Quote:
Originally posted by JugglingReferee
...Around here, women's college ball is little different from VG ball. I would rather officiate a men's HS regular season game than women's college ball.
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You sure live in the wrong place! Around HERE is fortunately a conference with at least 5 WBB teams in the top 25 and at least 2 consistently in the top 10 in the 5 years I have been here. In 3 of those years, one of our conference teams has been in the final four. One of our coaches has more than 800 wins and is in the Naismith Hall of Fame, another has 500 plus wins. Two of our "young" coaches have taken teams to the final four in the last four years - and one took home the gold this year. One of our teams consistently out draws their male counter parts and the conference as a whole ranks as one of the two top conference in WBB game attendance. AND, as icing on the cake: for "my" team, our "star" from our final four team a couple of years ago is now in medical school. Two role players from that team are in medical school and law school, One of this year's seniors is excited about beginning her career as an elementary school teacher and another is expected to go in the first round of the WNBA draft. I believe that the GPA of players in the conference averaged more than 3.0 last year and I know that "my" team's average is well above 3.0.
Oh ya, one more thing: in all of the WBB games I have attended, I have NEVER heard ANY player call "ball".
It IS different than the game played by the guys and for a LOT of fans in this conference, it is WONDERFUL! For those for whom it ain't BB unless there is dunking? To each his/her own. The good news for WBB fans is that the talent levels are rising each year - more good ball being played in high school equals much better players entering college. Better college balls encourages more kids to get involved earlier. UConn and Tennessee are legends but the depth of rising talent means that more and more schools are becoming really competitive in D1. 10 years ago, my school WBB games drew about 500, max. Now attendance is routinely 5,000 plus. Improve the "product" and the fans base explodes. Will WBB ever out draw MBB? Who knows. I'm not sure I care. God forbid it gets so popular that it starts breeding the type of player you see all too often in the NBA - super "stars" with feet of crumbling clay.