if she does it will be as a 13 to 16 seed. We certainly haven't missed her.

^^^ Seriously, and this is completely sexist and I'll openly admit it, but who follows chickball this closely?

People who go to UConn, girls 12-16 who play basketball and maybe some men whose daughters play basketball.

I'm not trying to be sexist, but I find woman's basketball (on any level) to be totally unwatchable. Then again on certain night I feel the same way about the NBA.

It's horrific to watch...I agree.

That's because the Beefaroni Bowl was played in the greatest facility in the finest metropolitan area in America, right?

Math.....The first I heard of a female basketball player was Ann Meyers (David Meyers older sister and Mrs. Don Drysdale) when she was at UCLA in the mid 70s. About '79, I became curious about women playing bball when I read an article about Nancy Lieberman in the NY Times playing against boys on the playgrounds in Brooklyn. As a point guard she was the first great player in the women's game. I started watching on TV the once or twice a year games were shown, mostly in the Final Fours of the then AIWA. Until UConn came to prominence in the early '90s, I remained a curious fan. In that 15 or so year period of time, the players improved by leaps and bounds.

With the '94 baseball strike, I became basically fed up with the greed of professional sports as well as the college bballers leaving early for the NBA. As someone that went to UConn who has lived in CT most of my life, I gravitated to the Huskie women. What I think I appreciate the most is the girls stay at the school for four years. As a fan, I knew Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi would be playing at UConn through their senior years. If I lived anywhere else and had not attended UConn, I would probably still only have the casual interest that I did prior to their emergence as a powerhouse.

Edit: To put it into perspective, I am willing to bet that the ratings on Tuesday night were higher than some Breeders Cups

Let's be honest, they stayed in school for all four years because there is no money to be made in the WNBA. If the WNBA pay scale was 1/3rd of what the NBA is, I would think that there would be very little chance that many of these girls would be there for all 4 years.

I understand what you are saying, but you are obviously vested/genuinely interested in the program as you attended college and from the sounds of it live in the area/state.

As a sports fan from a nearby state, I could honestly say I just don't find women's basketball interesting. They could win 1000 in a row and while I acknowledge that it's an accomplishment, I honestly couldn't care less. I just don't find the sport interesting.

I do enjoy certain womans sports, just basketball isn't one of them.

There is an age limit of 22 for entering the WNBA, the same as there was in the NBA years ago. Remember Wilt jumping to the Globe Trotters from Kansas after his junior season? The exceptions to the rule are the player has completed 4 years of college or is not an American. Underage foreigners can play in the W but few do because as you said, there is just no money here. Diana Taurasi and a few other American gals are making $1 mil a season playing in Russia during the winter. There is also good money to be made in Spain, Turkey, and Israel. Weird, eh? Then they play in the W in the summer under a salary cap that only allows salaries of $40,000 to $100,000 a season.