Women's Sports Blog

Parker: Class Act

Being constantly honored can make you a bit of a robot, but thus far Candace Parker knows the right thing to say and does it graciously.  This little promotional vid is also notable for its shot of Lisa Fernandez back before the eyeliner had been tattooed on. 

Gaining That Perspective

Former Ball State coach Tracy Roller speaks out about her battle with manic-depression.   If you wade through the moderate illiteracy of the journalist, you get a pretty harrowing story.  No ideas about what bipolar disorder actually is, mind you (a basic explanatory paragraph is always helpful, especially as regards stigmatized diseases), but the picture of a woman having a very, very difficult time.  Our thoughts are with Coach Roller.   h/t WHB.   

"Cessna!!!! Somebody's Having A Flying Lesson, Ahhh!"

When you see a piece entitled 'loss of innocence' and the lede is talking about how the writer walked away from men's basketball and is now considering the same for the women, you think bribery, cheating, or god forbid, sexual misconduct.  What you don't think is dishonored press credentials.  Word.  Duck and cover.  Or gain some massively needed perspective, one of the two. 

Correction: Doris Burke

As reader Jeff pointed out on his blog, which is UConn oriented, Burke played at Providence and thus her stupid comment cannot be directly imputed to the tutelage of Geno Auriemma.  The post has been corrected. 

Papa Louie Explains Why Stanford Lost

"Because Tennessee had three players from New York."

He also thinks Wiggins should have brought the ball up against the press more often, but I seem to have memories that she kept getting trapped against the sideline by two huge forwards. 

It would have helped if they played like they knew what a basketball looked like.  The minute I saw I'd bet against Voepel I knew I'd made a huge mistake.   

Final Four Musings

*You tend to forget that Doris Burke is a product of the Geno Auriemma system, but then she makes a comment like "I'd run her off the pick and roll until tears came to her eyes" about the injured Candace Parker.  Update: Geno has certainly been a mean potzer many times in his career, but since Doris Burke didn't play for him, this one isn't his fault.  My mistake. 

*Van Chancellor can talk about it being a new era in LSU all he wants, but if his team can't hit free throws or make seven seconds worth of stop, it will look a lot like the old era.  Now, I recognize that the NCAA tournament is the epitome of the small sample size and I'm ambivalent about a million trips to the national semifinals being called failure, but that's the way these things are judged. 

*Why did a zebra have to die to clothe someone on the Tennessee bench?  And how many violets were needlessly sacrificed to Van's pocket handkerchief? 

*Wiggins and VanDerveer handled themselves quite well when they were interviewed after the game.  At this point when Tara calls the Pac-10 a great conference, it's unclear whether she's deluded herself or she's just continually trying to sell her team.  In this case that salesmanship has a product behind it.  I would really have liked to see them play Rutgers again, however. 

*Barring a faith healing and the discovery of exciting new scoring talent, Tennessee will lose to Stanford, which is truly clicking on all cylinders.

 

Oh, And The Awards Were Handed Out

Candice/ace split the individual honors, with Wiggins taking the Wade and Parker as the A.P. player of the year.  Geno was A.P. coach of the year.

Here are the All-Americans.  No surprises except perhaps for McCoughtry.  Very hard for certain schools to break into this list, but Louisville's great showing the tourney made a difference. 

Sylvia Fowles - Louisiana State University
Crystal Langhorne - University of Maryland
Erlana Larkins - University of North Carolina
Angel McCoughtry - University of Louisville
Renee Montgomery - University of Connecticut
Maya Moore - University of Connecticut
Courtney Paris - University of Oklahoma
Candace Parker - University of Tennessee
Kristi Toliver - University of Maryland
Candice Wiggins - Stanford University

LSU And UConn Hold Dance-Off

Do I have to turn in my press pass if I much prefer this way of settling the competition to a basketball game?  I'm very ready for the season to be over. 

Photo of the Day: Katie Adams and Kia Vaughn

This game made me sad.  Photo Credit AP/Sara D. Davis.   

Were We Watching The Same Game?

It's typical of Van Chancellor to be effusive about his opponents.  He's a warm-hearted guy.  So when he said that Tennessee did a great job of keeping the game close while Parker was hurt it was standard for him.  But when Summitt said it?  Must have been the endorphins talking.  Lordy, was that a woeful fifteen minutes of basketball.  The only reason A&M didn't pull away is that they were also taking stupid shots, turning the ball over, and generally imitating a biddy ball team.  It's a real shame because when the Aggies are on, they're great to watch.  But like Hatchell's UNC they are encouraged to be frantic because they rely on 'explosiveness' and they're often not reigned in when this translates to poor decision-making.  One thing this game did show, however, is that Parker is really tough.  I only hope playing through the pain doesn't translate to any long-term problems for her. 

