Making History, One Upset at a Time

After the most exciting opening weekend in history, the women have finally arrived

March 22, 2007

By Jeff Lippman

CSTV.com

	Jeff Lippman Jeff is CSTV.com's lead women's basketball writer. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- BASKETBALL 1/17: Maryland's Unsung Hero 1/10: In The Heart Of Texas 1/3: Dawg Lovers Delight 1/2: December Women's Hoops Report 12/20: All We Want For Christmas 12/13: Like Knight And Day 12/06: A Tale Of Two Tolivers 12/04: November Women's College Basketball Report 11/29: To Dunk Or Not To Dunk 11/21: Jazzing Up Duke 11/15: Stanford's Trees 11/9: Predicting The Hardware 11/8: From Zero To 60 11/8: The Best Of The Best 11/6: Rebels Work Like Gator Aid 11/5: Surprises Few At Top Of SEC 11/4: Hoosiers Going Nowhere But Up 11/4: Hoosiers, The Sequel 11/2: Building The Game They Loved 11/1: Young Vandy Will Still Be Just Dandy 10/31: Bridging The Tennessee Gender Gap 10/30: Open The SEC, Find A Pearl 10/29: Singing Lullabies 10/29: Immediate Impacts 10/24: Assisted Development 10/18: Questions In Judgment 10/16: Preseason Top 25 - All-American Teams 10/15: Conference Winners 10/15: A Chip Shot Away 10/12: The Great Eight 10/11: A Family Of Champions 10/4: For One More Year 9/27: All It Takes Is One 9/20: Around The Big East In 30 Games 9/13: They're So Berkeley 8/30: March Madness Come Early 8/23: Dude, Looks Like a Lady...Vol 8/16: Wading Through the Talent 8/15: Kia Creates Controversy 8/9: A Pricey Comparison 8/2: Everybody Knows Their Names 7/26: Never Lonely At The Top 7/24: The Future Stars In Bratislava 7/19: Moore Pieces of the Puzzle 7/17: Devotion To Country And Basketball 7/12: Golden Memories 7/5: Ta'Shia and The Crusading Musketeers 6/28: The All-Fourth Of July Teams 6/21: Two Out of Three Ain't Bad 6/14: We Will Meet Again, But Not Yet 6/7: Orange and Blueprints to Success 5/31: Running with the Big Dogs 5/24: WNBA Rookie of the Year Handbook 5/23: Tennessee's Goddess of Victory 5/17: Creating A Necessary Madness 5/10: The Next Marist? 5/3: Going Away Presents 4/25: Women's Coaching Carousel - The Losers 4/19: Women's Coaching Carousel: The Winners 4/12: Destination: Tampa 2008 4/5: Tommorow Is Only A Day Away 4/3: What Else Is New? 4/3: Bye Bye Blue Devils 4/2: The Underdog Vols 4/2: All-American Futility 3/29: Parker Transcending Greatness 3/27: Absolute Dominance 3/26: Mississippi Nouveau 3/25: Price Is Right For Ole Miss 3/24: The Cinderella of Cliche 3/23: Rising From The Fabric Softener 3/22: Making History One Upset at a Time 3/20: Two For Tournament Tuesday 3/19: Aggression Will Make Her Grrr-eat 3/18: Getting Back Up 3/15: NCAAs Not Always Neutral 3/13: Coming Out Parties 3/12: Seeds Align For Atlantic Coast 3/8: Suffering From Madness, Terps Find Cure 3/6: Winning Ugly Was Oh So Pretty For Rutgers 3/5: Pursuing Equilibrium 3/4: Tickle the Ivory, Cut Down the Nets 3/3: Heart and Desire 3/2: Maryland's Biggest Fan 3/1: Everybody's Native All-American 3/1: February Women's College Basketball Report 2/28: The Juice Is Loose 2/26: Jersey's Public Enemy No. 1 2/22: Hindsight's Perfect Vision 2/15: The Fabulous Five 2/8: Duke Out-Shines North Carolina 2/8: Chestnut Hill Idol 2/1: Freshman Dawg Has Her Day 2/1: Summitt Up For Greatness 1/31: January Women's College Basketball Report 1/25: Duke's Devastating Defense 1/22: "D Stands For Defense, And Duke 1/18: Rebels With A Cause 1/13: A Devil Of A Rematch 1/11: As Easy As One, Two, Three 1/2: December Women's College Basketball Report 12/28: Pride of the Pride 12/20: From Israel To Exams 12/19: MAAC Champs In Trouble 12/13: Bridging The Gap 12/10: Owls Give Terps a Hoot of a Time 12/1: November Women's College Basketball Report 11/25: Vermont's Power Too Much For Wagner 10/16: Looking Out For No. 1 FOOTBALL 10/9: No. 2 Ranking A Long Time Coming 10/8: Tebow Makes An Impression 10/1: Tebow Sparks Gators SOCCER 8/30: Boston College Eaglets 8/29: Leader In Life And Between The Nets 8/27: Preceded by Expectations 8/27: 2007 Women's Soccer Season Preview 9/29: Talent and Climate Lures Trinidadians 9/18: Late Start No Obstacle WATER POLO 9/6: Water Polo Championships 101

