2011 NCAA women thread ... better late than never?

Does anyone remember the story as to why Blair got ran off from Arkansas?

I seem to recall that it had something to do with the female AD and since my imagination is running wild until someone checks it with the facts, I'm going to say it was because Blair didn't embrace the lesbianism in the sport and that made the dikey AD angry.

 

It's the "If you don't win the title, then you're not worth mentioning" argument. Seems to surface here on a regular basis.

This would also rule out, IIRC:

* The Giants of 1951.

* Buffalo's record playoff comeback in 1992.

* Jordan's shot over Ehlo.

And so on.

 

Don't forget The Fab Five!

 

Or Olajuwon and Clyde the Glide.

Although, I guess they won a title later. So then they are worth mentioning.

 

1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team.

Just a footnote in history.

 

Last year's Butler team. One shot away. People still talk about it.

But for this year's team, the title game never happened.

 

Comparing iconic sports moments to a women's basketball semifinal result is not quite a fair analogy, at least as public perception goes. There's probably more people out there who think UConn won this year's women's title than Texas A&M, and the game was last night.

And I'm sure Jordan would trade that shot over Ehlo for a title. Ditto any of the other examples put forth.

 

But that doesn't make it "meaningless," which was Zag's assertion.

As in most SportsJournalists.com debates, the truth is probably somewhere between the two extremes.

 

It's not completely meaningless, no, but it does dampen its impact quite a lot. When you get that close to a title and fall short, that's what you tend to focus on (speaking as a VCU almost alumnus who adored their run to the Final Four but can't stop thinking about what would have happened had they beaten Butler)

Now had UConn not lost earlier in the season, and Notre Dame beat them to snap their 114-game winning streak, that's a different story.

 

I agree. Not to take anything away from Texas A&M's accomplishment, but Notre Dame had it and let it get away. Texas A&M is too good to say that it was a choke job ... but it was at least a first-cousin of a choke job.

 

Not gonna lie, tuned in for final five minutes just to see Skylar Diggins. Only girl I knew, and the hype was true: she is one attractive young lady.

 

Geno said somewhere last week that UConn will not bid on first/second-rounders the next five years because attendance has dropped. Good move. With Hartford hosting the Big East tournament, there's probably better basketball there than watching the home team curbstomp two jobbers - UConn doesn't get remotely threatened until the Sweet 16, anyway.