Women's basketball needs a new personality to carry the sport. (USAT - Wolken)

[Orangutan]

I will ride with Dawn all day long but I deplore so much about this article the innuendo and factual inaccuracies are nauseating.
The big innuendo is that the past face of WCBB (Pat) was a woman therefore the "future" face must also be a Woman- skips right over that "Guy" who coaches the national team and have won 1/2 of the NCAA Championships since 1995.
An example of factual inaccuracies is "Carol Ross, a former coach at Ole Miss and Florida, said South Carolina has one key element — the post game — to compete with UConn..."-
When did this happen?

Where is the inaccuracy? Do you believe that Carol Ross didn't actually say that?

 

[msf22b]

I'm not on the Dawn bandwagon unless she shows me a whole lot more.
Her winning is essentially regional
Has yet to beat the big ones once or twice, win an NCAA.

Has to lighten up her rep as a potty mouth.

Has: done a great job of building up the fan base and recruiting some fine players, give her credit for that.
But the team doesn't always play supersmart BB and also seems not in the best of condition.
Don't see her as a natural spokesperson either, sort of a sourpuss personality.

I think the search for the next spokesperson goes on....
Now if Kara decided to go into coaching (as some on the UTenn board hope), and had a little success.
There's someone that could be the next gen personality.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I have to challenge the whole premise of the article. If this sport needs a coach to be its face, then it is dying. If Pat Summit was the face, I missed that era. If the faces (plural) of a sport are not players, then it's not a sport. Ridiculous article, absurd premise.

 

[SCGamecock]

The slight angle about being a potential new face of the sport aside, the piece is pretty much just a straightforward profile of Dawn. I don't see it as being anti-Geno at all. Just pro-Dawn as the next great foil to Geno.

Exactly.

 

[SCGamecock]

Don't get caught up in the flowery language... this article isn't crowning Dawn the next great coach in WCBB. Everybody knows about McGraw, Frese, Walz, etc..

Dawn is still up and coming. The writer is pretty much trying to convince the reader how cool it would be for the sport IF Dawn did become the next great coach in WCBB. Like the article said, she's one of the first players from that generation to have a decent amount of success in coaching... and when you consider how important Dawn and other players from that era were to the growth of women's professional and amateur basketball then you begin to understand how special for the sport it would be IF Dawn became the next great coach in WCBB.

You could take out Dawn's name, insert Sheryl Swoopes/Lisa Leslie/Rebecca Lobo etc.. and the purpose of the article wouldn't change. That generation of players was huge for women's basketball and it would be cool if one of them reached the highest levels of success in coaching.

 

[TRest]

She's 45 years old and been a head coach for 16 years. To describe her as "still up and coming" seems to be a stretch. At this point, she is who she will always be, it's recruiting that will allow her to make a jump to the top level.

 

[PacoSwede]

All done with blue uniforms for this year.

Now if can ditch the gray, FOREVER.

 

[CocoHusky]

Where is the inaccuracy? Do you believe that Carol Ross didn't actually say that?

No I believe Carol Ross said it, just like I believe Carol should have compared notes with Cierra Burdick and at least watch a few plays from either of the last 2 UCONN vs SC games.

 

[CocoHusky]

The slight angle about being a potential new face of the sport aside, the piece is pretty much just a straightforward profile of Dawn. I don't see it as being anti-Geno at all. Just pro-Dawn as the next great foil to Geno.

Precisely my point. Mufffet, Geno & Dawn are all competing with Geno currently holding the upper hand. There is no need to go back and talk about the person (Pat) who had the upper hand before Geno because there is no torch to be passed from Pat to Dawn. If you want to connect Geno to Dawn go the direct route-through Debbie Ryan.

 

[SCGamecock]

She's 45 years old and been a head coach for 16 years. To describe her as "still up and coming" seems to be a stretch. At this point, she is who she will always be, it's recruiting that will allow her to make a jump to the top level.

45 years old is young when you're coaching at a high level of D1. When you consider the ages of Auriemma, Vandaveer, McGraw etc.. they are pretty much the elders in their sports and they still have 5-10 more years. Dawn's generation (Staley, Frese, Walz etc.) still has 20+ years of coaching left. More than enough time to cement legacies, so they're still "up and coming" in a way.

 

[JoePgh]

No I believe Carol Ross said it, just like I believe Carol should have compared notes with Cierra Burdick and at least watch a few plays from either of the last 2 UCONN vs SC games.

Did I miss something? What did Cierra Burdick say on this subject?

I think it is an accurate statement that Wilson and Coates are the best post pair in the country to challenge Stewie and Morgan, regardless of the fact that they weren't too successful this year or last. (That may have something to do with SC's guards being unable to get them the ball.) Someone might suggest Baylor's big freshman pair, but their inexperience (at this point) probably puts them a level below Wilson and Coates.

What other team has offered more of a challenge to Stewie or Morgan, or might do so?

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Who is Dan Wolken, and why should anyone care what he thinks? When we want his opinion, we'll give it to him!

