Women’s College Basketball 2024-25

[tower912]

Very sad for her and for the women's college basketball.

Now, for the snarky bit....

Maybe it is time to talk about the State Farm celebrity endorser jinx.  Mahomes, Reid, and Kelce in the Super Bowl, now Juju?

[MuggsyB]

Very sad for her and for the women's college basketball.

Now, for the snarky bit....

Maybe it is time to talk about the State Farm celebrity endorser jinx.  Mahomes, Reid, and Kelce in the Super Bowl, now Juju?

I dunno but I have a list of commercials that should be dismissed.  Starting with the Capitol One ads.  Get rid of the Trivago dude as well and the Homes.com people.  Now the Hotels.com commercial with Marie Antionette is clever. 

[Billy Hoyle]

I dunno but I have a list of commercials that should be dismissed.  Starting with the Capitol One ads.  Get rid of the Trivago dude as well and the Homes.com people.  Now the Hotels.com commercial with Marie Antionette is clever. 

And yet none of those commercials are as annoying as the Apple ad and the "sick burn, Caitlin" ads from last year's tourney.

[Scoop Snoop]

I dunno but I have a list of commercials that should be dismissed.  Starting with the Capitol One ads.  Get rid of the Trivago dude as well and the Homes.com people.  Now the Hotels.com commercial with Marie Antionette is clever. 

    

[MU82]

Absolutely terrible to see Ju-Ju tear her ACL.  Destroys the women's tournament pretty much. 

Come on, man. It doesn't come close to "destroying" the women's tournament.

There are a number of championship-caliber teams, and lots of stars worth watching.

It probably does destroy what was gonna be an epic matchup, though, as USC and UConn were on a collision course to meet in the regional final with a Final Four spot on the line. USC might still get there, but it's hard to imagine them beating UConn without JuJu - they were gonna have enough trouble beating UConn even with her, as the Huskies are playing better than any team in the country.

[MuggsyB]

Come on, man. It doesn't come close to "destroying" the women's tournament.

There are a number of championship-caliber teams, and lots of stars worth watching.

It probably does destroy what was gonna be an epic matchup, though, as USC and UConn were on a collision course to meet in the regional final with a Final Four spot on the line. USC might still get there, but it's hard to imagine them beating UConn without JuJu - they were gonna have enough trouble beating UConn even with her, as the Huskies are playing better than any team in the country.

Fewer people will watch. 

[Marquette Fan]

Come on, man. It doesn't come close to "destroying" the women's tournament.

There are a number of championship-caliber teams, and lots of stars worth watching.

It probably does destroy what was gonna be an epic matchup, though, as USC and UConn were on a collision course to meet in the regional final with a Final Four spot on the line. USC might still get there, but it's hard to imagine them beating UConn without JuJu - they were gonna have enough trouble beating UConn even with her, as the Huskies are playing better than any team in the country.

Yeah I was looking forward to a USC-UCONN matchup with JuJu able to play.  Hate to see this happen to her .

[MU82]

Fewer people will watch. 

Perhaps. I guess in the Muggsy native tongue, that's the definition of "destroy."

[MU82]

Doug Bruno retires as DePaul coach.

786-405 over 38 seasons, with 25 NCAAT appearances. (Sat out this past season with health issues.)

He's 74 and will continue to be part of the athletic department.

[WhiteTrash]

Doug Bruno retires as DePaul coach.

786-405 over 38 seasons, with 25 NCAAT appearances. (Sat out this past season with health issues.)

He's 74 and will continue to be part of the athletic department.

An impressive career, made even more impressive considering where he did it.

[cheebs09]

Now, for the snarky bit....

Maybe it is time to talk about the State Farm celebrity endorser jinx.  Mahomes, Reid, and Kelce in the Super Bowl, now Juju?

Don't forget

[MU82]

Geno is not keen-o on the NCAA's super-regional format.

From The Athletic:

SPOKANE, Wash. — It is the third year that UConn has come to the Pacific Northwest for the NCAA Tournament super regional, and the experience hasn't gotten any more pleasant.

