Anna called me out for differentiating between Pat Summitt's 880 career D1 Women's basketball wins and Dean Smith's 879 career D1 Men's Basketball career wins. I am not knocking Women's basketball... in fact I enjoy the women's on the court product today, even moreso than the men's product. Real basketball is played below the rim, not above the rim. But, with that being said, Men's D1 Basketball is to Oranges as Women's D1 Basketball is to Apples.
The parity in Men's basketball makes scheduling a totally different animal between the men's and women's games. There are consistently 4 or 5 top women's teams every year, usually only 1 in each of the power conferences. Tennessee, Connecticut, Purdue, Duke, and Texas. Tennessee's SEC competition has been incredibly poor. UT has won 10 of the last 12 SEC championships with only Georgia being any competition for them. Being able to dominate your conference makes it much easier for Pat Summitt to get 30 wins a year. They only end up playing a comparable team once in the pre season and once or twice in the post season.
Since UT opened their arena in 1982, they have played 45 NCAA Tourney home games going 45-0 at home hosting the first 2 rounds every year. That is a major advantage that the men's game does not have anymore. 2 years ago, Purdue was a #1 seed and Tennessee was a #2 seed, yet Purdue had to go play at Tennessee in the NCAA tourney... now that is one heck of an advantage.
And no I am not singling out Pat Summitt because she is a female... if Geno Auriemma of Connecticut had just gotten #880, I would feel the same way.
Bottom line, Pat Summitt is a basketball coaching legend. She obviously can recruit, motivate, teach and maintain that highest level for her entire career. She is the best Women's coach of all time. She deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Smith, Knight, Phelan, Phog Allen, and Henry Iba. I have no doubt she would be a successful coach in the men's ranks. I would love to see her take over the Tennessee men's program and see what she could do. Beat Kentucky, Florida and Alabama for SEC titles on the Mens' side and her legend would be off the charts. But I still wouldn't compare Women's D1 wins to Men's D1 wins.
And yes this is my blog and I can say anything I want to... if you don't like it... start your own blog ;-)
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2 comments:
Amazing! Being a super-feminist and pretty orthodox on Title IX, I couldn't think of anything you could say to make me agree with you, and you did it in one fell swoop. Next thing you know, you'll convince me to actually watch NASCAR. :)
Although I would never "call you out" on anything (especially in a public forum), I'm glad I asked the question and got a new perspective that I pretty much agree with. Damn, I hate it when my mind expands. It hurts my skull.
(And yes, I tried having a blog, and the blog sucked, so I basically gave it up. I must now bow to your superior blogging skills. Carry on, overlord!)
Anna, I don't know if I should be pleased or terrified ;-)
IRL... I'll see what I can do in May... NASCAR... No way!
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