Why watch that boring men's tournament? Where's the excitement there? Where's all the upsets?

Just give me my ladies, the real Cinderellas. The glass slipper fits much more comfortably on the feminine foot.

The opening weekend of the 2007 Women's NCAA Tournament was one of the wildest and most unpredictable in history. Don't worry, everyone's bracket is shot to hell.

While the one seeds, Duke, North Carolina, Tennessee and Connecticut all advanced--UNC just barely--the No. 2-seeds were not as fortunate.

Would you believe me if I told you that the Sweet 16 boasted just one No. 2? That's right. Only the Purdue Boilermakers remain.

Defending champ Maryland? More like defending chump; they bit the bullet hard against No. 7 Armintie Price, Carol Ross and Mississippi Tuesday in the second round.

Stanford played on their home court in the opening rounds in Palo Alto. Now dubbed, Upset City, the Cardinal were bounced by No. 10-seed Florida State Monday.

SEC Champion Vanderbilt was simply not as good as No. 7-seed Bowling Green. The Falcons wanted and deserved it more.

And then there is No. 13-seeded Marist, who defeated No. 4-seed Ohio State in a shocking first-round upset, only to go on and burst No. 5 Middle Tennessee State's Cinderella bubble. Yes, the Red Foxes are in the round of 16, the lowest seed to ever make it that far.

But the biggest winner of the weekend wasn't any of the aforementioned teams above. Oh no, the sport of women's college basketball took home the ultimate prize.

In a year when there will be no George Mason-esque team in the men's tournament, you can take your pick in the women's. No longer can you assume the higher seed will win handily, in fact, just the opposite, no team is safe.

North Carolina found that out Tuesday when they got all they could handle from 9-seed Notre Dame before pulling it out at the very end.

With female athletes picking up a basketball at younger and younger ages, the skills recruits are bringing to the college game are improving year after year.

Women's basketball has undergone a revolution in a relatively short period of time. What was a two-team sport just a few years ago with Tennessee and UConn having a monopoly on the national championship, turned into 10 teams with solid title shots, and now it seems, it's anybody's game.

This revolution means the prep stars will stop focusing as hard on the Duke's and Carolina's of the world and start recognizing the benefits of leading a Bowling Green to heights it has never before reached.

Also, it instills confidence in teams everywhere, that they too can do what was thought impossible. Suddenly, the power conferences don't look so big and bad anymore.

If Bowling Green and Marist can do it, with a little hard work, tricky recruiting and the right mix of talent, heart and the gumption to look Goliath in her eyes and know you can win, anyone can embark on a magical run.

It's that pipe dream that will ultimately take women's college basketball from an also-ran to a main event.

I'm not suggesting it will ever have the following and fan base of which the men are blessed, but for the time being the ladies are capturing the hearts and minds of far more people than believed possible even before this year began.

And if Marist, Bowling Green, Florida State or George Washington sweeten the pot still, and advance further and into the Elite Eight, televisions across the country will begin to tune in to see the Cinderella's ball.

Bowling Green's coach Curt Miller mused after his team went wire to wire against the SEC's best, not to pinch him and wake him up from his dream.

It's the NCAA and the WBCA who are having all their dreams come true.

Right now, their product is outdoing the men. It hasn't been just One Shining Moment, but a plethora of upsets and gritty determination that has provided for the most enticing first and second rounds in history.

Roll out the red carpet and sound the trumpets, oh yes, the ladies have arrived.