NCAA women’s tournament Mickey Mouse
Everyone knows I’m a big defender of women’s basketball. But I don’t defend the NCAA women’s tournament. It’s Mickey Mouse in all regards
For years, the women played NCAA games on home courts. Finally, a couple of years ago, the NCAA left that format, going from 16 first-round sites to eight (mostly) neutral sites. Attendance went down, of course, because it takes time to build an event. Doesn’t happen over night.
But the women’s committee didn’t have the stomach for commitment to growth and competitive fairness. It has bolted back to 16 first-round sites, so you’ve got all kinds of inequitable matchups. Don’t worry about OU playing a second-round game at Iowa; the Sooners are good enough to offset that. But second-seeded Auburn could face seventh-seeded Rutgers at Rutgers. Third-seeded Louisville could play at sixth-seeded LSU. Ninth-seeded Michigan State gets games against 8-seed Middle Tennessee and (with a win) top-seeded Duke. Second-seeded Texas A&M could play at 7-seed Notre Dame.
It’s a joke and it’s counter to competitive basketball. It’s artificial interest in the sport. If you have to put the tournament on campus sites to draw a crowd, those fans aren’t interested in the sport, they’re interested in their team.
ESPN seems to know how silly the system is. On its selection show Monday night, ESPN sometimes didn’t even tell viewers where games were being played. They kept talking about which regional each team was in, their second-week destination, and totally downplayed the first- and second-round sites.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Yours are the finest comments on the committee’s work I’ve read. As a parent of one of the kids effected (daughter plays for MTSU…which will be playing at Michigane State), please allow me to express my gratitude.
My eyes have certainly been opened as regards the political scheming and sheer pettiness of so many involved in college sports.
Thanks,
Robert