Make no mistake about it, I am a fan of the Big 12. Even with all the turmoil surrounding the drop out assholes like Nebraska and Colorado, I still think the Big 12 is one of the best conferences around. So, as I scanned the NCAA Men’s Basketball Top 25 this morning, something hit me. The Big 12 is OWNING college basketball this year. Yep. Owning.
Wait. On second thought. The Big East is OWNING college basketball this year. Shit. I was all high on a hog thinking that the Big 12 was doing something large by having 3 teams in the top 10 and a total of five in the top 25. Then I actually looked at the top 25. The Big East has three teams in the top 10, but a total of seven in the top 25. Damn. Once again, the Midwest is foiled by the East Coast.
This got me thinking again. And as you know, that is usually a bad thing. Combined, the Big 12 and the Big East own more than 50 percent of the top 25 right now. I know the season is still young, but my gut feeling tells me it’s going to be a Big 12/Big East showdown come Final Four time. As always, I am biased so I am pretty sure that the Big 12 would win that match up. Hell, I wouldn’t care who wins as long as the winner has nothing to do with the ACC. *Ahem* Duke*Ahem* Cough*You suck*Cough*
Anyway, who do you think is the more dominant conference? Any early projections for your tourney bracket? What say you internets? Talk to me.
Well hello there college football fans! Welcome to Groundhog Day in college football, where the number one team is upset for the third week in a row! Gotta love parity, right?
Here are some highlights from this week’s games:
Oregon 60, UCLA 13
Look, I am a Pac-10 fan. I am West Coast fan living in the Midwest and I can tell you the West Coast bias is in full effect. But, I will also say, up until this week, I wasn’t really sure that Oregon deserved the number one spot in the AP and Coaches polls. I mean, they have a hell of an offense, but I just felt that some of the games against bad opponents (i.e. vs. Arizona State) shouldn’t have been as close as they were. I have now changed my mind and feel Oregon is the real deal. Now Ducks, don’t disappoint me this coming Saturday against USC.
Auburn 24, LSU 17
Auburn is our new number one team in the nation, in the BCS polls. I am hoping this is good for Oregon, since they keep that number 2 spot behind all these teams week after week. Let them all battle it out and let Oregon coast into the number one spot when it matters – at the end of the season. Anyway, with this win over the sixth-ranked Tigers, Auburn remains undefeated and earns the top spot. But lest we forget just one week ago, when Auburn beat Arkansas 65-43 in an ugly game where Auburn was unaware of how to play defense.
Missouri 36, Oklahoma 27
And another number one team drops, the third time in as many weeks. Undefeated Missouri stunned Sooners fans and Bob Stoops alike with their upset. And Missouri fans celebrated like ASU fans did back in 1996 during our Rose Bowl run – they tore down the goal posts and took it on a tour of town and celebrated with it at a local drinking establishment. It’s like college football’s Stanley Cup!
Iowa State 28, Texas 21
The Cyclones of Iowa State evened out the standings in the Big 12 with their first ever win over Texas. Even if they never win another game this year, this season will be a success. Or maybe I’m biased because I really hate Mack Brown.
Baylor 47, Kansas State 42
Baylor knocked off the 22nd-ranked Wildcats for their sixth victory of the season, making them bowl eligible for the first time since 1994. The win also vaulted Baylor into the Top 25 for the first time in since 1993. Sic ‘em Bears!
The final is set. Tomorrow night UConn Huskies and the Stanford Cardinals will be facing off tomorrow night in San Antonio, Texas for the NCAA Women’s Basketball title game.
The final four scores don’t actually tell the stories of the games. Stanford beat Oklahoma 73 – 66 but the game wasn’t even close until the final two minutes. Oklahoma never had the lead even once during this game, and most of the time Stanford was ahead by more than 10 points. Oklahoma just couldn’t stop Nnemkadi Ogwumike. She scored 38 points during the semi-final. Thirty-eight points! That makes her the woman that has scored the second most points in an NCAA Final Four game. The only woman who outscored Ogwumike in a late round tournament game was Sheryl Swoope. Swoopes scored 47 points in the National Championship game in 1993.
The final score of the other semi-final was UConn 70 – Baylor 50. While Baylor never actually had the lead, the game was very close for a good deal of the second half. Baylor came out of halftime on fire, the Lady Bears scored 12 unanswered points right out of the locker room.
This game was nothing like I expected. Yes, I knew Baylor was good. But good enough to hang with Connecticut? To be within 4 points early in the second half? I never would have predicted that.
