When Mrs. Last Honest and I first started dating in September 2000, she explained to me how Connecticut women's basketball worked ... namely that there would be a few other top teams that could give them a game, but they would blow the rest of them out.
And she was right. Following the UConn women -- and thanks to the Internet, we've been able to see their games that aren't televised nationally either on Connecticut Public Television, SNY or ESPN's streaming service -- has meant seeing a lot of games where the competitive portion lasts for five minutes if the opposition was lucky. (This year, I discovered that sometimes the most-entertaining part of the game is watching
John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant on Twitter as he watches the game.)
But it has also meant seeing
last night.
The competition in women's basketball isn't particularly deep. The Connecticut men
winning the national championship as a seventh seed (and beating eighth-seeded Kentucky to do it) was implausible; the thought of a women's seven seed doing it is, at this time, unthinkable.
This, however, was Notre Dame -- the second-ranked team in the country, also undefeated, also crushing everything in its path and with a recent history of beating the Huskies to boot. So it wasn't a shock that even without Natalie Achonwa, the Irish whittled UConn's early big early lead to as low as five and ultimately seven by the end of the first half.
And then UConn came out in the second half and absolutely boat-raced Notre Dame. What shaped up as a possible classic instead became a coronation.
Yet whether it's against Notre Dame or the dregs of their schedule, when the UConn women are right, as they so frequently are, what they're doing is less basketball and more artistry, their competition less the players in the other uniforms and more the possibilities of what can be done on a basketball court ...as long as your definition of good basketball doesn't require male physical size, strength and athleticism.
Sometimes, this actually gets them in what passes for trouble. They can do so many things, it's almost like they sometimes feel a need to show them all, and the gears grind for a while. Last night, however, was no such problem. They threw the ball inside early and often, mostly to Stefanie Dolson and Breanna Stewart, because the Irish had nothing for them, and wouldn't have had enough even if Achonwa was playing.
When it works ... oh, when it works. The players have changed from Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi from when I
started watching to Dolson, Stewart and the rest of this year's Huskies, but the way they pass, shoot, defend, run the floor and
see ... see what's going on and make a play accordingly ... can be a joy to behold.
That's why I wish the people who say, "Who cares? They're just women" would stop caring that, yes, women are smaller, slower and less athletic than men (which is simple biology, that's all, not a sign of male superiority in all things) and actually
watch the UConn women play.
Because they might just see a masterpiece.
