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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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 Posted: 06/06/16 9:05 am ::: If not us, then who? |
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From Bob Corwin's report on the Midwest Showdown on passthaball (an informative site, by the way).
"Kelsey Mitchell, who grew up in the All Ohio club, visited the event on Sunday. The Ohio State superstar is one of the very top players in college basketball but she walked around the event barely recognized. Once again, it was shown the high school players of today do not follow the women�s game on the next level (college or pro) very closely. Until the young ladies learn to appreciate those who came before them, it will continue to be difficult to grow the sport."
https://passthaball.com/2016/06/03/midwest-showdown-2016/
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FrozenLVFan
Joined: 08 Jul 2014
Posts: 3511
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| Posted: 06/06/16 9:38 am ::: Re: If not us, then who? |
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| ClayK wrote: |
From Bob Corwin's report on the Midwest Showdown on passthaball (an informative site, by the way).
"Kelsey Mitchell, who grew up in the All Ohio club, visited the event on Sunday. The Ohio State superstar is one of the very top players in college basketball but she walked around the event barely recognized. Once again, it was shown the high school players of today do not follow the women�s game on the next level (college or pro) very closely. Until the young ladies learn to appreciate those who came before them, it will continue to be difficult to grow the sport."
https://passthaball.com/2016/06/03/midwest-showdown-2016/ |
I'm not sure this is true. Any HS player who has aspirations to play in college does follow the college teams. I think Mitchell being unrecognized reflects the fact that there are simply a lot more "very top" college players now than there were 20-30 years ago when only a handful merited that status. That and maybe the players at that event were more focused on their own games than giggling over a college player in their midst.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 06/06/16 9:43 am ::: Re: If not us, then who? |
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| FrozenLVFan wrote: |
Any HS player who has aspirations to play in college does follow the college teams. |
I don't know why you believe that to be the case.
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ClayK
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
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| Posted: 06/06/16 10:00 am ::: Re: If not us, then who? |
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| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| FrozenLVFan wrote: |
Any HS player who has aspirations to play in college does follow the college teams. |
I don't know why you believe that to be the case. |
My personal experience with the 12 or so D-1 players I've coached, plus the D-2 and D-3, is just the opposite. The girls, in general, aren't basketball fans, and their parents and coaches aren't either. They buy NBA-endorsed shoes, and if they follow any basketball, it's the NBA.
But I'm willing to be convinced ...
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013
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| Posted: 06/06/16 10:36 am ::: Re: If not us, then who? |
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| ClayK wrote: |
| ArtBest23 wrote: |
| FrozenLVFan wrote: |
Any HS player who has aspirations to play in college does follow the college teams. |
I don't know why you believe that to be the case. |
My personal experience with the 12 or so D-1 players I've coached, plus the D-2 and D-3, is just the opposite. The girls, in general, aren't basketball fans, and their parents and coaches aren't either. They buy NBA-endorsed shoes, and if they follow any basketball, it's the NBA.
But I'm willing to be convinced ... |
I agree with you, and I don't know why that should be a surprise that 16 year old girls aren't spending their summer evenings sitting home watching WNBA games.
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Youth Coach
Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Posts: 4760
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| Posted: 06/06/16 5:09 pm ::: |
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Having spent 5 years coaching younger girls and doing everything short of bribing them to watch women's basketball games, I'm with Clay on this one.
The only time I could get them to watch a game was when I actually took them to a few Boston College women's games. And even then I had to make them put away their phones. |
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dtrain34
Joined: 17 Aug 2010
Posts: 409
Location: Lacey, Washington
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| Posted: 06/06/16 7:40 pm ::: |
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I'll jump in as I always do on these threads with my personal experience that backs up Clay's take:
I have a daughter who just graduated as one of the so-called "all-time greats" at her D1 (mid-major).
When the Seattle Storm won the WNBA title when she was in fourth grade, she and her AAU team mates were ecstatic, loved it, knew all the players, watched all the games. When they repeated her junior year of high school I called out to her from watching on TV "hey the Storm are about to win the chanmpionship!" "Hey, great," she replied, "I'm gonna go over to my friend's house, OK?"
As a player being recruited by colleges, she was typical of her Puget Sound-area cohort. She followed UW and the teams that had showed some recruiting interest in her. As a college player, she followed the scouting reports put in front of her by her coaches and when set to play against Top 10 opposition in the NCAA tournament still only referred to opponents as "#42" or "#1" not their names which she didn't really know because she didn't follow teams outside her league.
When it became obvious her accomplishments were nonetheless not going to earn her a spot in the WNBA draft, she did not resume watching that league as she had as a pre-teen, though she signed with an agent and expects to play in Europe next season.
