Women’s BB is top heavy. A few really good teams, and then the rest. Like Men’s BB 30-40 years ago.
Last Sweet 16 Appearance For all P6 Teams
- Thread starter duckboy33
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There's more parity in the women's game than there was even 10 year ago. I expect that trend to continue but it's still behind the men's game when it comes to parity.
There's still a big gap between the top teams and teams outside the top 20s but there's a lot more parity within the top 20. Teams like UConn used to be nearly unbeatable. Now there's a larger group of teams that could win the NCAAT.
They're beatable, yes. But, they're freakishly dominant. In the past 28 seasons, Auriemma is 955-65. That comes out to 34.1 wins and 2.3 losses per season. Can you imagine a men's team averaging a record of 34-2 over the course of 28 years? That's what Duke's record was in 1992, which is largely considered our greatest team of all time. 34-2 is just an average year for UConn, though.
No doubt but they aren't running away from the pack like they used to. Their good records are often inflated the last couple of years because the Big East and AAC aren't good women leagues. It's fairly similar to Gonzaga in the WCC this year. Great program in a bad league.
UConn, as good as they've been, didn't win 17, 18, 19 and most likely weren't going to win in 20. That's been a positive step for women's basketball. You've seen more teams rise up and compete for championships.
I mean, they're not quite the UCLA of the 60's or 70's. They haven't won 7 straight titles. But, they've still won 10 of the past 20 national championships. And their consistency is just off the charts. 12 straight Final Fours. 27 straight Sweet 16's. You'll never see numbers like that in the men's game. I think the dynamics will probably change a little bit whenever Auriemma retires.
There's no doubt that you see numbers that you would never see in the men's game because of the parity issue.
I agree the dynamics are likley to change when Geno retires. Honestly, I already think the dynamics are changing. UConn is still a dominant program but the depth in women's basketball is slowly improving and other programs are catching up. I agree that will probably accelerate after Geno retires.
Coach A has a copy or 2 of John Wooden’s book, “Pyramid of Success”. Smart man.
You could say the men's game was more top heavy in the 60's.
Kind of weird that when a team is dominant, later on people will invariably come out of the woodwork to claim "well, that just proves it was easy to win titles back then!".
When you look at schools other than UConn that have won titles on the women's side (Notre Dame, Stanford, etc), the parity is similar to the men's game. When it is just one program that skews the result, it is because they are on a historic run.
No men's team will ever go to 12 straight FF or 27 straight Sweet 16s.
And my issue with the women, is more of the fact that the games aren't usually close. You don't see a random top 50 women's team playing a tight game against a top 5 team. Happens all the time in the men's game. The 2010 and 2016 UConn teams won every single game - and they beat RANKED teams by an average of 24 points (in a combined 24 games against nationally ranked opponents). UConn won a freaking Sweet 16 game by 60 points. The 2016 team won their two FF games by an average of 30 points.
Women's Tournament started in 1982. 18 of the 38 National Champions either went undefeated, or they had 1 loss on the season. Every single men's national champion from 1982 on has had at least two losses. Yes, there's a huge difference between the parity in the men's and women's game.
And of course it was easier to win titles back in the 60's or 70's. You only had to win 4 games. And you didn't have to deal with high turnover rates.
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Both statements can be true. There is less parity in the women's game and UConn is a better stronger program than anything we have seen on the men's side.
Fran needs to recruit better athletes or find some in the portal. Imagine having some of Oregon’s wing players with Garza inside...
He is trying, IMO. He just keeps missing on the big time players, and uses Iowa guys as the fall back recruits.
Hence our whiteness
