Tag: Basketball

April 17, 2024 – The Purer Game

April 17, 2024 /

This is old news by now. But, given the success of the OSU Beavers women’s basketball team I have been watching more women’s college basketball. Honestly, I think that I like it more than men’s basketball.

Photo by USA Today.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not encouraging or looking the other way about bad behavior. I think that basketball players at all levels are the worst. It is no secret that the Trailblazers nickname a few years ago was the ‘Jailblazers’. There are plenty of thugs in football too but I guess what drives me crazy is the selective calling of fouls and violations in basketball. NCAA is much, much better than the NBA but I am finding that I like women’s basketball because it is purer.

I see more teamwork and fundamentals. Maybe it is the differences in the sexes, but I also see less athleticism or may it is ego. Few can dunk or make ridiculous power moves to the basket all the while travelling, fouling and getting fouled. This encourages passing and leverages matchups and strategy. Honestly, I have seen more blocked shots in women’s basketball too.

The Beaver’s well outperformed their expectations, I knew were going to meet their match at some point. They lost all three games to USC (including the Pac-12 tournament) and both games to Stanford. So, when they drew undefeated South Carolina I figured there run would come to an end. And it did. Make no mistake, all of the media hype has been on LSU (the defending champions) and the Iowa Hawkeyes with the record setting guard while USC (So. Car.) just kept winning.

Watching the finals, I knew that the game was over when South Carolina was leading by nine with about two minutes left. The ball was inbound to Caitlin Clark and she took the ball all the way down and attempted a failed shot without anyone else touching that ball. I know that this is counter to what I am generally saying but this is the type of play that is so pervasive in men’s basketball. There is no doubt that she is one of the best players in the game today and there is no doubt that she was a key factor on the team, but instead of playing a winning strategy one player tried to win the game despite the odds.

I also do not doubt that women’s basketball is really the haves and have nots. South Carolina was undefeated until they lost in the final four last year and they were undefeated this entire season. That is one loss in two whole seasons or over seventy games. I think back the the dominance of UConn in the 2010s or Tennessee in the 1990s.

End Your Programming Routine: I used to be a big basketball fan. Now, I can hardly stand it between the ego, sloppy play and unequal rule enforcement. Did you see the score of the last NBA all star game (211-186)? Watching women’s basketball has renewed my interest in the game. Now the season is over, I probably won’t watch much more than the tournament next year, but I enjoyed it.

March 2, 2022 – A True Fan

March 2, 2022 /

What do you do when your team is 3-24 this year? You go to the game to watch the band.

Of course I am being a little bit facetious It wasn’t just the band, it was the cheerleaders, students and old friends you see. Oregon State is not my alma mater, but my first love. I was a fan, listening to football and basketball games on the radio religiously when I was living at home. I was born and grew up Corvallis and the town was all about the university.

Despite my feelings towards OSU, I made the best choice for the time pursuing a degree at a much smaller, regional university. It was a far better fit for what I needed at the time I was going to school. I am a fan of my alma mater too, we simply get no real news coverage outside the region, radio is highly local and certainly no TV time. Sure, I could follow along with the internet but it is four hours away effectively eliminating any in-person attendance.

Being 47 now, there have been some ups and a lot of downs. My dad worked across the street from the University and his company were big boosters. The four founders of his company were all OSU grads in Engineering. Because of that, he would get tickets once a year and we would go to a basketball game. I saw the glory years of OSU basketball with AC Green and Gary Payton. My former boss played in the middle of those two. During those years, they were in conference title position every year.

The truth is, last year was the best year in my entire memory of Beaver basketball. Maybe not in totality, but they were an elite eight team in the NCAA tournament, really the only thing that matters. I went to a basketball game last year were the Beavers played University of Oregon and dominated the game. The Ducks were the defending conference champions and I believe made it to the sweet 16 last year as well. So, that was a statement of the quality of the team.

I checked back in the record book, this is the lowest win total since 1918 (3-13). By win percentage, this is the worst season ever. There have been some bad ones along the way. 2016-17 they were 4-24. I also remember that they lost the opening game to the local university, badly. Of course, that was the year that Western Oregon University was in the Division II final four. Maybe, it was a calamity of circumstances.

Despite their record, they didn’t play like they were the worst team in the history of the program. In fact, OSU was ahead nearly the entire game. It was only with 15 seconds remaining that the game was tied and went into overtime. At halftime, they were ahead by 12. The opponent definitely made the right adjustments and had the right strategy to exploit OSU.

End Your Programming Routine: As a true fan, I didn’t mind seeing a bad team because it was a good game and we had hope up until the last minute of OT. The last time I was at a women’s basketball game, we had to wait over an hour just to get out of our parking spot. That was frustrating. Taking my son to the game, this was a chance to imagine what college life might be like if he wanted to play in the band or just as a student. It is exciting, no matter what your record is.