The first ten minutes of the second half of this game was intense, then everything fell apart for Baylor. The UConn dominance we’ve been seeing all year was back. Maya Moore (who, by the way, has a 3.7 grade point average and is considering applying for a Rhodes scholarship in 2011) could not be stopped. Moore had 12 rebounds and 34 points in the game (she had 21 points in the first half. The entire Baylor team had 26 first half points.) moving her ahead of Rebecca Lobo and Kara Wolters into fifth place on the UConn all-time scoring list with a current total of 2,145 points. Tina Charles also had a monster game with 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 21 points – and that was matched up against 6′ 8″ Brittney Griner.
Brittney Griner set a tournament record herself. She had 35 block in the series.
Now The University of Connecticut will face Stanford. Stanford has won 27 games in a row. Their only loss all year wasback in December – to UConn.
If Geno Auriemma can coach The Huskies to their 78th consecutive victory it will be the 7th time he has coached The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team to a NCAA Championship.
I am hoping for another Stanford buzzer beater, but I’m betting on UConn.
***
Originally written for and cross posted on BlogHer.com
Sure, sure, we’re all been watching March Madness, in the men’s tournament there have been an unusual number of extraordinarily close games and there have been a ton of upsets this year, but are you also watching the NCAA Women’s basketball games? If not, you sure are missing something.
There has been a lot of talk about the dominance of The University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team, and if you have seen them play you know why. Not only have they gone undefeated for over two years, but they have absolutely destroyed their competition.
Look at UCONN’s scores so far:
Round 1:
Connecticut 95, Southern University 39
Round 2:
Connecticut 90, Temple 36
Round 3:
Connecticut 74, Iowa State 36
Round 4:
Connecticut 90, Florida State 50
Come on! Last night The Huskies beat the 3 seed FSU by 40 points and it was the only game of the tournament so far where they haven’t double their opponent’s score.
So is this level of dominance good or bad for women’s basketball?
Some people say it is a bad thing, that it is boring when the same team wins everything all of the time. That one sided games are hard to watch. I get that. I agree with that, mostly. Then I watch a UCONN game, and if you can stop yourself from feeling sorry for the other team it is sort of like art. Maya Moore and Tina Charles lead this team in a way that is almost like watching Kobe and Shaq back in the day. Except better.
The problem is that people aren’t saying that Moore and Charles are amazing. They are saying that the UCONN doesn’t have any decent competition.
(Denise, this is when you yell PATRIARCHY!)
It clearly isn’t true. There are other VERY good NCAA women’s teams. This Sunday UCONN will face Baylor. Baylor is where Brittney Griner plays. You remember me talking about Griner, right? The 6′ 8″ freshman who can dunk? Now, I am not putting down any cash against the Huskies, but I think that Griner and The Bears will give them a much tougher game than their previous four.
There are some proponents who say that the UCONN dominance is a good thing. Why? Because even the mainstreammaledominated media is talking about them. And them talking about women’s college basketball at all is a good thing for the sport.
I personally think that the Connecticut/Baylor game is one that shouldn’t be missed, and the winner of that game will play either Oklahoma or Stanford.
If you want to see some exciting basketball, check out the Stanford ladies taking out Xavier in the final second of the game this week.
It doesn’t really matter what your feelings are on UCONN’s dominance. These ladies put on a good show. They haven’t lost a game since April 4, 2008 – and they lost that game to Stanford.
I never watch non-NCAA tournament college basketball. I know perhaps five college basketball players by name. I get my basketball fix from my Cleveland Cavaliers and from dropping sweet baby hooks on the heads of arthritic older men in my pick-up basketball league.
LeBron James and the exploitation of the elderly is all I need.
So, when tourney time comes around, I’m conflicted. I COULD try to read a bunch of previews from a number of “experts”, determine the best teams, pick Kansas to choke and then fill out the rest of my bracket. Normally, that’s what I do.
This year however, I went in a different direction. I heard the Prediction Machine guy on the radio. He said after 50,000 runs of the machine, Kansas came out on top with the greatest chance of winning at about 15 percet. While 15 percent represented the most likely winner, historically it represented a wide-open field as normally the favorite is expected to win 20 to 25 percent of the time.
Before the tourney started, PM published the likelihood of tournament victory for all 64 teams. Seeing as how I know nothing about college ball, I was thinking I couldn’t pick a conventional favorite to win because I wouldn’t get enough points in the early rounds to place in the money. I needed to pick an underdog – an underdog with a chance (at least according to some computer). Prediction Machine seemed like the perfect place for me to go to construct my bracket.
I clicked over and scanned the probability list and saw that Baylor had an 11-ish percent chance to win. Baylor? I don’t know where Baylor is; I don’t know what Baylor’s mascot is. I can’t name one of their players, but I’ve got 30 bucks on them winning it all. Having heard no Baylor buzz from any of my buddies or any of the talking heads on TV, I assumed I’d have them as victors all to myself. And I do – in both pools.
My bracket is strong. So long as Baylor keeps facing the St. Mary’s of the world, I’ll be all set and rolling in the money.
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