Could UCONN Women beat Last ranked Men's Team?

[mgoblue2290]

Geno Auriemma is going to hate this column. Maybe even have a heart attack.

But he can't have it both ways. He can't break UCLA's historic 88-game win streak, say basketball is basketball, but then become a miserable bastard when I ask one simple question:

Could Auriemma's No. 1-ranked UConn women's team, winners of 90 (and counting) in a row, beat the 345th-ranked -- last in Jeff Sagarin's Division I computer ratings -- Centenary men's team, losers of 14 (and counting) in a row?

"If I had 13 scholarship guys, I would say we would absolutely win," said first-year Centenary coach Adam Walsh. "Seeing that we're competing with four scholarship players, I don't know."

Walsh laughed when he said it, which is better than I expected. I expected him to slam down the phone or ask Tucker Carlson to demand I be executed. But Walsh gets it. This isn't about praising UConn at Centenary's expense. The winless Gents are doing the best they can as they make the transition from a Division I program (and a full Division I schedule) to Division III beginning next season.


AP Photo/Jim Weber
Centenary coach Adam Walsh, like many of his contemporaries, has a healthy respect for UConn's athleticism and accomplishments.
Instead, it's about trying to quantify just how amazing the UConn women are -- and doing so in terms guys can understand. And guys everywhere -- guys who watch and appreciate men's and women's college hoops, guys who play in regular pickup games (hello), guys who suck in regular pickup games (hello again) -- always ask the question: Could the best women's team beat the worst men's team?

Walsh has watched Auriemma's Huskies.

"They're pretty good," he said. "I don't think a men's scholarship program loses to them. But I've had that debate myself. I think most coaches have had that debate."

Exactly. Why deny it? It doesn't make you a bad person just because you want to compare apples to zucchini. Or in this case, the 2009 and 2010 champions to the struggling Gents.

I'm with Walsh. No D-I men's program with a roster of players on full scholly would get beat by the UConn women. But I'd pay to watch the game. I'd pay to watch Maya Moore, UConn's electric senior forward, run through the layup line.

"It'd be tough for us," said Walsh of a UConn-Centenary matchup. "I'm sure it'd be tough. I'm not dealing with scholarship guys. And that's no disrespect to the guys I have."

Walsh had 11 scholarship players and two recruiting commitments when the decision to drop to Division III was announced in July 2009. But the recruits de-committed and other players transferred -- all with Centenary's blessings. Plus, Walsh couldn't offer any scholarships this year and can honor existing scholarships only through next season.

Memphis beat the Gents by 64. Tulane beat them by 41 and LSU by 42. Marquette won by 29. Summit League opponent Oakland recently won by 27. Centenary plays hard, but it has only one player averaging double-figure points (Maxx Nakwaasah's 10.8). Its two tallest players (both 6-foot-8) average 1.5 and 1.4 points, respectively. And Walsh's five leading scorers are 6-3, 6-6, 6-5, 6-0 and 6-1.

"It's different," he said.

UConn's starting five goes 6-5 (Stefanie Dolson), 6-0 (Moore), 5-11 (Kelly Faris), 5-10 (Tiffany Hayes) and 5-7 (Bria Hartley). Moore averages 24.8 points, Hayes 16.5 and Hartley 14.1. See where I'm going with this?

[+] Enlarge
Jim Rogash/Getty Images
Geno Auriemma has built a powerhouse UConn program that steamrolls opponents. What would happen if his talented women played a men's team?
I'm not saying UConn would win, but it'd be more interesting than watching the Huskies beat the Holy Cross women 117-37 (Nov. 14) or Howard 86-25 (Nov. 27) or Florida State 93-62 (Dec. 21). Those aren't games; they're human sacrifices.

Walsh isn't embarrassed to admit that Moore could play for the Centenary men's team. That's because Moore could play for more than a few Division I men's teams.

"She's that good," said Walsh. "There's not a whole bunch [who could], but she's one of them."

Tennis had Billie Jean King versus Bobby Riggs. Softball had pitcher Jennie Finch against major league players (they came, they saw, they whiffed). At Tennessee, Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt has her team practice and scrimmage regularly against men.

