Major upset in women's tourney

[Juulie Downs]

Jeff, I'm not saying this to start an argument, and I'm not even going to try to talk you into having any interest in women's ball. You can dislike it as much as you want to. But you did say that there aren't as many upsets in women's ball as in men's, so I just need to point out that...

Today the "Lady Vol's" (as the women's team from Tennessee is known) lost to Ball State from Muncie, Indiana. It was Ball State's first time ever in the tournament, and the first year ever that Tennessee didn't advance past the first round. I call that an upset!!

Here's a link just in case anyone's interested.

Ball State vs. Tennessee - Recap - March 22, 2009 - ESPN

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Juulie Downs

Jeff, I'm not saying this to start an argument, and I'm not even going to try to talk you into having any interest in women's ball. You can dislike it as much as you want to. But you did say that there aren't as many upsets in women's ball as in men's, so I just need to point out that...

If people are interested, then they will respond or talk about it. I am not sure why my name is even brought up if you want to talk about an upset. But to be honest Juulie, I do not see many people talk just about upsets or games on this forum. We usually talk about plays and situations. Maybe you can point to me where anyone here is talking about the Men’s tournament outside of a call, situation or play they either want to discuss a judgment call or a rule?

Peace

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Juulie Downs

Jeff, I'm not saying this to start an argument, and I'm not even going to try to talk you into having any interest in women's ball. You can dislike it as much as you want to. But you did say that there aren't as many upsets in women's ball as in men's, so I just need to point out that...

Today the "Lady Vol's" (as the women's team from Tennessee is known) lost to Ball State from Muncie, Indiana. It was Ball State's first time ever in the tournament, and the first year ever that Tennessee didn't advance past the first round. I call that an upset!!

Here's a link just in case anyone's interested.

Ball State vs. Tennessee - Recap - March 22, 2009 - ESPN

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I am not sure why my name is even brought up if you want to talk about an upset.

Selective memory?

Originally Posted by JRutledge

For one the same teams are in the mix every year and there are not the upsets in the women's games like there are on the men's side.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Selective memory?

How many comments have been made about the game in this thread?

Did you post to talk about the game (which must be defended at all costs) or did you comment to make comments to me? Or is the just another example of my overall point I made in the first response?

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

How many comments have been made about the game in this thread?

Did you post to talk about the game (which must be defended at all costs) or did you comment to make comments to me? Or is the just another example of my overall point I made in the first response?

You said you had no idea why your name was brought up regarding upsets. Having read your previous, um, discussion, it was obvious, to most, why your name was brought up. Just trying to help. For the record, I heartily agree that anyone attempting to put the women's game anywhere close to equal footing with the men has a lot of work to do.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by just another ref

You said you had no idea why your name was brought up regarding upsets. Having read your previous, um, discussion, it was obvious, to most, why your name was brought up. Just trying to help.

I have no idea (and I was not upset or shocked when saying this), because if you want to talk about a game in any tournament, you should not bring up another issue and then get upset what that issue is the focus of your thread.

This is thread #9 and still no real talk about the game yet. There have been several men's tournament threads today. In each thread comments only about the games and the calls made in those games. I wonder when that will happen in this thread.

Maybe this is just another example of what I was saying earlier.

Peace

[w_sohl]

Originally Posted by Juulie Downs

Jeff, I'm not saying this to start an argument, and I'm not even going to try to talk you into having any interest in women's ball. You can dislike it as much as you want to. But you did say that there aren't as many upsets in women's ball as in men's, so I just need to point out that...

Today the "Lady Vol's" (as the women's team from Tennessee is known) lost to Ball State from Muncie, Indiana. It was Ball State's first time ever in the tournament, and the first year ever that Tennessee didn't advance past the first round. I call that an upset!!

Here's a link just in case anyone's interested.

Ball State vs. Tennessee - Recap - March 22, 2009 - ESPN

I was hoping Testicle Tech would beat the Lady Vols. Jeff is right though, the women's tourney pretty much stays true to seeds. There is just a huge drop in the talent level from the eliets to the really goods and so on.

[refguy]

Originally Posted by w_sohl

I was hoping Testicle Tech would beat the Lady Vols. Jeff is right though, the women's tourney pretty much stays true to seeds. There is just a huge drop in the talent level from the eliets to the really goods and so on.

Huh? Really?!?
Have you taken a look at the men's bracket. Every single 1,2, and 3 seed advanced to the sweet sixteen. Looks very top heavy to me on the men's side.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by refguy

Huh? Really?!?
Have you taken a look at the men's bracket. Every single 1,2, and 3 seed advanced to the sweet sixteen. Looks very top heavy to me on the men's side.

