David Aldridge, the great sportswriter and TV broadcaster, sent out a Tweet Sunday that I think sums up just about how I feel, and millions others feel, about college women’s basketball right now.
He Tweeted this:
“Caitlin Clark is great. Kamilla Cardoso is great. Iowa is great. South Carolina is great. Bluder and Dawn are great. This title game is great. Paige is great. Aziaha James is great. JuJu is great. ESPN’s studio show is great. This tournament is great. Can we all stop hating on whoever we don’t like, for whatever reason, and just enjoy this incredible basketball?”
For a couple of hours Sunday afternoon, an incredible bow was tied on one incredible tournament. The University of South Carolina Gamecocks and Iowa Hawkeyes played one whale of a ballgame. There was great shotmaking, terrific defense, wonderful athleticism, and a crowd roaring on practically every play.
Caitlin Clark, a woman most responsible for the huge increase in TV ratings and media interest, scored 18 points in the first quarter, then was held in check the rest of the way, as South Carolina finished an undefeated season.
It was a wonderful showcase for the sport, and I think it’s not the ending, but maybe the beginning, of a new era in women’s hoops. Clark and USC star Cardoso are both headed to the WNBA, and there’s a belief that maybe once Clark is gone women’s college basketball will fall in popularity a bit.
It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s likely. The people who tuned in the last year or two to see Clark will find plenty of other stars to watch. USC’s Juju Watkins is an electrifying player. Paige Bueckers at UConn is back next year. So is Iowa State’s Audi Crooks, and LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson Heck, two of them were on the Gamecocks Sunday, in freshman Tessa Johnson (19 points) and MiLaysia Fulwiley (nine points).
Women’s basketball hit a special peak this year, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon. Watching the semifinals Friday night, I marveled at how far the talent level, and athleticism, had grown in this sport in just the last 10 years.
David Aldridge is right. Everything about this sport is great right now.
**Next up today, continuing with our basketball theme, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced its newest class over the weekend, and one name that jumped out is Vince Carter. The pride of Daytona Beach, Fla., Carter could jump like no one has ever seen, and went from a high-flying superstar in his early days in the NBA, to a very solid overall player who lasted two decades.
If there’s one Vince highlight that will be showed about him for eternity, it has to be this one: His massive dunk over Frederic Weis at the 2000 Olympics.
Watch it above, from so many different angles. Just incredible.
**And finally today, despite Elon’s best efforts to destroy my Twitter playground, it still exists and I still see incredible stuff like this: Tom Jones, and David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd) doing an absolutely killer version of Prince’s iconic “Purple Rain.”
I mean, this is freaking wonderful.
Wide World of Stuff 