Stanford Fans Weigh In

Most in a good natured way, as one would expect.  First, there were the Tara defenders, none of whom acknowledged that I thought Sylvia Hatchell's eye-bending Mayan sun worship jacket was much more of an affront.  It's also totally possible to dress stylishly and not be whoring yourself out to The Man.  By all means wear dress pants, a button-down shirt, and glasses.   They can just be made in this century and fit you. 
Then, a reader who will remain anonymous because apparently commenting on this blog is affecting her rep, pointed out that Wiggins tended to get baited a lot when being asked about the seeding.  Fair point. (and thanks, WHB, for the link). 

Now, viz. the Chatman post it's possible to ask whether I was contradicting myself.  Just a few weeks ago someone won hacktastic journalist of the week for writing about the Chatman scandal in the second paragraph of an article, and now I'm saying she needs to be talked about more.  The situation is analogous to an African-American reader who asks for more coverage of racial issues, and then gets an article about those scary black men.  Referencing the Chatman story in sensationalist ways is not appropriate in an article about Sylvia Fowles' performance this season, let alone in a Louisiana paper, where people are not likely to have missed the details the first time. Mentioning her name or even the situation when you talk about LSU"s four previous Final Four appearances is appropriate. 

Photo Of The Day: Candice Wiggins

I admit this is very cute.  Credit AP/Elaine Thompson. 

Most Embarrassing Moments of The Elite Eight Thus Far

5. Tara VanDerveer, you're on national television, so let's return that shirt and glasses to 1987, please. (And yes, for the millions of clueless search engine users, she is gay.  Stop it already). 

4. Announcer failing to refrain from bad puns on Latoya Pringle's name. 

3. Getting to the Final Four for the first time in your career and seeming quite grateful, then using your platform to complain again about the number two seed you were awarded.  I'm sorry, Candice, we can't hear you over the sense of entitlement.  Get in line behind Rutgers and LSU, who played in the Big East and SEC respectively. 

2. What is this, Sylvia?            

1. Maryland free-throw shooting. 

The funniest moment thus far was the way the camera person at the LSU game kept trying to find men in the audience, because that's what they're trained to do at women's basketball games to prove they're valid events, then accidentally finding butch women and flitting away as if they were time bombs.   

Chatman's Legacy

It was mentioned many times last night that LSU was going to its fifth consecutive Final Four.  Not once in my hearing did anyone say that that streak began when Pokey Chatman took over from an ailing Sue Gunther.  Every one of the players who saw time in the game was recruited by Chatman.  Although it's her own fault no one can write that sentence without a double entendre, it bears repeating that we have no idea what really happened because LSU did not allow her to contest its charges (although the fact that she didn't sue them may indicate she was doing something).  It also bears repeating that Nancy Lieberman has done the exact same thing with athletes she was coaching several times and she's parlayed that into an ongoing broadcasting job in which she must be addressed as 'hall of famer' at all times.  Now, these athletes were all over twenty-one and professionals, so they could theoretically walk away at any time.  But the line's pretty thin, that line of control and power and wanting to be involved with someone because you have it and they don't.  Male coaches' behavior is often ignored because of their coaching records.  That's not the model we want to follow.  But a little less Children's Hour and a little more recognition of recent history would be a good start toward a sunshine provision for this whole situation. 

How To Create Compelling Basketball

There was one competetive game yesterday, as Louisville gave UNC all it could handle.  There may be one today, in Duke/A&M.  A proposal to force the top recruits to choose schools by lottery might spice up the Sweet Sixteen. We can't just have this alternating where one goes to UConn and then one goes to Tennessee.  Things will get pretty tight in the Elite Eight, methinks, but will anyone care while the Davidson saga continues? 

