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• Monday, March 20, 2006 06:27 AM

  The Road To Boston

  Now that my bracket is officially busted (thanks Kansas, Iowa, and Ohio State), I found myself following the Women's tournament a little earlier than I normally would. The biggest difference I have noticed is that there is a much wider talent disparity in the women’s tournament. In the first round there were only 5 upsets including the 8/9 and 7/10 games. As upsets go they were all pretty mild. One 9 seed, three 11 seeds and one 12 seed, all of the 7 seeds won there games which are always toss ups in the men’s tourneys. The real difference can be seen by comparing the results of the opening 1/16 and 2/15 games. The victory margin for the men was 14.5 points for the 1 seeds and 13 points for the 2 seeds, which is slated because UCLA won their game by 34 points while the other three 2 seeds won by 2,8, and 8 points with each one being a nail bitter for the favorite. On the women’s side the average margin of victory being 40.5 points for both 1 and 2 seeds, with only two of the eight games being won by less than 21 points.

  So much of the charm of the men’s tournament is seeing a team of guys from a school you only know from the Fiske Guide to Colleges, that would look more at home in a Wednesday night rec league beating a team of guys bound for the NBA or Europe. As a casual fan of women’s basketball there is really no reason to tune in until the sweet sixteen. There will always be that segment of the population that will never embrace women’s basketball, like ESPN Radio’s odious Colin Cowherd, but they need to close the gap between wheat and the chaff before the women’s tournament becomes a serious topic of sports conversation.

  —Michael Porcaro
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