I agree with Deacon, who gave props to the Women’s NCAA championship game between Duke and Maryland
Basketball is a great game when it’s played above the rim (witness Florida’s awesome display on Monday). But it’s just as great when played at a lower altitude, as we saw tonight (contrast this with women’s soccer, where the inabililty of women to kick the ball as far as men and to run as fast makes the sport a pale imitation of the men’s game). To me, the “final four” now means a four-day festival consisting of the two alternating, contrasting and complementary spectacles.
The Duke-Maryland showdown was just great basketball, regardless of the gender of the players. It was more fun to watch than the Gators-Bruins game on Monday, which was over by the opening tip. Some of the cliches are more or less true: the womens’ game is a team game, with less one-on-one NBA-style play than the mens’ game. It relies more on jump shots and defensive fundamentals and less on slam dunks and vertical leaps. It’s been vastly improved over the last few years by improved shooting percentages. During the Connecticut juggernaut years, it could be painful - a brick’s a brick, even if it is set up by beautifully-design offensive fundamentals.
It’s also nice to see schools that don’t excel on the men’s side, like Louisiana Tech and Vanderbilt. Plus, Duke lost, which is always a good thing.
