Another Hall of Fame
In other Hall of Fame news, Geno Auriema is to be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame. It is hard to imagine a more deserving choice. To assess how deserving, one need only compare him to his chief rival, Pat Summitt, of Tennessee. Summitt has won a bushelload of championships, but all of them came before the other universities in the country, spearheaded by Auriema and UCONN, started getting serious about women's basketball. Since that time Auriema and UCONN have won 5 championships and Summitt and Tennessee, despite their huge historical momentum, haven't won any. While it is not the case, as some might imagine, that Tennessee has not won anything since they lost one Debbie Hawhee to graduation, it is pretty close to that. Now the one advantage that Summitt has maintained, despite her losing ways, superior recruitment, is apparently eroding as well. Auriema just signed the number one high school prospect in the nation, leaving one to wonder if Summitt will ever win it all again. My guess is no, she's as done as Trish ver dere at Stanford. Congratulations Geno, and as for you Tennessee fans out there, take comfort in the fact that Summitt is not just overrated but transcendently so, rather like the chief object of our blog-spleen, Mr. Torre.
posted by joe valente | 11:18 PM
6 Comments:
I don't know whose imagination you're invoking, but let's face it, it's only the long term, die hard Tennessee fans, who remember Debbie Hawhee's career at all. Okay, them and the Hawhee family.
As for the theories presented here, I believe more in the underlying arguments about parity in women's basketball than in a wild theory of over- or underratedness.
I believe more in the underlying arguments about parity in women's basketball than in a wild theory of over- or underratedness.
But such theories are this blog's entire raison d'etre--and the rants are so enjoyable to read. So don't kill the golden goose!
So I'll continue ranting. Tell me why in the era of parity in women's basketball--a parity that only exists relative to the bad old days when Tennessee, Stanford, La Tech and Immaculata were the only colleges playing the sport--UCONN manages to win five NCAAS in what, nine years, while Tennessee hasn't won since parity kicked in. Only one answer seems possible. Pat Summitt is overrated, and parity is the means whereby that fact could come to light. In other words, far from being opposed to the "wild theory" in question, parity underwrites its truth. As for Hawhee's career, all true basketball fans must look back on it fondly, whether they in fact remember it or not.
Yes, yes, that logical relation occurred to me after I posted my comment.
Here's a biographical tidbit for you:
At the 1999 and 2000 ESPY Awards, Pat Summitt was nominated for Coach of the Year. She didn't win either year; Joe Torre won both.
At the 1999 and 2000 ESPY Awards, Pat Summitt was nominated for Coach of the Year. She didn't win either year; Joe Torre won both.
Thereby completely justifying the inclusion of this post in this blog.
Exactly. Maybe the blogger should look around for all the other coaches who lost out to Torre--surely some of them are 'overrated' too, though not overrated enough to deserve an ESPY. Brilliant!
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