Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
March 15, 2002, Washington Post

It's Nothing but Nets

If you like college hoops, this is your time of year. The NCAA tournaments have started. Get ready for March Madness.

The newspaper is chock full of basketball news. Like most hoops fans, I spent this past week poring over the brackets and the reports on the 65 men's teams and the 64 women's teams. Here are some of the things I noticed about this year's tournaments:

• Let's get this one out of the way early. There is just no way in the world that the NCAA should have left Butler University off the invitation list for the men's tournament. Butler had a 25-5 record, beat some good teams and has always done well in the tournament. Believe me, Butler should be in the tournament before some of the bigger name, ho-hum teams that did get invited.

• One team I am glad made it was Southern Illinois. Why? I love their team name. The Salukis. According to my dictionary a saluki is an ancient north African or Asian breed of tall, slender hunting dog. I don't have a clue what a saluki has to do with either basketball or Southern Illinois.

• Speaking of team names, why are so many of the women's teams the Lady this or the Lady thats? Like the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks, or the Florida Lady Gators or the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks. They even have a team called the St. Peter's Peahens!

Just to be fair, why not call some of the men's teams the Gentlemen? The men's team from Gonzaga would be the Gonzaga University Gentlemen Bulldogs. Sounds kind of cool.

• Getting more serious, why are so many women's tournament teams (about 30 percent) coached by men while none of the men's 65 teams are coached by women? In fact, I can't think of a single NCAA Division I men's basketball team that has ever been coached by a woman. Coaches are basically teachers. It seems as if there are plenty of women who are great teachers and more and more women are playing basketball. Isn't it time for the head basketball coach of a men's team to be a woman?

• Looking for a Cinderella team? I like the University of Hawaii. The team is a No. 10 seed, but it has a 27-5 record and a cool name: the Rainbow Warriors. So the team has everything it takes to pull off some big upsets in this year's tournament.

• On the women's side, I don't look for a lot of upsets. Women's college hoops is still dominated by a handful of good teams such as Connecticut, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. But, remember, the only time a No. 16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament was in a women's game. That was in 1998 when Harvard shocked top-ranked Stanford, 71-67.

• Who do I think is going to win it all? In the women's tournament, I have to go with Connecticut. The undefeated Huskies are a dynasty. For the men's tournament, it's closer. Ten or 12 teams have a real shot at the title. But I think (and hope) when all the games are over that Gary Williams and the Maryland Terrapins will be cutting down the nets as the NCAA champions.

Let the Madness begin.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's Friday sports column and is the author of sports novels for kids.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company