So why not the UConn women against a Division I or II or III men's team one of these days? Make it a preseason exhibition game. Designate a percentage of the proceeds to a charity of each program's choice. The V Foundation. Breast cancer research. Whatever. There are hundreds of worthy causes.

I guarantee you it would get boffo TV ratings. At the very least, it would get bigger numbers than what the Huskies got for grinding Florida State into pepper flakes when they broke UCLA's consecutive win streak.

It wouldn't matter who won the game. The game would be a gimmick, a chance to prove that women's basketball doesn't need to prove a thing. Instead, you'd play the game for the right reason -- for the fun of it.

Not even Auriemma can hate that idea, right?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=5969758&sportCat=ncb


I seriously doubt they'd win. I bet a lot of high school varsity teams could beat them as well.

 

[FirstTimer]

No.

They couldn't.

The Gents would win by 20+.

Sure on a one game basis anything could happen but generally speaking they have no chance.

I hate the Maya Moore love too. She's a great womens player but average maybe 5PPG playing against men. She'd get fucking dominated in mens Big East basketball.

 

[NAHSTE]

Absolutely they would win. And your last statement is ludicrous.

 

[ralaw]

No, the Uconn women's team only has one player who could even compete with men and even she would struggle to create space to get her shot off. Women just don't have the athleticism, speed or lateral ability to keep up with men who are in their athletic prime.

When I was in highschool our women's basketball team was the best team in the area and one of the top teams in the state. The coach at the time use to have them practice against the JV boys basketball team and the boys team would routinely beat them.

 

[FirstTimer]

Absolutely they would win.

No way in hell.

And your last statement is ludicrous.

No it's not.

Moore would get her shit packed in mens basketball....especially in the Big East.

No, the Uconn women's team only has one player who could even compete with men and even she would struggle to create space to get her shot off. Women just don't have the athleticism, speed or lateral ability to keep up with men who are in their athletic prime.

When I was in highschool our women's basketball team was the best team in the area and one of the top teams in the state. The coach at the time use to have them practice against the JV boys basketball team and the boys team would routinely beat them.

This.

When I was at NIU the women's team would sometimes scrimmage the intramural mens champs...and lose by 45. Male managers would help during practice. The managers were told to go half speed since they would tear apart the team if they went full speed.

A friend of mine who was a manager at U of I has similar stories.

 

[NAHSTE]

No way in hell.

LMAO... I edited my post immediately after typing that. Shithouse servers acted up on me after hitting save and robbed me of the edit. I guess it was stuck in the server error matrix. I wasn't calling your statement ludicrous, rather mgolue's that a high school team would dominate them. I find that hard to believe. I do not think that the average men's high school team could beat the UConn women.

LOL though at using the NIU women's team as your example. They are probably fucking terrible. I however have played pick up against the LSU women's starting 5 before and they beat us twice. The first game was close, but they were toying with us by Game 2. Seimone Augustus (the Maya Moore of her era) was guarding me and I maybe got two shots off during the two games. Sylvia Fowles had around 43 rebounds too. Not saying the squad I was running with was a great team, we were all average to above average athletes and players, but we were playing elite level women's players, two of which have played in the Olympics and 3 in the WNBA, and like I said, they wrecked us.

 

[FirstTimer]

I do not think that the average men's high school team could beat the UConn women however.

That I agree with...I guess...if that really means anything...that the best womens team ever could be an average men's HS team.

LOL though at using the NIU women's team as your example. They are probably fucking terrible.

They were around .500.

But also see my comment about the U of I team.

I however have played pick up against the LSU women's starting 5 before and they beat us twice. The first game was close, but they were toying with us by Game 2.

That's not really helping your case much.

The fact that the LSU women's team played a close game in a pick up game against 5 guys..doesn't really bode well for any women's team doing very well against an actual men's team.

 

[NAHSTE]

Don't even bother reading my posts in this thread, I've had about 5 paragraphs taken from me due to server fuck ups. So yeah...

 

[FirstTimer]

Geno is and has been an ass clown about this whole thing anyways. His "rant" about people being mad that they are breaking a men's record was hilarious.

No Geno, you're not breaking a men's record. You're setting new women's records each night. To break a men's record you'd have to be playing against men...with men.