Stated somewhat less artfully, "When we want any crap out of Dan Wolken we'll unscrew his head and dip it out."

 

[CocoHusky]

Did I miss something? What did Cierra Burdick say on this subject?

I think it is an accurate statement that Wilson and Coates are the best post pair in the country to challenge Stewie and Morgan, regardless of the fact that they weren't too successful this year or last. (That may have something to do with SC's guards being unable to get them the ball.) Someone might suggest Baylor's big freshman pair, but their inexperience (at this point) probably puts them a level below Wilson and Coates.

What other team has offered more of a challenge to Stewie or Morgan, or might do so?

Yes you did miss something.
At at time when UCONN had Dolson, Stewie, KML & a Healthy Morgan Tuck in uniform Burdick said: "TN was hands down... the best frontcourt in the country."

I think you are missing something now because Carol Ross is theoretically and factually wrong because the two teams have actually met up and the SC frontline has yet show up or even present enough resistance to make anyone think they can compete with UCONN's frontline.
The ND & MD frontlines have played UCONN significantly better this year than SC.

 

[Orangutan]

No I believe Carol Ross said it, just like I believe Carol should have compared notes with Cierra Burdick and at least watch a few plays from either of the last 2 UCONN vs SC games.

Of course, I was being snarky. I knew that's how you meant it.

But regardless of the validity of the statement, I don't blame the writer. He is just quoting an "expert" in the field.

 

[msf22b]

Did I miss something? What did Cierra Burdick say on this subject?

I think it is an accurate statement that Wilson and Coates are the best post pair in the country to challenge Stewie and Morgan

Wowsa

Let's go to the Video tape:

Coates had an absolutely miserable game against UConn this season, she completely disappeared on offense (1-6, no O-boards).Morgan et al, made her look like an incompetent on D (2 games now)...Yes Wilson is very gifted, but she hasn't been able to carry the team by herself with the lack of effective guard play and the disappearance of her front-court mate.

If I remember correctly, Dawn was a point guard...Why can't she teach her kids how to perform effectively in that position?Why has Cuevas (accent incorrectly on the 2nd syllable) not improved?
At some point (maybe no one's that bad), she may be compared to Holly in that regard (another point) who is demonstrating that success at that position does not necessarily translate into an effective coach.

Why aren't her players fitter?

So to summarize: Guard play is spotty and at least one-half of their forecourt tandem, underperforms on the big stage.

Doesn't sound like a National Championship Caliber team.

If that's the best in the country...I have no polite completion for that thought.

 

[boontonbomber]

So who's the personality who carries men's basketball?? Women's basketball needs what has carried the men's game for quite awhile-- lots of competition for the top spot. And that will happen with more really talented coaches, not personalities.

 

[Alydar]

So I guess that schools will now have to put their coaching candidates in front of focus groups to see if they "resonate"?

Maybe to smooth the road to popularity wcbb should hire the kardashians as coaches for the top teams. Maybe a few girl on girl cat fights at mid court?

The media covering women's basketball are only interested in ratings and they see themselves as at least as important as the athletes. Listen to their babbling during games. They are more interested in telling cute stories than in commenting on the game in front of them.

 

[baggerbob]

If there were more commentators like Kara, and Rebecca, and less like Carolyn, the women's game would be better.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

So who's the personality who carries men's basketball?? Women's basketball needs what has carried the men's game for quite awhile-- lots of competition for the top spot. And that will happen with more really talented coaches, not personalities.

We need more talented coaches in high schools and AAU. If they don't know how to pass or shoot when they get to college they aren't likely to learn.

 

[j66kicker]

So who's the personality who carries men's basketball?? Women's basketball needs what has carried the men's game for quite awhile-- lots of competition for the top spot. And that will happen with more really talented coaches, not personalities.

Rick Pitino if you like strippers & whores
Roy Williams if you don't particularly like going to class and doing homework

 

[SCGamecock]

We need more talented coaches in high schools and AAU. If they don't know how to pass or shoot when they get to college they aren't likely to learn.

THIS. WBB needs more talented coaches teaching fundamentals at the lower levels before college... that's how you build depth. There's no reason WBB can't have the same depth of talent as MBB.. The more talent getting coached up right, the better off the sport will be because all of that talent can't go to 1 school... or 5.

 

[Dove]

I will now go to sleep pondering how Pat Summit "mesmerized" people.

Scared them, maybe.

 

[Jimbo]

I will now go to sleep pondering how Pat Summit "mesmerized" people.

Scared them, maybe.

One could make a strong case that some of her bright orange outfits probably "mesmerized" some people. Or scared them. Either way.

(Pleasant dreams! )

 

[Oldbones]

I'll go one step further. It was the charismatic, attractive, upstarts in Storrs in 1995 that caught the world's attention. No one watches Rocky IV to cheer for Ivan Draco. They watch it to see Rocky beat Ivan Draco.

Hey CL82 no spoiler alert on Rocky IV? Thanks a lot!