With only 144 jobs available in American pro basketball and women like Sue Bird STILL active from that Storm team that won in my kid's fourth grade year all but the first and second-team All-Americas know they won't be sticking with a W franchise even if drafted there's so little turnover. By contrast, the MNBA annually employs a selection of mid-major, even NAIA and D-2 players. There's more motivation for male college players to take heed of The League.
Just as young women can inexplicably be drawn to follow celebs like Justin Bieber and Luke Bryan, they will be drawn to the athletic young men employed by and publicized by the MNBA. There really isn't a surprise anywhere in the story of why girls and women don't follow the next level up from where they play, there's little opportunity there (1 percent of high school seniors move on to D1, statistically 0 percent of college seniors move on to the W), so why be a fan?
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
Posts: 66900
Location: Where the action is
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| Posted: 06/06/16 7:47 pm ::: |
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| dtrain34 wrote: |
| There really isn't a surprise anywhere in the story of why girls and women don't follow the next level up from where they play, there's little opportunity there (1 percent of high school seniors move on to D1, statistically 0 percent of college seniors move on to the W), so why be a fan? |
The percentages aren't any better for men, but they are far more likely to follow the NBA than WCBB players are to follow the W.
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GEF34
Joined: 23 Jul 2008
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| Posted: 06/07/16 5:16 am ::: |
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| dtrain34 wrote: |
As a player being recruited by colleges, she was typical of her Puget Sound-area cohort. She followed UW and the teams that had showed some recruiting interest in her. As a college player, she followed the scouting reports put in front of her by her coaches and when set to play against Top 10 opposition in the NCAA tournament still only referred to opponents as "#42" or "#1" not their names which she didn't really know because she didn't follow teams outside her league. |
I was just about to post something similar. While I'm sure many players who are interested in going to college to play basketball follow college basketball, it's a very restricted list to the schools that are recruiting them and they are interested in going to. I'm sure there are some do follow the top teams because of interest, but I'd say a big majority just follow the teams they are interested in being a part of.
With that said female players more so than male players look very different in uniform than out of uniform, so it is possible some people knew her and watched her play, as I'd assume some are being recruited by Ohio State or interested in going there, but she looked different wearing "normal" clothes. Of course I have no idea what she was wearing, but I assume she wasn't wearing her Ohio State uniform. I know I have worked with many female athletes who look complete different when dressed in "normal" clothes and sometimes it has taken me a second to know who it is when they are walking to class.
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summertime blues
Joined: 16 Apr 2013
Posts: 7822
Location: Shenandoah Valley
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| Posted: 06/07/16 2:00 pm ::: |
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| GEF34 wrote: |
| dtrain34 wrote: |
As a player being recruited by colleges, she was typical of her Puget Sound-area cohort. She followed UW and the teams that had showed some recruiting interest in her. As a college player, she followed the scouting reports put in front of her by her coaches and when set to play against Top 10 opposition in the NCAA tournament still only referred to opponents as "#42" or "#1" not their names which she didn't really know because she didn't follow teams outside her league. |
I was just about to post something similar. While I'm sure many players who are interested in going to college to play basketball follow college basketball, it's a very restricted list to the schools that are recruiting them and they are interested in going to. I'm sure there are some do follow the top teams because of interest, but I'd say a big majority just follow the teams they are interested in being a part of.
With that said female players more so than male players look very different in uniform than out of uniform, so it is possible some people knew her and watched her play, as I'd assume some are being recruited by Ohio State or interested in going there, but she looked different wearing "normal" clothes. Of course I have no idea what she was wearing, but I assume she wasn't wearing her Ohio State uniform. I know I have worked with many female athletes who look complete different when dressed in "normal" clothes and sometimes it has taken me a second to know who it is when they are walking to class. |
That's for dang sure! I can back that up from a personal experience also. One of my favorite Tennessee players was a bench player who always seemed to make things happen when she did come off the bench. She went on to medical school and I lost track of her. In 2005 I was doing a travel assignment in Cincinnati and I kept seeing this resident in the halls who looked familiar but I couldn't place her. One evening I got on the elevator and there she was. I looked at her white coat and her name was embroidered on it. Ding-ding! No wonder she looked familiar.....it was my favorite player! And she sure did look different out of orange....! Incidentally, she now works in Oak Ridge and is my son's ENT specialist. Small world.
It also took me a minute or three to recognize Jazmon Gwathmey working at Costco a couple of summers ago. Not too long though....Harrisonburg isn't that big, and she has a very distinctive look. Helluva nice girl, too.
You can see Ralph Sampson, once a huge star at UVA, around here frequently. But then, he's hard to miss, being 7 ft. tall and all. If Kristi Tolliver, who is also from here, ever returns, I doubt if I would recognize her at all.
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It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom
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