Florida Gators Play Today in NCAA Women's Tournament

Last year the University of Florida basketball teams, both men's and women's, faltered from their usual winning ways...the women's team finished 13-17.  This year, however, they staged a complete turnaround, now with a 22-8 record and a berth in this year's NCAA Tournament.  The Gators are seeded #5 in their region and are playing #12 seed Albany (of New York).  Unfortunately for head coach Amanda Butler's team, they are playing in Syracuse...just a few miles from Albany...so their lower-seeded opponent definitely has a home-court advantage here.  And should they manage to win this opening round game today, their Sunday opponent in all likelihood will be 4th-seeded Syracuse.  So the women's hoops team will be playing their first two tournament games on a hostile court...assuming they get past Albany in the first game.  Oh well, at least they made the tournament! And besides, they don't have to play in the same region as Connecticut or Notre Dame, the two schools that have overwhelmingly dominated the sport in recent years...

It is the lack of parity at the top level of play that bothers me about NCAA women's basketball, and it has always been like that.  For many years, it was considered a "slam-dunk" that Tennessee would glide onward each season to an easy championship.  Over time, this sense of predestined fate has transferred to Connecticut, which has won the last three championships and more than half of the titles in this century.  But it isn't just that Connecticut has won many championships: most of the tournament games they play are boring blowouts: do you really want to watch a game (like in last year's tournament) where Connecticut wins, against good teams, 89-33, 91-55, and 105-54? Okay, they finally played it closer in the next two games, winning 91-70 and 81-58...well, not that close, either.  The finale, which was against the one team capable of competing on the same court with them, Notre Dame, was only a 10-point margin.  These ridiculously lopsided games have been the rule and not the exception with the top-teams in women's NCAA basketball...quite a contrast with the men's tournament, which has much more parity...

They are showing the Belmont-Michigan State game on ESPN right now, but I think I'm going to have to listen to the radio (on 95.3 here in Gainesville) to follow the Florida-Albany game, which at this writing (a few minutes past noon) has just begun.  Go Gators!

Wait a minute, they ARE showing the Florida-Albany game on ESPN...either that or they are hopping around from one game to another...