Ahead of Saturday's Sweet 16 clash against No. 3 Oklahoma, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma once again railed on the two-site regional concept, a perennial source of frustration for him dating back to UConn's trip to Seattle in 2023.

"Whoever came up with this super regional stuff — and I know who they are — ruined the game. They did. They ruined the game," Auriemma said. "Half the country has no chance to get to a game in person. But you're making billions off of TV. Well, actually you're not, that would be the men's tournament. So, yeah there's a lot of issues that they need to fix."

The NCAA switched from four regional sites to two in 2023 in response to declining crowd sizes. The crowds have since grown, but with more teams at fewer sites, some teams have complained about logistics like sharing court space, finding enough hotels and the travel schedule.

The Huskies had a one-hour practice at 8 a.m. Friday to accommodate the four Spokane 4 Regional teams who have to practice in the arena and an additional four Spokane 1 teams that need shootaround time before their games tonight. On Saturday, they'll have an even earlier shootaround with the games tipping off earlier in the day.

"In a normal world, run by normal people, there would only be four teams here," Auriemma said. "Which means there would be no games today, the games would be tomorrow. Which means we wouldn't have to get up at 6 a.m. to have an 8 o'clock practice here this morning for an hour. Which means we wouldn't have to get up at 5 a.m. to have a 7:30 shootaround for half an hour. Takes us longer to get through security than to actually be on the court?"

The super regional presents an additional problem with travel, though mostly for the winning teams in Spokane, who will have to make a cross-country trek (the second one in a week if UConn wins) to get to Tampa, Fla. for the Final Four. The women's tournament changed its Final Four days from Sunday-Tuesday to Friday-Sunday in 2017, which gives the teams who play in the Elite Eight on Monday even less time to prepare for the national semifinal. On the men's side, the Elite Eight concludes Sunday before the Saturday Final Four.

This format is locked in through 2028. The 2026 sites of Sacramento, Calif. and Fort Worth, Texas leading to a Phoenix Final Four are more geographically convenient, but the regional winners in Las Vegas in 2027 and Portland, Ore. in 2028 will once again have long travel to Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, respectively, for the next round.

[The Sultan]

"Ruined the game" seems to be a bit of an over-reach, but I get the frustration.

[MU82]

Incredible 2nd half for UConn and Bueckers. That team is gonna be tough to beat. (Captain Obvious, I know.)

[Marquette Fan]

Incredible 2nd half for UConn and Bueckers. That team is gonna be tough to beat. (Captain Obvious, I know.)

Bueckers is crazy good.

So disappointing that USC is missing JuJu for the upcoming match up with UCONN.  I think UCONN might have prevailed anyway but it would have likely been a much closer game.

Oklahoma has a commitment from the number 1 recruit in the nation for next season - hope to see them do well with former MU assistant Jennie Baranczyk (Lillis) as their head coach.

[MU82]

Bueckers is crazy good.

So disappointing that USC is missing JuJu for the upcoming match up with UCONN.  I think UCONN might have prevailed anyway but it would have likely been a much closer game.

Ditto. Sucks big-time for JuJu, obviously, but it also sucks for basketball fans everywhere.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Geno is not keen-o on the NCAA's super-regional format.

From The Athletic:

SPOKANE, Wash. — It is the third year that UConn has come to the Pacific Northwest for the NCAA Tournament super regional, and the experience hasn't gotten any more pleasant.

Ahead of Saturday's Sweet 16 clash against No. 3 Oklahoma, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma once again railed on the two-site regional concept, a perennial source of frustration for him dating back to UConn's trip to Seattle in 2023.

"Whoever came up with this super regional stuff — and I know who they are — ruined the game. They did. They ruined the game," Auriemma said. "Half the country has no chance to get to a game in person. But you're making billions off of TV. Well, actually you're not, that would be the men's tournament. So, yeah there's a lot of issues that they need to fix."

The NCAA switched from four regional sites to two in 2023 in response to declining crowd sizes. The crowds have since grown, but with more teams at fewer sites, some teams have complained about logistics like sharing court space, finding enough hotels and the travel schedule.