Sherri Coale Redux

We generated more mail in questioning whether Coach Coale was a negative recruiter than with any other story.  I have a hunch we also generated some misapprehension about our journalistic integrity.  The issue has weighed on my mind.  On the one hand, it is not necessarily a damaging piece of gossip to report. A large portion of the country sees nothing wrong in steering youngsters away from 'gay' settings, and speaking negatively about, let alone discriminating against, LGBT people.  It is still legal to fire people based on their gender expression (thanks, Human Rights Campaign).   On the other hand, it does create a certain amount of ill-will among another subset of the population, which is how I heard the story in the first place.  In expressing my own disapproval of such actions I considered myself to be appealing to that population while not actively being unfair to Coach Coale.  I was not reporting that she violated the law, for instance, or mistreated her players.  Yet as time went on I became uneasy in my mind about even letting the gossip stand.  The important point is that no further information has come in as of yet, and it may not.  Therefore I am returning to Coach Coale the benefit of the doubt.   She certainly needs all the top players she can get if she's going to push past that last hurdle to the national championship. 

Centenary Forced To Settle

For a pittance, unfortunately.  Still, the suit proves that you can't fire someone for becoming pregnant out of wedlock, even if you are a denomination-affiliated school.*  Ah, the old moral turpitude clause.  If you applied it to men, so few would retain their scholarships and jobs. 

*The United Methodists, who have a fairly liberal record on some issues. 

Sweet 16 Field Set

The Irish are back in, having defeated Oklahoma in overtime and stopped Courtney Paris' quest for a championship yet again.  However Muffet's squad is going to run into Tennessee, coming off Pat's 100th tournament win, and should be prepared to fly home to South Bend. 

UConn should have absolutely no trouble with Old Dominion, and while the Rugters/GWU game will no doubt be an ugly affair, GWU is more scrappy than skilled.  A&M and Duke has the potential to be really interesting, but only if Duke plays up to its full potential and manages to contain A&M's explosive offense.

Over on the other side of the bracket, Oklahoma State and LSU may well be competitive, and Vandy must run and gun to hang with Maryland.  Good for Louisville and Pitt and their unexpected berths, but UNC and Stanford have the talent to blow them out.  The upside for the two unknowns is that they are unknown, and it's familiarity that breeds contempt. 

Homophobia No Longer A Big Problem In Hoops?

Thank you, straight woman and straight man, for getting the word out.  That's a relief.  Doris Burke was quoted on an ESPN "Outside the Lines" saying that there are fewer "subtle lifestyle suggestions," aka negative recruiting, on campuses these days.  Nice that ESPN has such a deep roster of sources to interview outside its own stable (here, to be fair, Pat Griffin has a fuller take on the piece, which she thought was pretty decent).  Meanwhile, Mike DiMauro has decided they shouldn't even talk about it anymore because it's such a non-issue.  The more positive interpretation of his opinion is that they shouldn't be using it as a scare tactic, but the prescription is to...stop talking about the gays, for Pete's sake.   

First, automatic ban on referring to anything as a 'lifestyle.'  Drinking chai is a lifestyle.  Relationships are not.  Second...dude.  Do you think coaches who negatively recruit might just be less willing to talk about it now because they might end up on "Outside The Lines"?  That doesn't stop them from doing it, or stop schools from maintaining actual policies which discriminate against students, or creating very unwelcoming atmospheres of fear and secrecy.   None of these things could safely be described as subtle, I might add. 

Are there, at this very second, important stories in women's basketball that are not getting coverage?  Sure.  Does that make homophobic programs and the wave of hysteria that has followed the Chatman situation any less important?  Apparently so for some commentators.  Not, however, in the real world. 

Bizarre Goings-On At Maples Pavilion

It's a good job Cal women's basketball fans are a polite group, because there could have been an uncomfortable situation for the officials yesterday.  In the final minute of the second round game between Cal and George Washington, Cal was up by a basket when Gray-Lawson missed the front end of a one-and-one.  GWU got the ball, came down the floor and were stopped by the Cal defense, but Natasha Vital missed a shot at the other end on which GWU capitalized by tying the game.  At this point there were 12.1 seconds left.  Vital was trying to get the ball into the frontcourt in order to call a time out.  From where we were sitting, and indeed according to everyone in the stadium, she crossed the center line, stopped, and called timeout.  The ref decided instead that she had traveled, in surely the strangest late, game-changing call I've ever witnessed.  GWU got the ball back, heaved up an awful shot, and then, as it had been doing the entire night, beat Cal to the rebound, scored, and won the game.  There was an automatic replay but Sarah-Jo Lawrence had clearly gotten the shot off well before the buzzer.  There was a round of booing, and then there was just shock.  People sat there as if they had been punched.

Then they were replaced by Stanford fans who got a treat with Candace Candice (dammit!) Wiggins going off for forty-four points in her final Maples appearance.  But still. 

