Victoria Advocate | "More on the tournament, St. Joseph baseball/softball" by jackmolitor

More on the tournament, St. Joseph baseball/softball

By jackmolitor in Hoosier Jack's Sports Blog
March 25, 2009

Well, I know it wasn't a stretch, but I was right about both Texas teams being eliminated before the Sweet 16. I was also right about the Texas-Duke game being much more exciting.

Wow the Aggies fell hard in that 92-66 loss to UConn. In fairness, Connecticut did not miss in that game. I think at one point during the second half they were shooting 70 percent from the floor. That's indefensible. The law of averages even shows that its hard to do that unless you're shooting layups, and A&M usually had a hand in the face of the shooter. That was typically A.J. Price and Stanley Robinson, who had 27 and 12 respectively.

Price was especially blazing from behind the 3-point line. He's going to be a Richard Hamilton, Ray Allen-like pro, and if UConn continues to play like that, they will waltz to the title. The Aggies couldn't hit anything in the first half, but even if they had, they still probably would have been trounced. Hashim Thabeet, UConn's big-time big man scored only six points in 20 minutes. They didn't even need him. So much for the loss of Jerome Dyson somehow making them less of a team. UConn men and women both winning the title in same year? It's happened once before, and it looks like a good bet to happen again.

Speaking of which, an A&M-UConn matchup is looming in women's basketball, too. The Huskies are the No. 1 seed in the Trenton region and the Aggies are the 2 seed, and both were very impressive in their second round victories. Both games stopped being close after the opening tip. UConn beat Florida 87-59 and A&M downed Minnesota 73-42. The Ags forced 32 turnovers. That was a season high, AGAINST A TOURNAMENT TEAM!

Both need to win their regional semifinal games, but seriously, they look like they're on a collision course. The Aggies play 6-seeded Arizona State and UConn plays No. 4 California. To be honest though, I don't see how Cal, A&M or anyone else will beat the Huskies. This is a team that has bowled over EVERYONE. Aside from not losing, they have beaten everyone by 10 or more points. They defeated at the time No. 4 and now fellow No. 1 seed Oklahoma earlier in the year by 28 points. I see a potentially grim future for the Aggies, and any other team, if they have to play Connecticut.

I think that's one of the things wrong with women's basketball aside from the conventional arguments about how boring it is. What really makes it boring is that it's prone to seasons like this, where one or maybe two teams (traditionally UConn and Tennessee) have all the best players and breeze through the season without a real challenge, and they unceremoniously add to their trophy case.

That's what has made the men's game so great - the depth and the parity. There are about 10 perennial contenders and numerous teams that contend intermittently, and they don't have to be gigantic schools. And the teams are usually so closely matched in personnel because nobody dominates recruiting.

What do they do about it? Good question. Not much can be done for now because there is so little buzz and popularity for the sport, so all the best players are going to want to go to where they can get the most of the little attention the sport gets.

On top of that, players don't leave school early because there is no money - at least compared to the NBA - waiting for them at the next level. They're bigger stars as college athletes, so the best teams like Tennessee and Connecticut get to keep their players the whole four years. Until, or unless the sport gets more popular, it will probably stay that way.

And while I'm on the topic, there's another thing I really don't like about what they've done with the women's tournament. They have collegiate hosting sites for the first two rounds (not a bad idea), but they predetermine them, and then they give that school home court advantage for the first two rounds if they make the tournament, regardless of their seed.

Does that just not make sense to anyone else? I understand it is meant to improve attendance, but does a No. 9 seed deserve to have a home game against a No. 1 seed in the second round? That's what happened in the Duke-Michigan State game Tuesday night. Michigan State was awarded a home game against one of the toughest teams in the country, and they beat the Blue Devils soundly. Now don't get me wrong, I will shed no tears for Duke, either the men's or the women's program. But if you worked hard all year to earn that seed, you should be rewarded by either being placed close to your fanbase, or at least not being placed close to another team's fanbase. That's what happens on the men's side. The Maryland Terrapins and UConn both got to play those games at their home sites. Why not Duke?

And how about where they put some of these games? Lubbock, Texas? Now it would have worked out well if Texas Tech had made the tournament, but they didn't. Wouldn't it have been smarter to choose a collegiate host closer to civilization than West Texas, in case the Red Raiders don't make the tourney? Just an idea.

Now after that gigantic collegiate detour, how bout some local high school stuff. I'm working on a story about the Lady Flyers pitcher, Marina Vazquez. She's the team's best player and only senior, but she's coming back from shoulder surgery that had kept her out of action for a while. It's a really cool story and should be running soon, so watch out for that.

In other news, a lot of Tuesday games were a wash because of the ill-timed bad weather. St. Joe's softball, baseball, and Faith baseball were all canceled. St. Joseph will have a baseball game tomorrow (Thursday) which I will cover. The softball team still hasn't come up with a make-up date.

More to come. Keep it real.