Arena Third Time's a Charm: The Arena's New Official Attempt at WNBA/NCAA Women's Basketball Discussion

First of all, here's a preemptive "Get the hell out!" to everyone clicking on this thread to make a joke or mock the league or women's basketball.

Second of all, if you're still not deterred and hope to get a good joke in here right away, just know that by your continued disdain for the league and of women's basketball in general, you're saying "**** you!" to my childhood dreams and the dreams of active young girls everywhere who hope to compete in sports at higher levels than just cutesy kiddie leagues or high school, where they were likely pushed aside by the "more important" boys' teams and fought tooth-and-nail for respect, if not flat-out funding for their programs... like me, jerks.


I've not been the best WNBA or NCAA women's basketball fan by far, but if you're in the same boat as I am, it's not entirely our fault! I luckily got to catch the Sparks/Mercury game last night, which is a rarity to be telecast on an available channel. Diana Taurasi was just great. She had a sweet thirty points last night, and Candice Dupree added twenty-five points, which is a season-high for her. The game looked like it would just be a massacre. The Sparks fell behind by something like twenty-three before they fought back within seven or so right in the fourth. While it appeared the Sparks would make a full-out comeback, it was the Mercury's game. The final score was 98-89, Mercury over the Sparks.

Last night's game was sort of the inspiration to revisit the Arena's (and my own, more so) interest in women's basketball. The game was actually very good, an example of how far women's basketball has come over the years and just how little respect it gets. Second-rate men's games in any sport will be shown instead of a good women's basketball game, and this is just a travesty. The way the women's national championship is handled every year is proof of that, too. Thankfully the men's side of the house gets done a whole day earlier than the women's side... since there's nothing else to show, ESPN will then air the women's championship game. I guess I should thank ESPN for that.

So when I say that it's not entirely our fault, there is some reason that we don't know of a lot about women's basketball in general. While we're currently bombarded by coverage of what may happen with the NBA free agents right now, the games currently ongoing in the WNBA hardly get any coverage. I am aiming now more than ever to focus more on what appears to be the unseen side of basketball, the women's side of the house and all of the amazing play that happens across the WNBA, the NCAA, and the international scene.

So here's the thread for women's basketball... enjoy! Haters, stay away. Kthx.

 

Atlanta beat Connecticut last night 108-103 in OT. Atlanta had two players contribute 32 points to the victory... Angel McCoughtry and Iziane Castro Marques. It honestly just seemed like it was an awesome scoring battle between both teams all night.

Atlanta's next two games with Connecticut will be in Connecticut, so if those games prove to be the crazy shoot-out affairs that this one was, it'll be interesting to see if Connecticut will steal at least one from Atlanta next time. If everything in the Eastern Conference continues to be as they are, stealing one or two from Atlanta while they're away from home may shake things up at the top of the conference standings.

 

Well, the U.S. National Team totally tossed aside the WNBA All-Stars today... not surprising, of course... hell, half the national team roster played at UConn. That's pretty much a guarantee of victory.

One interesting note about the WNBA All-Stars roster that I noticed the other day was the fan choices, which were heavily favored toward San Antonio. I want to say all but one fan choice was from San Antonio. Dern fan choices. lol

 

Lauren Jackson!!


That's the sum total of my knowledge of women's basketball.

 

Isn't half of the U.S. team made up of WNBA players?

Back-to-Back!: 2008-2009 & 2009-2010 L.A. Lakers: World Champions

 

Presumably the entire team is made up of WNBA players...

 

Actually, the team is made up of all WNBA players except for Maya Moore, who plays for UConn. You can bet money she'll eventually add a WNBA team to her resume.

 

Sparks at Shock tonight on ESPN 2. Hell of a game they're showing, really... the Sparks are horrible on the road and the Shock are just horrible. Someone's horrible losing streak has to end tonight, though.

I'm not sure I'll be able to catch the game tonight, but DON'T PANIC DEAR FRIENDS I'll make sure that we're all updated on the exciting action when I post next.

 

Yeah I didn't get that. Basically it was the real WNBA all-stars vs the secondary all-stars. Correct?

 

You got it. All of the real "all-stars" are obviously already taken for the national team. I wouldn't go so far as to call the WNBA "all-stars" a second string national team or anything, though... the fan choices obviously skewed the team as a whole.

 

I don't know anything about women's basketball, but if Atlanta's in first place for anything I'm happy about it.

 

Yay! That's the spirit! Seattle's the only team in the league with a better record right now at 16-2, but yes, Atlanta is in first place in the Eastern Conference.

Oh, and the Sparks beat-up on the Shock tonight. No surprise there, really. The Sparks may not have a great road record, but the Shock are just awful all-around.

 

The Storm beat the Mercury yesterday in triple OT, 111-107. Sue Bird made her last three-pointer with something like 6.4 seconds left on the clock for the Storm to jump ahead by three. The Mercury had enough for one more possession and couldn't tie it up. A quick foul tacked on another point for the Storm.