Photos Of The Day: NCAA Round One Action

Pat Summitt consoles, or perhaps scares further, an Oral Roberts player 
(AP/Darron Cummings)

ASU's Briann January fights through some tough defense                                                    
(AP/Gail Burton)

UCSB's Sha'Rae Gibbons commits a cool-looking offensive   
foul against Virginia (AP/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Howard Payne Undefeated Div III. Champ

Why is it that Division Three schools are much more likely to be named after individuals?  Anyhow, the Howard Payne Lady Yellow Jackets (because it's vitally important that we distinguish the female from male yellow jackets) defeated Messiah 68-54.  Sadly, Messiah is the Falcons and not the Messiahs.  Would have been the greatest nickname ever.

Ohio State Streak Remains Alive!

What did I tell you?  The only prediction I make about the early rounds that turns out to be correct every year.  Ohio State was knocked out by those scrappy upset machines FSU.  Perhaps next year I might try to be informed about conferences other than the Big Ten and the Pac-10 (and this year I watched a good bit of Big XII as well).  All three of those conferences have the same type of name and manage to express it three different ways. 

In other tournament news, Iowa State blew a fairly sizable lead against against Georgia Tech to go down by one late, and Alison Lacey had to hit a shot inside the final minute and free throws to win it.  But that was nothing compared to the Hartford-Syracuse heroics (or so says the A.P. anyway), where the 10 seed upset the 7 seed on a MaryLynne Shaefer three with 13 seconds to play. 

I guess I came close with the New Mexico prediction too, since that was also a last-second win by WVU.  Wyoming also only lost by five.  But close only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes, as the old saw goes, and Montana was absolutely destroyed by Vandy.  Vandy!  How could I have picked Montana?  I was beguiled by the Big Sky-ness of it all....

Coverage of March Madness

over at WHB will continue to be better than mine.  It would be anyway, but normally I'd make some kind of effort.  I'm just trying to ward off modern medicine, part two.  Wish me luck. 

Really, Committee? Really?

Every year we wonder where they're getting their drugs.  Every year, also, the only prediction I make that comes true is that Ohio State goes out early.  But there's been some good news for them recently so I wouldn't build my bracket around me ;)  But still, I pontificate anyway....

I'm working off the presumptions that 9 over 8 is never an upset; Pac-10 teams can lose to anyone, and this year so can Big Ten teams, who were uniformly over-ranked in a really strange way.

Potential first-round upsets in the Maryland section: I'm going with the Western teams in Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming.   Stanford is vulnerable, of course, but I"m guessing they'll hold out until at least the third round this year.  I only paid five bucks for my tickets, though, so no complaints either way.  The biggest question itself is the Terps as number one seed, but that won't get answered until later. 

The  North Carolina section: Safest-looking quarter on paper this round.  Florida State and DePaul may play traditional spoiler roles.   

Connecticut section: Most volatile-looking quarter.  Anything could happen here to anyone from the three seed on down.  Seriously, that's my prediction.  Lower seed could win any of these games. 

Tennessee section: Notre Dame, Arizona State, and Syracuse in potential trouble. 

Start watching games Friday to prove how incredibly wrong I am, and/or what a wimp not to predict even bigger upsets. 

Stormy Petrels Make History

Tiny Oglethorpe University, a liberal-arts school in Atlanta (although two of their biggest majors, I note,  are business-oriented), continued the miracle run into the Div. III basketball tournament that began with their first-ever NCAA tournament win, then an upset of undefeated national #3 Thomas More, and now have earned a trip to the Final Four in what the school's website called its "biggest victory in any team sport." Junior Anna Findley, at right in another game, scored 44 points in the winning  effort.   Photo credit to OU's website; h/t to WHB .

Coaches Behaving Badly

Bo Overton is unceremoniously dropped from the Sky (sorry, had to do it), with some arguing that off-the-wall message board allegations of harassment (since purged from said message board) turned out to be true. 

Geno, meanwhile, now accuses ESPN of retaliation in the Maya Moore affair.  Knowing Geno, the part about anybody being able to tour ESPN is accurate, as is the danger of media consolidation in which ESPN may manufacture a story in order to boost its own ratings.  The part about 'punishing' Geno for not talking about the Tennessee series cancellation sounds like an anger-fueled fantasy.  But stranger things have happened.

h/t, once again, to WHB. 

