The Stanford women’s basketball team has a tough act to follow. Last year, the Cardinal went 35-2 overall and 18-0 in the Pac-12, but heads into this season with Nnemka Ogwumike, an All-American last season and the WNBA rookie of the year this year after being selected in the WNBA Draft.
The Stanford women’s basketball team lost its first game of the season on Monday night, falling 68-58 in a matchup against the team’s biggest rival of the last four years, Connecticut. The No. 4 Huskies (3-0) extended their home winning streak to 86 games and took a 5-2 lead over the No. 5 Cardinal (3-1) in games played over the last 48 months.
For starters, let’s be realistic: the women’s game will not approach the same level of fan passion and interest as the men’s game any time soon, especially when March Madness rolls around. I’m not trying to be sexist or claiming that men’s basketball is somehow intrinsically better than women’s basketball. Auriemma should either quit whining or go where the fans are and coach a men’s team.
Because seriously, I feel embarrassed after having waxed all poetic last quarter at how this campus is finally learning how to rally around its sports teams only to walk in last weekend and find 7,000-seat Maples half-full and dead, and after we BEAT UCONN, too…
Connecticut’s NCAA-record 90-game winning streak in women’s basketball is over
Stanford pulled safely clear of Oklahoma in the final few seconds of its Final Four clash yesterday to win 73-66 and set up a national championship showdown with Connecticut.