Actually last year was the first time that all #1 seeds made the Final Four since there has been the current seeding format. Usually 2 or 3 of the top seeds get knocked off. #2 seeds often get beat in the second or third rounds. Seeds #5 and #7 have historically not made it out of the first round in the men's tournament. And #2 seeds have been beaten in the first round in previous years. I would not suggest that it is always top heavy on the men's side. Of course many teams that are higher seeds are going to advance, but it not uncommon for them to get beat early either. I do not think the same can be said for the women's tournament and multiple teams have gone undefeated the entire year. That has not happen on the Men's side since the old UCLA teams with Wooden as the coach.

Peace

[refguy]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Actually last year was the first time that all #1 seeds made the Final Four since there has been the current seeding format. Usually 2 or 3 of the top seeds get knocked off. #2 seeds often get beat in the second or third rounds. Seeds #5 and #7 have historically not made it out of the first round in the men's tournament. And #2 seeds have been beaten in the first round in previous years. I would not suggest that it is always top heavy on the men's side. Of course many teams that are higher seeds are going to advance, but it not uncommon for them to get beat early either. I do not think the same can be said for the women's tournament and multiple teams have gone undefeated the entire year. That has not happen on the Men's side since the old UCLA teams with Wooden as the coach.

Peace

Wrong again. Try Indiana in 1976 being the last undefeated team and they went undefeated the previous year until the tourney.
Upsets in Women's Tourney:
7 ND 71
10 MINN 79

5 TENN 55
12 BALL 71

#11 MSU 71
#6 TEX 63

7 DEP 70
10 SDSU 76

5 XAV 59
12 GONZ 74

I should have taken my buddy's bet on this. He said he'd give me $100 bucks for each round further from the championship game Tennessee gets knocked out, with noone paying out if they lost the championship game. I would have had to pay him $500 if they won it all. This first round loss would have won $500 for me. I should have taken him on it because I knew Tenn wouldn't make it all the way! *smacking myself in the head till I bleed*

[JRutledge]

Wow, you got me by a few years. Wooden teams went undefeated in 72 and 73.

And the point being made is upsets happen every year in the Men's tournament. This is the first year ever that high seeds in multiple regions made it to the Sweet 16. All but one region has the 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds advance. The other region had a 5 beat a 4 seed. That happens almost every year in women’s basketball or the final for has mostly top seeds. Not very common that a team not expected to make the Final Four or from a mid-major conference makes it to the Final Four or Regional Championship. If UConn wins the NC this year, it will be the 4th time in recent history that an undefeated team wins the NC. That has not come close to happening in over 30 years on the Men's side. And it never happened in the current seeding structure. When Wooden was doing it, they did not have to beat teams from other regions to make the Final Four.

Once again, very little talk about the actual games or plays, just a debate about relevance. If you have to talk about relevance and not the game, that proves the point I been making all along. And if you do not want people to comment in that way, just post a thread about the game and leave it at that.

Peace

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by Juulie Downs

Today the "Lady Vol's" (as the women's team from Tennessee is known) lost to Ball State from Muncie, Indiana. It was Ball State's first time ever in the tournament, and the first year ever that Tennessee didn't advance past the first round. I call that an upset!!

Wow, huge upset, I wasn't aware until you brought it up Juulie!

Yep, certainly fewer upsets in the women's tourney over the years than the men's and this must rank right up there with the biggest ever!

Wonder if ole Pat Summit is out of shock yet!

PS - I'll follow the tourney for two reasons:

One, to see how the Lady Terps do, and
Two, to see how that gal from Oklahoma who put her scholarship on the line does and what happens if they don't win it all......

PSS - Ya think Geno Auriemma called to offer his sympathy?

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by Juulie Downs

Jeff, I'm not saying this to start an argument, and I'm not even going to try to talk you into having any interest in women's ball. You can dislike it as much as you want to. But you did say that there aren't as many upsets in women's ball as in men's, so I just need to point out that...

Today the "Lady Vol's" (as the women's team from Tennessee is known) lost to Ball State from Muncie, Indiana. It was Ball State's first time ever in the tournament, and the first year ever that Tennessee didn't advance past the first round. I call that an upset!!

Here's a link just in case anyone's interested.

Ball State vs. Tennessee - Recap - March 22, 2009 - ESPN

What a great shot in the arm for their program. I get a little tired of seeing Summit's mug scowling on the sideline every year.

This will get a mention from alumnus David Letterman I'm sure.

I'm pulling for our local team, Depaul, with mostly Chicago area ladies that I either saw or reffed many of their high school games.

[Rich]

I went to school at Tennessee (grad school) and I root for both the men's and women's teams to do well. I watched about half of the game last night and she was disappointed, but gracious in defeat. She even did an interview with ESPN right afterwards on the court.

Pat had a rough year. She had (and played) SEVEN freshmen coming off 2 consecutive national championships. I'd watch out for this team in the next couple of years.