NCAA: Sometimes, different is better in NCAA basketball

The Final Four is coming up in Minnesota, a spectacle of television and corporate NCAA money and then basketball, as student-athletes who earn the NCAA millions of dollars will take to the court while getting not a penny of the television money going into their own pockets.

The Final Four is also in St. Louis, a more fan-friendly version of the men’s tournament. The women’s Final Four has the top two teams in the country in one semifinal, the top player in the country in another matchup.

It makes for a tournament that should be special. The women’s, that is.

Any impartial observer who watched both the men’s regional championships and the women’s regional championships last weekend should have come away with the same opinion — the women’s games were better. There were more fundamentals, more teamwork, more enthusiasm. The men’s games were played by athletes who look at basketball as almost a full-time job. The women’s games were played by athletes who look at basketball as a game.

The women’s game, as described by no less of an authority than John Wooden, is the most fundamentally sound basketball played in the world today. Instead of worrying about what dunk to do in the open court and how to preen for the cameras, the women’s game is thriving on a mix of personalities that have attracted a growing legion of games, especially one player who has been called, with no shred of irony, "Pete Maravich with a ponytail."

Jackie Stiles of Southwest Missouri State has been, simply, the best player in either tournament. This senior scored 13 points in the first round — after getting a concussion. Since then, she has single-handedly led her team to wins over Rutgers, a Final Four team from last year; Duke, the top seed in the West Region and Washington, in front of a partisan Spokane crowd.

Stiles is averaging over 30 points a game. But most importantly, she is doing that with the accuracy of a bowhunter, taking just 18 shots a game. As a comparison, Philadelphia 76er Allen Iverson is also averaging 30 points a game — taking nearly seven shots a game more than Stiles does.

She shoots over 50 percent from the field. In the NCAA Tournament, she is shooting over 50 percent from three-point land. She scored 32 points in the West Finals against Washington — and that is after fouling out with over four minutes left in the game. That is coming off scoring 41 of her team’s 81 points in its win over Duke.

Monday, in the West Regional finals against Washington, the spotlight was on Stiles. Cameras on her, capturing her every move. Watching as she ran like a track athlete on defense, sprinted down the court on offense, never going out of the game before getting the fifth foul.

So a person scores 30 points a game, you say. But the way she scores her points are the story. Stiles had just two points in the first four minutes, then exploded and hit for 10 points in a matter of four minutes alone.

One step away from a defender, she sank a 22-footer. She beat not one, not two, not even three but four defenders down the court, running past them like their feet were in concrete — and she was the one dribbling the basketball. In the second half, she was triple-teamed with the shot clock winding down, which wasn't a problem. She simply split through the defenders and put up a runner that hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

And while Stiles’ may be the top story of the women’s tournament, an equally imposing matchup looms in the other semifinal. Notre Dame and Connecticut, two teams from the Big East, looking to matchup for a third time this season. The talk about the men’s tournament has been about Duke-Maryland IV. Well, ND-Uconn is worth just as much hype.

The first game was a battle between No. 1 UConn and No. 3 Notre Dame, at South Bend, in front of a crowd that visitors later commented was louder than any men's game this season. Notre Dame won that game, won the No. 1 ranking, but there would be even more.

It was the Big East championship game a few weeks ago, both teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2. There was Shea Ralph of the Huskies going down with a torn ACL, but refusing to leave the bench, instead supporting her teammates. Sue Bird hit a runner at the buzzer to win the game at UConn, sending a crown larger than any men's UConn games this year to storm the court.

The game is different, no doubt. The women's game isn't played above the rim, it isn't about the trash talking and TV mugging and corporate bigwigs in the front row that the men's game is so often associated with.

Men's college basketball, 25 years ago and even further, seemed more like it was played by college students. Now, you can't be sure.

The women's game isn't like the men's game. That doesn't mean the game is weaker, it's just different. And sometimes, different can be better.