Quite the exciting Women's NCAA championship game

[rurallib]

Stanford holds on to win as Arizona's Aari McDonald missed a last second desperation shot. The score was 54-53.
Great game on both sides

for the players.

Tara Vanderveer wins her 3rd championship, but it has been 29 years since her last.

[mcar]

1. Only saw the last quarter, but a great game

and wonderful effort by both teams.

[gratuitous]

2. Best game I've seen since yesterday's UCLA-Gonzaga game

Maybe even better. The last shot in the men's game was do-or-overtime, the last shot in the women's game was do-or-die. More pressure on the last shot by Arizona.

[rurallib]

3. I think Stanford had 8 or 9 on McDonald for that shot.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. When Women's College Bball First Became A Thing...

...Stanford was a POWER!
For various reasons, the spent the last 2+ decades being good, but not great.
Glad to see them back on top.
BTW: as of last year, a whopping 93% of women basketball players graduate on a rolling 10 year basis. 93% of participants end up with a degree. The lowest number in the last 10 years was 91%! That's awesome.

[dem4decades]

5. I remember Louisiana Tech being a powerhouse way back.

[Blue_true]

7. I have always viewed college women basketball plays as being generally

more sound than the men both on basketball fundamentals, and as far as getting a solid education while in college. I would guess that the great disparity in professional sports player job opportunities historically drove that. But with women sports leagues in basketball, soccer, softball, it will be interesting to see whether the past trend hold.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Agreed On The Education Thing

I've heard the basketball fundamentals thing before, and don't agree.
Traditional powerhouse men's programs like Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan, Connecticut, et al play very sound fundamental basketball, particularly on defense.
Everything else you wrote I agree with completely.

[Blue_true]

12. I believe women are better at team play. If you look closely

at the men, it all boils down to maybe two players. The women space the floor better and do a better job of looking for cutting lanes to the basket, and they make often amazing passes to open teamster. Yes, you have dominant players like the star guards from UCONN and Iowa, but most of the women are complimentary players to each other and that shows up in their team play, IMO.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. That's An Outcome Of Size & Athleicism

I don't disagree about how their version of the game is played, but the speed, quickness, leaping ability and strength to go through contact obviates a "two man" (woman) playbook. (For instance, there are literally only 3 women active in NCAAWB that have dunked in 2 years. All 3 are over 6'4". There are hardly any men playing NCAAB over 6'4" that can't get high enough to dunk. It only takes getting 29" off the floor.)
Also, there's less one to one defense in the women's game (more zone) so spot shifting and ball movement is a necessity. It's the easiest way to set up an open shot over the zone, & creates mismatches in the post.
If a team didn't play that way, they be at least 90th in the nation, and we'd never see them.
The teams we see because they're excellent, play motion offenses with ball movement, even if they have a dominant player.
But, I can't agree their necessarily better at team play. Recent examples of incredible ball movement and phenomenal success was Golden State. Over 5 years, nearly 50% of all made baskets were assisted. On top of that, advanced metrics show almost 65% of assisted baskets were on 2nd or 3rd passes.
Women play more team ball because it's critical to success. They practice no other way, so naturally they're very good at it.
But, men's teams that adopt ball movement offenses (Villanova, Wisconsin, Alabama, Texas Tech, et al) are also very good at team play.
It's just that it's easier for one dominant male player to take over a game, despite the quickness & length of the defense. So, not every successful men's team needs to be an archetype of team offense.

[Blue_true]

14. Maybe I just have become partial to team play. Women do that as a standard,

yes, there are some elite Men’s teams that do so, but that number can be counted on two hands.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. It's More Than 2 Handfuls

But, we've seen KY with their "one & done" strategy, the Duke adopted it, and Michigan did it in the past.
So, it works & gets repeated.
But, there are a couple good teams in every conference that play that way, even more in the mid-Major conferences.
I think it's an ebb & flow thing. A couple more Baylor v. Gonzaga type finals will change some coaches perspective.

[Blue_true]

16. The Gonzaga star is likely a one and done player.

I honestly believe that the men’s system should go back to the day when a kid had to at least finish his Junior year of college before being eligible for the Draft. I also believe that kids should be allowed to market their likeness, even in college.
I am a little squishy about whether kids should get paid, in theory, they get room and board, tuition and meals, that can work out to a lot of money at some schools - I would throw in books and technology devices they would need to learn and maybe two round trip air tickets to home and back every quarter, and expenses paid to skills camps the kids may want to attend during the Summer (the last thing would help the colleges field better teams). Lastly, kids should be tutored to get a quality education while at college, not the current situation where they are kept eligible, but learn no future career skills other than in the Sport they play.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. I'm With Ya!

Image & likeness, minimum 2 years, or go G League or Europe.
Now that the G League has upped salaries & added life knowledge courses, may be real competition to the colleges.
BTW: Gonzaga's best player was Drew Timme. He's a 6'10 junior playing 4/5 swing. He's the most complete player on the team & the offense runs through him, because of his passing skills. He was named MVP by his teammates.
But, I agree that the super frosh is likely one & done.

[Blue_true]

18. The Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Moses Malone, Durant players are

rare, able to go from High School to super stardom. Most of the kids that try that jump flame out after a couple years. A modernized NBA “minor” league is a welcomed change, unfortunately most major colleges use most of the kids that play for them, there is no path into coaching for inner city kids, they leave college with no life skills. I would be hesitant to see a kid that has not seen a lot of the world go play in international leagues, country cultures can be problematic for someone who is having to learn them from scratch and no travel.

I would like to see colleges be forced to provide post playing years tuition, room and board to any player that doesn’t graduate or get signed to a multi-year professional contract. I believe that would put an end to programs keeping a kid eligible while he makes almost zero progress toward a degree that will land him in a good job (as vanishing as they are given Robotics and AI).

[ProfessorGAC]

19. We Had 2 From Here In Chicago

Eddie Curry being the most recent example.
Taken #4 overall. Almost as big a bust as Dario Milicic.
He wasn't ready for the NBA, and he never got much better. At least he spent a few years here & some in NY & Miami I hope he saved his money, but as recently as 8 years ago he was playing in Asia.
He could have used a couple years of seasoning & exposure to other athletic, tall guys.
Kobe or Lebron, he wasn't.

[Blue_true]

20. Kobe, LeBron, Garnett, Durant simply (were) are special people.

You can stick people like that into any endeavor and 85% of the time they will at a minimum have noticeable success, if they don’t outright excel. Too many kids in high school simply don’t have that.

You made a good point about playing against big strong men in either college or the NBA minor league. In high school a 6-5 kid likely plays Center or Power Forward, in college that size is a big Guard or small a Forward, unless the kid is muscle bound and quick footed (in such cases, he may do well against the bigger men right out of the gate). Playing against bigger players and often getting embarrassed by then helps a player learn to analyze mistakes and make effective adjustments - very necessary skills in the NBA.

[mobeau69]

6. Bad out of bounds call against AZ at the end. Official was right there and

Still made the wrong call.

[TwilightZone]

8. Yep, four seconds before it would have been reviewable.

[rurallib]

11. I have been watching women's collegiate bball for nigh on 4 decades

and the officiating has always been sub-par. It has gotten better, but for some reason it has always been below especially the men's game.

[FSogol]

10. The last play was sad. Aari was swarmed and none of her teammates came to help.

3 Arizona players (on the left side of the key) just stood there. The lost is on them.