If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck...it's probably a Huskie

I'm not a fan of Jim Calhoun. He seems to treat a lot of people like junk. Sure, some of that is just East Coast charm- two of my best friends are from the Northeast and the gruff demeanor is just the way a lot of people are out there...but Calhoun bristles to another level. Plus, he's decided to surround himself with some people that are questionable...from players to parts of the program, the NCAA has had their eye on the Huskies for a few years. Before our Boilers played them in the '09 tourney, we heard a lot about how Robinson didn't attend class after his near transfer for nearly an entire semester...yet remained on campus. And in the last five years, my pals in Big East country have told me numerous times that UConn was filthy...or at minimum extremely unethical.

Well now, it looks like it's official. So what's going to happen?

Well, with the NCAA sniffing around, UConn thought it was a good time for a contract extension for the old man- good move. No matter, he'll be fine...but everyone around him will probably be fired and made an example of.

Give it to 'em NCAA!!!

Same old, same old.

Look Who We Caught On Our Lawn

It's TheUConnBlog! Hey, no, not there! Hey, I just mowed that!

Yes, yes, we know that's how much you respect us... we get it:

Also, they play in the Big 10 conference, which could rightly be described as clown shoes.

Yes, yes, we're not the Big East. Which you didn't win.

You don’t win the Big 10 conference without having some talented, tough players. OK, I don’t really believe that, but at the very least, Purdue creates some match-up problems that UConn will have to contend with.

Interesting half-compliment.

So with that, and my standard “crazy nonsense can happen in one 40-minute basketball game” caveat, I leave you with the words of that great prophet and mediocre utility infielder, Mariano Duncan (or so I am told by our beloved commenters). Let them inspire you.

We play today. We win today. Das it.

Purdue winning would be "crazy nonsense"? Perhaps. This last line almost suggests all they need to do is show up and they can get to work on the game plan for Memphis. Yes, well, don't forget about Missouri. They have a shot.

For the record, the karma Gods are forcing me to give the following caveat: If I’m wrong, it’s not because I jinxed UConn. It’s because Porter found a Chipotle in downtown Glendale.

Indeed. It will not, under any circumstances, be because you were defeated by a Big Ten squad. That's un-possible!

Can you just maybe go over there, in someone else's yard?

No? Ah! That's gross... bad dog!

BAD DOGGIE!!

Peering Into The Windows of UConn

So while doing my usual porn-surfing this afternoon, I decided to look into what UConn blogs are out there and to see if they're giving us any ammunition -- that is, mocking Purdue or taking them ultra-lightly. I didn't necessarily find that yet, but what I did find was, well... take a look.

At UConn Huskies Basketball, they've located a YouTube clip of a Purdue...student, I think. She's surely hot, but I don't think she represents Purdue quite the way we might like to be represented.



"This is Purdue's bell toweerrrrrrrr.... it's kind of like the center of Purdue's campus..."

*wince*

"The rule is you're not supposed to walk underneath it, or you'll fail your next three tests... or something like that...."

*holds head*

At least she sort of knows part of the fight song. And is hot.

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Over at The UConn Blog (imaginative name, by the way -- do you think this guy's kid is named "Son"?) they have a Q&A with Travis from Hammer and Rails (whoever that is).

If you read us at all, you know we are allies with Travis, but I have to give him some ribbing for this exchange... when asked what Purdue's weaknesses were, Travis went with:

Rebounding, Free throw shooting, and general shooting have all been bugaboos at times.

Holy crap! What else is there? If ever you wanted to encapsulate the mind of a Purdue fan, there you go. We may be in the Sweet 16, but we're weak everywhere. (You know we love you, Travis.)

But Their Fundamentals Are So... Fundamental

Do you think one Top 25 team should be able to beat another Top 25 by 53 points? No, we don't think so.

Is a college sport legit when this sort of thing happens with some measure of regularity? No, we don't think so.

You can pretend that Geno Auriemma is a terrific coach and that Pat Summit's 1,000+ wins are just as meaningful as Bob Knight's 902. But you'd be wrong.

As a co-editor of mine once said, it's not a "golden age of women's basketball," it's a golden age of a few teams.

Another Victory for Title IX

It's been a while since I personally made fun of women's sports and it's not something we've done a lot of here at Boiled Sports but hey, they're an easy target so let's have some fun.

The main reason I wanted to comment today about the "sport" of women's basketball is because I saw on Sportscenter last night that LSU had advanced to the Final Four even despite their coach (the unfortunately named Pokey Chapman) having to resign right before the tournament because she was a little too close to some of her former (and possibly current) athletes.

Anyway, what I noticed during the highlights was that it looked like they were playing the game in an empty gym. There weren't just openings in the seats, there were entire sections with nobody in them. In the lower bowl of the arena.

Another thing worth noting was when my mom called me at work a week or so ago and commented that even though the Purdue men's team was out, the women would be on that night. I reacted with my typical apathy towards women's basketball and she said I was sexist and asked how I could act like that.

Again, as I've said many times before, it's got nothing to do with sexism and everything to do with the quality of the game. I go to Yankee Stadium to watch the Yankees and I am far less excited to go to Newark to see the Newark Bears or to Trenton to see the Trenton Thunder. Why? Could it be the quality of the game? The option of seeing the best at their level versus the far-from-the-best? Yes, I think that could have something to do with it.

And I'm not alone. Even though the NBA wants to shove the WNBA down our throats despite the fact that the women's league is a constantly money-losing endeavor, people still have no interest. And it is true at the college level, too. Except for a few places, such as Tennesee, Connecticut, LSU and perhaps even Purdue, practically nobody cares about women's basketball. Want some proof?

Yesterday there were two Elite Eight games in the women's tournament. I'll understand if you didn't even know that. How did those games go? Well, the aforementioned LSU squad beat down UConn 73-50 as UConn shot a sizzling 33% from the floor, including 6 of 20 from three-range. And Rutgers beat Arizona State in a 64-45 rockfight in which the two teams combined to go 37-107 from the field for a combined 35%. How exciting. Seventy -- seventy! -- missed shots in a forty minute basketball game. That's atrocious. The fact that Rutgers is declared the winner after shooting 36% is more of a TKO than an outright victory.

Oh, but I'm a sexist, remember? I'm sure there are many thousands of people who would think me an idiot for these comments and would flood an arena to see regional championship games in the women's NCAA tournament. Right? Well, the attendance was a little over 9,000 people for these games. Oh, combined. Yeah, 6,082 watched the Rutgers-Az St. game and a whopping 3,046 showed up to see the overall number one team in the nation (UConn) play against a team that was trying to go to its fourth straight Final Four.

So the next time you hate on women's basketball and somebody uses UConn and the way they pack the house as an example of how wrong you are, point out how well UConn's fans travel.

Some more images from the excitement that is the NCAA women's tournament:

Holy freakin' hell -- I'm insane!

Look at those fans going nuts! The dude in the red jacket looks like he was just notified that the game ended.

Is this "playing the ball"? Nothing here looks legal. At least there are some fans in the house, though.