As the glitz and glamour of March Madness shimmers in the distance, the sports world finds itself once again tempted by the forbidden fruit of mid-season - the NCAA Tournament. Mention "The Dance" to any engaged sports fan and you'll see their eyes light up at the thought of three weeks of post-player match-ups and small-conference Cinderella sleepers.
Unless, of course, you're talking about women's basketball, in which case you'll probably get a blank stare, followed by, "Of course UConn's going to win it again, right?" Or from the somewhat broader-thinking sports enthusiast, perhaps: "What about the team with the crazy coach?" (While Pat Summit may be toeing the line between genius and lunacy in perfect Bobby Knight form, her .832 winning percentage as head coach of the Lady Vols of Tennessee is the highest of any coach still in the game.)
While the men's NCAA tournament is always tinged with the hype surrounding The Upset, the women's field has been consistently referred to in terms of its dynasties, most notably the ludicrous reign of the UConn Huskies, who have won four of the last five national titles, amassed a 175-9 record since 2000, and turned out some of the game's star players. And it seems that everyone is just counting the days until March when they will make it four in a row.
Not so fast. The women's field is opening up rapidly as the season gets underway, and here they are - the top five reasons not to engrave the trophy for the Huskies just yet.
5. First of all, UConn's not playing terribly well. Now at 13-5 and ranked tenth nationally and third in the Big East, the Huskies have already matched their losses for the past three seasons combined. These numbers are indeed respectable, even solid, for any other team, but UConn has never been any other team.
Peaking at a No. 4 preseason ranking (after four straight seasons atop the preseason polls), the Huskies have been sliding down the NCAA rankings since the beginning of the season. Feeling the loss of All-American (and arguably the best player in the game today) Diana Taurasi, UConn has played inconsistently and lacks the depth that past UConn rosters have brandished. Junior Ann Strother has been carrying the team in the stat box, playing nearly 32 minutes per night and averaging 12.8 points, but has little consistent help in the backcourt. The Huskies are struggling to do the little things on a regular basis, as evidenced by 16 first-half turnovers in their home loss to Notre Dame on Sunday.
4. Home to a record of 206-16 and 87 straight sellouts, Gampel Pavilion has been something of an Everest in women's college basketball, a place where the home team always wins and the visitors wish they hadn't come. That's changed this season, as UConn has already been dealt three home losses. Although all three, and four of their five season losses, have come at the hands of nationally ranked teams, this just proves that the Huskies are nowhere near untouchable.
3. Nine conferences are represented in the latest women's top-25 ranking. Smaller-conference competitors like Temple from the Atlantic-10 and DePaul from Conference USA are right up there with perennial ACC, SEC, and Big-12 powerhouses. The field is perhaps the most diverse the league has seen in years, and the variety of teams, styles, and individual standout players across the league poses a host of potentially exciting matchups. While the ESPN/USA poll, the AP Top 25, and the RPI rankings for the men have been consistently close to identical throughout the season, no one seems to be able to pick a stable top 10 for the women. Teams to watch include big-name schools like LSU, Duke, Ohio State, Stanford, Purdue and Penn State as well as some that may sound more surprising like Kansas State and Vanderbilt.
The women's field is full of playmakers. Explosive players like Penn State's Tanisha Wright, Notre Dame's Jacqueline Batteast, Duke's Monique Currie, and LSU's Seimone Augustus can pass, shoot, and create and are truly fun to watch. And keep an eye on some of the field's younger players-LSU freshman Sylvia Fowles garnered her eighth double-double in the Tigers' victory over Auburn on Sunday, and 6'3" Vanderbilt freshman Carla Thomas puts up nearly 16 ppg to boost the Commodores into the top 25.
2. The mid-range jumper. As much as the sports world scoffs at it, everyone knows it's the key to a solid offense. More reliable than the three and more versatile than the post shot, it's the shot that wins games (think Michael Jordan's 1998 foul-line jumper, Christian Laettner's turnaround at the buzzer for Duke, or Reggie Stovell's 12-footer from the corner to push Tufts over Wesleyan on Friday), and the women are just better at it than the men. Every top women's basketball team in the country has this weapon in its repertoire, and all of them are dangerous for this very reason.
1. The women's field is more wide open this year than it ever has been, and one thing applies to both the men and the women: it's college hoops, and anything can happen - even a UConn loss in the tourney.