That's just the fifth triple OT game ever in the league. Impressive, ladies!

 

tjace, your Atlanta Dream sucked it up tonight in their 89-70 loss to the Indiana Fever. (Yes, they're your Dream now. ) Woof. Worst loss of the season... the Fever kept them scoreless through the first three minutes of the fourth quarter on top of just poor performance, and then the coach gets a technical. I bet they were glad to get this one just over and done with. lol

The Dream are having a hard time with the Fever this year, anyway. They beat 'em by four at home and then lost another game to them in Indiana. Weird.

 

Liberty at Sun... on ESPN 2, now! Check it out!

EDIT: Connecticut is down again after the first quarter... that's something of a trend for them to be down early despite playing really well at home. Hopefully they'll pick it up in the second!

EDIT: Connecticut still down by 10 at the half. Efff.

EDIT: Connecticut is making a move... only down by four in the fourth!

 

Wow. Technical difficulties will prevent most of the fourth quarter from being shown. Amazing. Only in coverage of a WNBA game, I swear.

It does look like the Liberty are in control of the game, for the most part. There goes my streak for Streak for Colors. D'oh.

EDIT: We're back for the last twenty seconds of the game now... Connecticut is down by four. Ugh.

EDIT: Wow!! Tied up with four seconds to go! Holy crap! What a shot!

EDIT: Well, it's been all-New York in OT. Connecticut can't get a shot off or get a rebound or anything. All that spunk from the fourth quarter is just done. Psssh. Sigh.

 

The Mystics outdid the Dream this afternoon by a good ten-point margin. Washington is particularly looking better and better this season, mostly in part to a lot of effort on the part of Crystal Langhorne. She had twenty-four points this afternoon and something like fourteen or fifteen rebounds... just superb effort to put them into a tie for first in the Eastern Conference with the Dream!

 

I don't get the WNBA, but that's just as much as I don't get the NBA.

On the NCAA side of things, what about doing a bracket for Women's basketball? I'd go for it, even though I find it tough to keep track of two tournaments at once that time of year.

 

A bracket for the women's side of the house is entirely feasible when that time of year rolls around. I'd be up for it, certainly!

And as for WNBA, last night's game between Seattle and Phoenix was just astounding! Seattle came back from a huge deficit and won that game, 91-85... incredible show, really, and a shame if you didn't watch it, of course.

 

Washington needs to shape up here at the end of the game... down by two and just looking lazy. Psssh.

EDIT: There goes my dern streak again. lol... Washington has now lost three in a row. Ugh.

 

Indiana and L.A. are on ESPN2! Get there!

Seattle won tonight, giving them home-court advantage through the playoffs. They pretty handily beat Atlanta, so you've got to give a serious nod to how good that team is compared to every other team in the league right now. And Phoenix lost tonight... I see Diana Taurasi got two techs for something or another... I'll have to catch the recap later to see what was up with them tonight. lol

 

It's playoff time! The West matches up with Seattle and L.A. as well as San Antonio and Phoenix. The East matches up with Washington and Atlanta as well as Indiana and New York. The Sparks and the Liberty have been showing more impressive play and heavy improvement as of late, so while they wouldn't be favored outright, I'd say counting them completely out would be wrong. Additionally, Washington has a tendency to surprise folks, so despite Atlanta's normal dominance, the Mystics can definitely have some good games and challenge Atlanta for a spot in the conference final.

Of course, Seattle is just the favorite all-around. They're solid, no doubt... a team that really does function as a team and not individual superstars (They've got those, too, though... Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, and Swin Cash are quite good on their own!). Wednesday and Thursday y'all can catch some Western Conference action on ESPN2, so don't be a punk... check out some good basketball, eh?

 

Playoff time is here, and last night's action was not really all that surprising... Seattle beat L.A. handily, and Atlanta won on the road at Washington. I suppose some folks might say that last one was a surprise or maybe a strong statement from Atlanta... I tend to think that that series could go either way, but Atlanta was always a strong team in the regular season with maybe a few hiccups here or there that allowed some other teams to creep up on them in the standings.

Tonight it's Indiana at New York and San Antonio at Phoenix. The Western Conference game is on ESPN2 at 9pm EST, so get there!

 

Lauren Jackson Wins WNBA MVP

We pretty much saw that coming, so no surprises, there. Coach of the Year honors go to Seattle's Brian Agler, too. Tonight we get Phoenix versus Seattle for the Western Conference Finals, which is a super match-up and will be exciting to watch... except for the fact that it's not shown on normal cable. Can you imagine an NBA conference final not being shown on normal television? Psssh.

 

Is it only on ESPN3? To be fair, it is the first night of college football, and ESPN's going to have that on over just about anything...