Women's hoops still searching for equality

CHICAGO - It wouldn't matter if the game were played in bikinis, the NCAA women's basketball league is just not going to get the attention - or the respect - that it so rightly deserves.

Basketball stars spent their Sunday morning answering questions from story-hungry reporters for an hour and a half at the Big Ten women's basketball media conference in Chicago, yesterday.

An hour and a half of redundant questions geared towards comments on last year's season, outlooks on the upcoming season and possible remarks on the disheartening death of Purdue's Tiffany Young this past summer due to an alcohol-induced car accident.

In one corner sat defending NCAA champion Purdue, whose new coach, Kristy Curry, took over the same Boilermakers who beat Louisiana Tech, in the Final Four last year.

In another corner sat the favored Penn State, whose own center Andrea Garner was voted Preseason Player of the Year in the conference.

In another sat equally favored Illinois, whose coach Susan Blauser is expected to lead her team into the NCAA Tournament.

The Big Ten is full of talented players, some of which hope to one day make it to the WNBA.

But what incentive do these female athletes have, knowing that there are many people out there who dislike the up-and-coming association?

Some might argue, like FOX Sports' The Last Word host Jim Rome did this past summer, that women basketball players lack the ability.

"Everybody's entitled to their own opinion," Purdue senior forward Michelle Duhart said. "I think that was totally out of control. You have to start somewhere, and you have to build, and I think women's basketball is definitely taking the next step."

Some feel it's because the women's game is played below the rim, much different from the men's 'let's see how high we can jump' style of play.

"Just because you can't play above the rim, doesn't mean the game is not exciting," Penn State senior guard Helen Darling said. "I know people who like the women's game more because women are more aggressive, defensively they're more fundamentally sound, and it's a team game instead of just, you know, the 'all-star.'"

But let's face it, the women's league hasn't been appreciated because, well, it's the women's league. Who would want to watch women play basketball when the men's game is still so prominent?

"You have to separate the women's and the men's league to begin with," Curry said. "It's a different game. I think it's tremendous to watch the level that our game has gone to."

'Our game.' Precisely.

These women have single-handedly taken a sport that has been male-dominant for years and turned it into something promising.

Something they can call their own.

Something, that in years to come, will be more popular than ever expected.

"Will it get bigger than the NBA?" asked Michigan coach Sue Guevara, as though astounded at the idea. "No, it will not get bigger than the NBA. But I think that kids these days are getting better. They know how to play the game. What you can see now is female role models, and all of a sudden, it's like, 'Hey, you know what? That could be me one day.'"

11-01-99