Musketeer Madness

I know our team is #6 in the country, but the talent gap between our #25 men's team and the #6 women's team is massive. Watching two of the better women's teams in the country (XU, Temple) go at it is like watching X play Bellarmine, except both teams are Xavier.

I'm rooting for our women's team to hold on today, and I know they work hard, but, dear Lord, it's hard to watch.

The ballhandling/passing mistakes we make are like mistakes our men's walk-ons might make if they were being pressed by the Kansas, Pitt or Duke guards.

And we put up so many layup attempts that don't even reach the rim.

I'm all in favor of women's sports, and I know they care about it just as much as the men's teams do, but it is an entirely different game.

X wins A-10 title with win over Temple. Gary, learn to enjoy the little things in life. If you think bad basketball is only in the women's game then you need to watch more men's games. Face it men are stronger and faster down the court but when X played Duke and Stanford this year there were times their game was not only enjoyable but exciting.

I personally thought the X-Duke game was ugly, even beyond ugly to watch. X let that one slip away but I didn't think either team had a stellar night. But congrats to the ladies winning the conference with a tough road win today.

Face it men are stronger and faster down the court but when X played Duke and Stanford this year there were times their game was not only enjoyable but exciting.

I didn't see those games, but yesterday's game against Temple was certainly close, and important because the winner would stay undefeated in the A10 and keep the conference lead. I get all that.

I just expected, maybe wrongfully so, the quality of the play to be better. It was roughly similar to the St. Ignatius-Mt. Carmel men's high-school game I saw on Friday night...roughly.

Mr. Neutral wrote:

Face it men are stronger and faster down the court but when X played Duke and Stanford this year there were times their game was not only enjoyable but exciting.

I didn't see those games, but yesterday's game against Temple was certainly close, and important because the winner would stay undefeated in the A10 and keep the conference lead. I get all that.

I just expected, maybe wrongfully so, the quality of the play to be better. It was roughly similar to the St. Ignatius-Mt. Carmel men's high-school game I saw on Friday night...roughly.

if you saw where women's basketball was 10-15 years ago you would see improvement. ANd if you make comparisons then men's college basketball might look poor compared to a LA vs Boston game....

ANd if you make comparisons then men's college basketball might look poor compared to a LA vs Boston game....

Obviously, there's a big gap between the men's college game and the NBA. Otherwise, the thousands of great college players we've seen over the years would be playing in the NBA....but they're not.

Watching the women's teams play just requires a major adjustment in expectations that apparently took me by surprise yesterday.

Was on the women's practice team back in my time at Xavier...used to pound them in practice.

It was alot of fun, especially seeing on game days when the opponent would be running the plays we ran in practice, and recognizing we did it better than they did. It was definitely cool working with the coaches and things like that.

It's just that guys are bigger, stronger, and faster, so the ball is more exciting to watch...I wouldn't say its better basketball, though. John Wooden said Women's basketball is the purest form of basketball because it's played below the rim.

muskieman wrote:X wins A-10 title with win over Temple. Gary, learn to enjoy the little things in life. If you think bad basketball is only in the women's game then you need to watch more men's games. Face it men are stronger and faster down the court but when X played Duke and Stanford this year there were times their game was not only enjoyable but exciting.

The Duke game was close, but, I't was in no way exciting. Neither team could score in the second half. I will agree with you on the SC game.

In the Dayton championship game there were many flashes of superior athleticism & tough competition such a Special Jennings ball handling & shooting, Phillips posting up & Harris' 2d half shooting. Dayton's women, especially Raterman, showed tenacity & marksmanship. Agreed often skill level is far below men's.
I found yesterday's St. Bonny-LaSalle double overtime game painful to watch as both teams were inept with a seeming desire to give the W to their opponent. Bonny's Michael Hawkin's 2 turnovers late in regulation gave LaSalle OT chance. Murray's dumb fouls in OT almost let St. B off the hook. Pathetic play. It made one understand why A-10 is not better regarded.