The Huskies had a one-hour practice at 8 a.m. Friday to accommodate the four Spokane 4 Regional teams who have to practice in the arena and an additional four Spokane 1 teams that need shootaround time before their games tonight. On Saturday, they'll have an even earlier shootaround with the games tipping off earlier in the day.

"In a normal world, run by normal people, there would only be four teams here," Auriemma said. "Which means there would be no games today, the games would be tomorrow. Which means we wouldn't have to get up at 6 a.m. to have an 8 o'clock practice here this morning for an hour. Which means we wouldn't have to get up at 5 a.m. to have a 7:30 shootaround for half an hour. Takes us longer to get through security than to actually be on the court?"

The super regional presents an additional problem with travel, though mostly for the winning teams in Spokane, who will have to make a cross-country trek (the second one in a week if UConn wins) to get to Tampa, Fla. for the Final Four. The women's tournament changed its Final Four days from Sunday-Tuesday to Friday-Sunday in 2017, which gives the teams who play in the Elite Eight on Monday even less time to prepare for the national semifinal. On the men's side, the Elite Eight concludes Sunday before the Saturday Final Four.

This format is locked in through 2028. The 2026 sites of Sacramento, Calif. and Fort Worth, Texas leading to a Phoenix Final Four are more geographically convenient, but the regional winners in Las Vegas in 2027 and Portland, Ore. in 2028 will once again have long travel to Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, respectively, for the next round.

My Google news feed brought up a story this morning of Coach Kim Mulkey making the identical claim as Geno.

[Marquette Fan]

There's also an issue with having regionals so far from the Final 4 sites.  And Spokane is quite far from Tampa for this year.  From Rebecca Lobo - https://x.com/RebeccaLobo/status/1902445368786174210

On another note, I'm also not a fan of the afternoon championship game time start that they are sticking with.  I liked the prime time game time much more but I know they aren't making these decisions based on what I want . 

[The Sultan]

There's also an issue with having regionals so far from the Final 4 sites.  And Spokane is quite far from Tampa for this year.  From Rebecca Lobo - https://x.com/RebeccaLobo/status/1902445368786174210

On another note, I'm also not a fan of the afternoon championship game time start that they are sticking with.  I liked the prime time game time much more but I know they aren't making these decisions based on what I want . 

I think Lobo is great, but four examples over 25 years isn't really indicative of anything.

[MU82]

They should go back to Sunday-Tuesday.

It would give the teams the same amount of time to prepare for the FF that the men have. Plus, wouldn't having the semis on Sunday (vs Fri) and the championship on Tue (vs Sun) be better for ratings, too?

Maybe that's just too fair and makes too much sense.

[The Sultan]

They should go back to Sunday-Tuesday.

It would give the teams the same amount of time to prepare for the FF that the men have. Plus, wouldn't having the semis on Sunday (vs Fri) and the championship on Tue (vs Sun) be better for ratings, too?

Maybe that's just too fair and makes too much sense.

There's nothing really unfair. They are competing against other teams with similar rest.

[MU82]

There's nothing really unfair. They are competing against other teams with similar rest.

If 2 teams are traveling across the country and the other 2 are traveling from a much closer location, with only 3 off days between games, the latter 2 would seem to have an advantage. That's what some coaches and observers are arguing, and it seems valid to me.

Also, might the quality of basketball games simplify be better if the women had the same amount of time to rest and prepare as the men do?

[The Sultan]

If 2 teams are traveling across the country and the other 2 are traveling from a much closer location, with only 3 off days between games, the latter 2 would seem to have an advantage. That's what some coaches and observers are arguing, and it seems valid to me.

Also, might the quality of basketball games simplify be better if the women had the same amount of time to rest and prepare as the men do?

No idea why you keep comparing to the men. That's irrelevant. Regardless, both men and women can have as little as three days rest between the second and third rounds with long travel in between and I've never heard that being a problem.

[MU82]

No idea why you keep comparing to the men. That's irrelevant. Regardless, both men and women can have as little as three days rest between the second and third rounds with long travel in between and I've never heard that being a problem.

Thanks.

[The Sultan]

Thanks.

No problem. But honestly your arguments are pretty easy to bat down when simple logic is applied.