I've always enjoyed the potentially politically incorrect debate of men vs. women in basketball. We all know that when comparing apples to apples, men are better players. If you took a the best men's team in college basketball and they played UConn, the men's team would win. By a lot. The fun (and potentially chauvinistic) part is when you try to figure out where you need to go before men and women (boys and girls) become equals. Would a girls high school team beat an 8th grade boys team? Could a WNBA team beat a high school boys team? And who could beat the UConn women? I have a little hands-on experience with the debate. When I was at Franklin College (Division III), a few of the guys from our fraternity would scrimmage with the women's team after their season was over. They were consistently a top-10 team in the country (again, it was D-III). They had one of the best players in the country, Stephanie Kramer, who still holds the career scoring record at Franklin. We were a collection of guys who played high school ball in Indiana, guys who didn't make their varsity team (including me), and another guy who always had a pre-game smoke on the walk over to the gym (but had a pretty nice jump shot). And we ran them, every time. Let's start with the best high school team in Texas (and maybe the country), Houston Yates. That's easy - Yates by a bunch. Way too many athletes for UConn to contend with. What about class 2A state champ, Ponder? I think the Lions win that game too, but it's closer. UConn just beat Florida State last night by 40 points .... in an Elite 8 game. They are just crushing teams, but I still take Ponder in that match-up. So where is the line? A middle-of-the-pack boys varsity team? I'm not really sure, and unfortunately we'll never find out. I do know that the athletes playing women's basketball are a lot better than the ones who played 20 years ago. Based on what I've seen over the last 15 years covering sports, I think women basketball players are improving at a greater rate than men are (I know ... very scientific). And this particular UConn team is obviously special. We can only hope for some kind of made-for-TV special -- the Connecticut boys high school state champs against the UConn women. I know I'd watch.
