Don’t look now but KU‘s basketball team is headed to the Sweet Sixteen…
And no, I’m not talking about the lucky devils on the KU mens team that squeaked past Purdue the other day.
Nope.
I’m referring to the AMAZING KU womens basketball squad who have been playing the best basketball in the state of Kansas the past two weeks since entering the NCAA Tourney.
That’s right, bring on the hyperbole because these ladies deserve it.
Check out what former Star sports scribe Mechelle Voepel wrote about the Lady Jayhawks for ESPN:
"Coaches always say that every bit of adversity for a team brings an opportunity for under-the-radar players to emerge That’s the optimist’s way of looking at a pessimistic situation. But a lot of the time it’s just wishful thinking," Voepel begins.
"Teams usually don’t have one potentially rising star (Keena Mays) transfer and another established star (Carolyn Davis) get hurt during a season, yet still come back to earn an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. And even if they do, they don’t make the Sweet 16. But Kansas did."
Kansas did indeed.
And here’s the headline to prove it from last night in the Lawrence Journal World:
"KU women advance to Sweet 16 with upset over third-seeded Delaware."
In other words, after losing its two brightest stars – instead of choking to a nobody like Missouri’s mens team or barely beating a lower seeded team like KU did Purdue – the 11th seeded KU women have been engaged in a game of Giant Killer.
And speaking of giants…
They did it on the coatails of KU’s 5-foot-4 captain, junior point guard Angel Goodrich.
Which reminds me, James Brown sang, It’s a man’s, man’s, man’s, man’s world, "but it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl."
So get over yourselves, dudes; don’t sell these women short.
Check out the game story on the Journal World here and be sure to watch when KU plays all-powerful Tennessee Saturday morning at 11 on ESPN.
May the force be with them.
Oh the force will be with them.
Thanks for writing this Hearne. I’m actually a K-State fan but am a fan of women’s sports and don’t think they get the coverage they deserve.
Haven’t followed womens basketball much since my divorce
Used to take my daughters to women’s basketball and volleyball for the fun of it.
KU wasn’t very good then – three years back – but as I recall K-State and Nebraska were. Thing is, most sports fans that are dudes are very dismissive of things like women’s sports and mens soccer. They don’t bother to give it much if any of a chance and take great joy in bashing it.
My take is, sports are sports. If we somehow were trapped in a world where curling and log rolling were the main things, we’d acquire a taste for it pretty quick.
So while I’m not a wildly big sports guy in general – I have been at times over the years – and I’m pretty open minded about exploring new things. Not that women’s basketball is new.
Look, I knew most of the dudes who are sports fans here would scoff at this story if they even bothered to read it, But how can you not get excited about a team that lost its top stars and has done what KU has behind a spunky 5 foot 4 girl guard?
Completely agree
When I went to K-State, I had never really followed women’s sports before and I started going to the football and basketball games like everyone else. I ended up becoming friends with some of the girls on the volleyball team and started going to those games. It was just as fun and competitive as watching the men’s sports. Then I started going to the women’s basketball games and became a huge fan of theirs. You’re right, a lot of guys just scoff at women playing sports and it is really too bad. Again, thanks for covering this.