Champions of the Basketball World

Ok, so it's just in the women's world. Last night the Maryland Women's Basketball team won the championship in OT over Duke. What can be any sweeter than that? Well, maybe if everything were the same except the gender. Anyway, it was a great game and renewed some faith for me in Terrapin athletics. It's very refreshing after watching the knuckleheaded players on the men's side play themselves out of the tournament for essentially 3 straight years. (I know we made it in 2004, but we really didn't deserve the bid. We only made it after a miraculous run to win the ACC Tournament.)

I've never been a fan of women's basketball, pro or college. I just had to watch because it was my school, and I was quite surprised. The Women's Final Four was 10 times more enjoyable watching than the Men's, at least this year. Maryland held off top- ranked UNC in the semi-finals in a closely contested game. In the Finals, Maryland rallied from a 13-point deficit to send the game into overtime on a late 3-pointer and winning it from there. Compare this to the Men's side. Florida manhandled George Mason to a final score of 73-58. In the second game, UCLA thumped LSU to the tune of 59-45. And in the championship game Florida beast-dominated UCLA, 73-57. I didn't even finish watching the game. I went to bed instead. From a competitive standpoint, the Men's games sucked monkey nuts. In addition, I had reasons to dislike all of the teams, including George Mason.



I love college ball, and I love Maryland.