 

[NAHSTE]

The fact that the LSU women's team played a close game in a pick up game against 5 guys..doesn't really bode well for any women's team doing very well against an actual men's team.

Good point, but as I said, they were toying with us in Game 2. They won like 11-4 in that one. I think they were just being nice in the first one. Here's the rest of that post that was robbed from me, luckily I ctrl/v'd it.

Seimone Augustus (the Maya Moore of her era) was guarding me and I maybe got two shots off during the two games. Sylvia Fowles had around 43 rebounds too. Not saying the squad I was running with was a great team, we were all average to above average athletes and players, but we were playing elite level women's players, two of which have played in the Olympics and 3 in the WNBA, and like I said, they wrecked us.

There aren't that many good women's players to go around, so a .500 team like NIU is gonna be pretty bad when compared to men. But with UConn we are talking about the absolute cream of the crop.

The average women's team and player are terrible compared to the average men's player, but the top 1% of them could certainly compete, and even beat an average men's player pretty easily, IMO.

Of course they would get dominated in a real basketball conference like the Big East, but we are talking about the 350th best team men's team here.

 

[Bear Pand]

Purdue's women's basketball team used to scrimmage against a volunteer team made up of guys off the street at practice. Not only did they usually lose, but the men were also instructed not to play too physical. I had class with one of the guys and he wasn't even that athletic.

Purdue isn't UCONN, but they are/were a perennial top 25team and also have 2 fairly recent championship game appearances.

UCONN would get their ass beat in a competitive game against a Div1 men's college basketball team. I'd be surprised if they could beat a lower division team either.

 

[FirstTimer]

The writers examples for women beating men were horrible too. King beat an old over the hill man in tennis. Jenny Finch struck out old overweight baseball players like John Kruk. I like how he leaves out the massive fails of:

- The woman goaltender for Tampa Bay Lighting

- Michelle Wie playing in men's golf tournies

- Annika Sorenstam doing the same and people acting like she won the Masters when she got a birdie....then missed the cut.

Generally when women have actually competed against men when the men are actually at their peak...and still actually playing the sport....the results haven't gone well for the women.

The average women's team and player are terrible compared to the average men's player, but the top 1% of them could certainly compete, and even beat an average men's player pretty easily, IMO.

I have yet to see a women's player that makes me think that. Candace Parker was about as close as it came but I'm pretty sure men would run circles around her or be able to physically dominate her..... :fap:

Of course they would get dominated in a real basketball conference like the Big East, but we are talking about the 350th best team men's team here.

Like I said Moore is the only one on UCONN that I'd even see as being a threat. Even that 350th ranked mens team is going to be more athletic, faster, and better at basketball...in relative terms.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

By collegiate players?

Any level?

They would get throttled by the worst possible college hoops team you could think of. Random Community College in New Jersey could beat them with relative ease.

They would get spanked by a good number of men's high school team's too.

 

[Blick]

They would get dominated by any group of guys who are decently athletic, know what the fuck basketball is, and are over 6 feet tall.

I didn't even play basketball in high school, and I've played K-State, Missouri, KU and other women's players at rec centers and community centers...and every time they've been run off the floor.

 

[Pitty]

There's a fair chance that the Shooting Guard for the men would be more physically developed than the Women's front court players. It would be an absolute domination.

Centenary would win by 20-30.

 

[Deviant]

I kinda' wanna' believe they can, but then the athleticism is what's keeping me from believing it, especially if they were allowed to play at full physical strength.

Better scenario: Can Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, and Brittney Griner beat Centenary's men? (Obviously, they'd get a bench, but these are the standouts.)

 

[A Tasty Burgerr]

^That would be a good game.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Artie Lange nearly beat a former starter for Penn State in a game of one-on-one.

First Timer would put up points on Lisa fuggin Leslie.

 

[ralaw]

Better scenario: Can Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, and Brittney Griner beat Centenary's men? (Obviously, they'd get a bench, but these are the standouts.)

That might be a different story because we're talking about the very best of this generation. Griner's presence alone on defense would make that game interesting.

 

[FirstTimer]

First Timer would put up points on Lisa fuggin Leslie.

In yo FACE!