A&M Rolls, Texas Unable to Complete Comeback

Texas A&M looked like an offensive juggernaut in yesterday's semifinal win over Iowa State. Every time it seemed like ISU was about to make a run, the Aggies answered.  Particularly disappointing from the ISU standpoint was the lack of variety in their attack.  There will be no in-state grudge match for the Big 12 title, however, since  Texas' miracle run ended with Oklahoma State. 

Photo Of The Day: Aw, Man

Middle Tennessee State loses in the Sun Belt conference final to Western Kentucky.

Non-Photo Of The Day

Occasionally we do feature eye-bendingly bad photography,
and Mark Humphrey of the A.P. kindly obliges. 

Yes Indeed

Turkey Of The Week Award

Chris Talbott of the Associated Press, come on down!   The headline reads Sylvia Fowles sets career double-double record as No. 6 LSU clinches SEC title.  I understand Mr. Talbott is probably not in control of his own headlines.  But he is in control of the article, which is about Van Chancellor and buries the accomplishment of his best player way down near the middle.  Well below, for instance, the imputation that Pokey Chatman had sex with one of her players.  Second paragraph!  This happened LAST MARCH.  We all know I think Chatman is a sleaze, but I really don't know whether they'd still be mentioning this were she not an OMG lesbian.  Knock it off. 

NCAA Rundown

All sorts of conference shenanigans.

Coach G. got a program-lifting upset over Oklahoma...at Oklahoma by fifteen.  A good stretch for the big state after A&M knocked off Baylor. 

Rutgers needs a big showing in the Big East tourney now after getting pounded by UConn (who were seriously challenged by scrappy DePaul earlier in the week.  Go DePaul). 

Candice Wiggins broke Lisa Leslie's Pac-10 career scoring record, so big congrats to her and we're never going to hear the end of it here in NoCal, are we?  Meanwhile, Cal got knocked off by U-Dub, which gives the Pac-10 title to Stanford yet again.

West Virginia's up and down season continues to be weird, as they are handily upset by Syracuse. 

And, as if only the Big East played in recent days, that team which has a coach named Muffet was beaten in New York by St. John's.  Ha.

If We Can't Do It, At Least IU Can

They need some good news in Bloomington right about now.

Anyone with half a pulse could have warned the men's team not to hire someone who was already under recruiting sanctions, but I suppose an uncontroversial coach would be too big a step all at once for that program. 

Correct Marquette Link

This should work.

Marquette Gives The Gift of Hair

As I believe I mentioned before, I have a good friend who donated her hair to cancer patients, and the Marquette team is doing the same.

"Dude, I Can See Your Tonsils"

Or, "Yep, You Definitely Swallowed Your Retainer"

Photo credit AP/Sara D. Davis

"Owwww"

"Okay, didn't think this through so much."

Photo credit AP/Jerry Larson

Buckeyes Destroy Purdue In Columbus

I would be biased if I failed to mention this.  Now I have. 

High School All-American Team Selected

I prefer the college skills competition, myself.  Anyhow, the WBCA named the top 20 girls high school players to the, ahem, McDonald's All-American game.  No Hoosiers on the list this year.  Bah.

h/t WHB. 

Top Shooter For Lady Raiders Suspended

But what did she do, Coach Mom?

Those Boisian Heartbreakers

"Broncos Jilt Nevada Women On Valentine's Day."
'They don't call; they don't write; they took us off first place on their MySpace friends list.'

Photo Of The Day: UNC v. UVA

Nice job, A.P.'s Andrew Shurtleff. 

Paris Or Parker For The Wade?

Who is the best player in women's college hoops?  The Parker scored almost half of the Lady Vols' points in the disputed win over Rutgers while coming off a knee injury.  Courtney Paris, though playing for a lesser team albeit possibly in a stronger conference, just broke Tim Duncan's record for career NCAA double-doubles among players of any gender.  The race is tight indeed, even discounting national scoring leader Amber Holt, the JuCo transfer who is averaging 26.5 points a game for Middle Tennessee State, or some of the defensive stars from Rutgers. 

Rutgers Called For Late Foul Again; Tenn Wins 59-58

This is getting ridiculous.  I still think this Rutgers squad is the top contender to bring C. Vivian the prize in March.  The Parker is throwing a little chicken-wing here, no?  Photo: AP/Wade Payne. 

Hoops Round-Up

The Parker is day-to-day after hyperextending her knee
(photo credit AP/Wade Payne).

