Despite static signs, women’s tournament has changed

When the first NCAA-sanctioned women’s basketball tournament reached its Final Four in 1982, two of the coaches were Pat Summitt and C. Vivian Stringer.

Twenty-five years later, Summitt and Stringer were again squaring off in the championship game of the 2007 NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

To many casual fans, that defines women’s basketball – same old, same old – same coaches, and Tennessee and Connecticut win every year.

But much has changed in that quarter century, even if two of the dominant personalities haven’t.

The first Final Four was in Norfolk, Va. Championship game attendance was 9,351 and Stringer was coaching Cheyney State, which lost to Louisiana Tech 76-62.

A crowd of 20,704 watched the championship game in Cleveland last year. Stringer was coaching Big East power Rutgers and unheralded schools like Cheyney (in Pennsylvania) and Louisiana Tech have been swept by the wayside.

Unfortunately for Stringer, it was the same result. Tennessee beat the Scarlet Knights 59-46 for Summitt’s seventh championship. Stringer, the only coach to take three teams to the Final Four (Iowa was her other stop), has yet to win the big one.

There is no question that some of the biggest names in women’s basketball have stayed the same.

In the midst of the 27th tournament since the NCAA replaced the AIAW (Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) as the governing body, Tennessee has been in every one, Georgia and Old Dominion have missed just two and 10 other schools have made at least 20.

“What’s interesting to me, to no one’s surprise, is those non-power conference schools that were actually at the front of the women’s basketball parade in mid- and late-‘70s, could not compete with the amenities of the power schools,” Georgia coach Andy Landers said. “(And) now, 25 years later, how many midmajors … who did not invest in it, how important it has become to them.”

Of the schools that have been in at least 20 NCAA tournaments, all but Louisiana Tech and Old Dominion come from the power conferences, which are increasingly eating up more of the at-large berths even though the field increased from 32 to 64 teams.

“I would be in error not to concede that (increased exposure) drove the power conferences, power schools, to invest in women’s basketball,” said Landers, who has been at Georgia 29 years. “As they did that, they saw the positive PR that women’s basketball could bring. A few kind of got there early. Since then, we’ve seen more and more move in that direction.”

After Tennessee’s 17 Final Four appearances, Louisiana Tech is second with 10, but the last was in 1999. Since then, 16 different schools have made the Final Four. Tennessee has six appearances and Connecticut five, but the only one from a non-power conference was Missouri State in 2001, coming out of the Spokane Regional as a fifth seed.

Louisiana Tech was the last to make a championship game (1998) and win a championship (1988).

But that is no different than the men’s tournament, and now the pool of contenders and Cinderellas is increasing. Even with Tennessee and Connecticut combining to win 12 championships, 13 schools have won national titles.

“It used to be you knew pretty much who was going to be in the Final Four,” said Sylvia Hatchell, who has been the North Carolina coach for 22 years. “Now there are so many good teams. There are so many good players. You’re seeing the effects of Title IX and the opportunities little girls have had growing up.

“The skill level is better. I think overall the game has gotten better. The style of play, coaches, staff, salaries – every area of the game has gotten better.”

“I’m excited about what’s happening in women’s basketball in terms of the commitment on the part of universities throughout the country to really support the game,” Summitt said. … “Our talent pool is so much deeper than it ever has been … it’s probably the best is has ever been.”

Attendance and increased exposure reflect that, as long as it’s not compared to the men’s game.

“First of all, we don’t have the long history of the men’s game in terms of opportunities that television has provided through the years for people to watch teams and get familiar with players,” Summitt said. “We’re still playing catch-up in that regard. We’re growing our game (and) our exposure is better, but it’s still lagging.”

Landers expects that to improve.

“We have to keep doing what we’ve had some success at the last seven or eight years – that is the promotion of the sport, the marketing,” he said. “There has been a more conscious effort on the part of institutions not just to have a team and have a team win, but have people support it.”

Hatchell said the responsibility for improving the game starts well before college.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and it still goes back to fundamentals,” she said. “If I was to go back to coaching (before college), 90 percent of practice would be on dribbling, passing and shooting. If you want to play an up-tempo style, play where the fans enjoy it, you have to have those fundamentals.”

Many basketball fans have been spoiled by the acrobatics of teenage boys defying gravity, while women play below the rim.

“Critics are always going to be there,” Landers said. “The beauty is in the eye of the beholder. John Wooden (former UCLA men’s coach) said there’s purity in the women’s game. It’s not the same athletic ability of the men, but working together.”

There is the chance to check that out in Spokane this weekend. The team that survives is headed to Tampa, Fla., for the Final Four in the 21,655-seat St. Pete Times Forum, which has been sold out for months at $162 a ticket.

Changing times, indeed.