Rutgers over UConn may have been thrilling, but can hardly be considered a major upset with all the injured Huskies.  It does make a compelling case for the Scarlet Knights' title hopes, however. 

Shay Doron's number was "honored" by Maryland.  Now if it would only be honored with some WNBA playing time. 

Former Fresno State coach Johnson-Klein's award has been thrown out by a judge, who replaced the 19.1 million figure with the *cough* much more modest 6.6 million.

What Was My Nickname For Them Again?

OS...Who, was it?  Big Ten leading Boilermakers upset Ohio State 68-67.

I know that we Purdue fans complain about our media exposure fairly constantly, but come on.  No AP photos of an unranked-ranked upset celebration? 

The Salukis?

The search for interesting team mascots has landed us at Southern Illinois University, which has a nickname so unique (I know, I know, 'unique' can't be modified; shut up) I might even assume it's been changed.  Usually really interesting nicknames belong to counter-cultural schools, like Santa Cruz or Earlham; they're a regional reference; or they're the result of the change from something racist.  Salukis are an Arabian breed of hunting dog similar to the whippet or greyhound.  They're very skinny, very very fast, and almost impossible to train. Oh, my sweet goodness, I just noticed that the school paper is called The Daily Egyptian.  What is going on here? 

According to the SIUC website, the name was chosen in 1951 to replace 'Maroons.'  Apparently this region of southern Illinois was historically referred to as 'Egypt.'  I wondered if this was similar to the way we used to use (horribly racist among other things) BFE to indicate we'd parked far away, but according to at least one historian, it stems from a 19th century legend that the northerners came south seeking food during a drought, much like the Israelites came to Egypt in Genesis 41.  Some info becomes less interesting with explanation, other info much more. 
 

Goodbye, You Complete Waste of A Human Being

One of the proudest moments of my life as a Hoosier came when my fellows voted Bobby Knight the "enemy of the state" in a Sports Illustrated article.  Now news has come that the, pardon me, but the psychotic fuckhead has resigned.  It's only a shame that violent, racist, misogynistic behavior plus wins gets you a thirty year career.  Some consolation is that if he had started today, he would never have held a job for five minutes. 

Leon Barmore's Legacy Rolls On in Big 12

NewsOK: Barmore disciples collide tonight.

"Madame, I May Be Drunk..."

Math, not math, makes no difference in calculating that the Big Ten is the weakest major conference.  But at least we can paraphrase famed sexist Winston Churchill about what exactly is going to happen tomorrow. That is, we'll start winning while the historically losing conferences will continue doing that.  Not that anyone's ugly.  Just thought I'd clarify. 

Michelle Smith Doesn't Like Math

Especially when it's used to do things like evaluate basketball teams.  Here I thought this kind of behavior was limited to men's sports call-in shows.  She does, however, like circular reasoning.  And just in case you were confused, some copy editor added a headline to the piece before s/he actually read it. 

To whit:

Pac-10. Don't agree with the RPI here. The Pac-10 has two top-10 teams in Stanford and Cal. And though the bottom half of the conference is a serious drag, both the Cardinal and Bears probably will be two or three seeds in March.

Okay.  So, the statistics that show that these teams play a weaker schedule don't tell you anything.  The fact that you admit that 8  out of the 10 teams in the conference suck doesn't tell you anything.  The fact that one of those teams recently blew the other out won't sway you.  And why should it?  Because in March this orgy of circularity will conclude with the NCAA selection committee doing the same thing as you, ignoring the numbers, and over-ranking the conference.  Since this has never once resulted in success for the teams who are ranked too highly, it's nothing to get concerned about.  The beginning of your article was so reasonable.  Just end it at the first paragraph mark and all will be well.

For the record, I think a three seed is about right for Stanford this year.  Oh, and I wonder if the Big Ten is ranked ahead in RPI because those teams' non-conference schedules include matchups in the ACC.

Wiggins Addendum

I'm a bit slow so it just occurred to me that the two players I praised in the latest Stanford post were white, and the player I described as 'highly talented' (athletic, one might even say), but occasionally lacking in hoops common sense was black.*  I certainly don't believe this as a general rule.  I can understand how sitting through a million announcers gushing on about hardworking, smart white players and athletic, talented black players might build a certain 'oh, fuck, here's someone doing it again' mentality in all of us.  So it would not be good if I fed into that. 

*And lord knows, the woman is a senior at Stanford so she's got to be academically gifted.

**And she just broke Kate Starbird's career scoring record.