Few sports writers are as knowledgeable and insightful about women’s basketball as Howard Megdal. While we were both in Bridgeport covering UConn’s run to yet another Final Four, I sat down with him to talk about the women’s game in general, UConn’s greatness and some reporter from Boston.
So you’re here covering the Bridgeport Regional for Excelle Sports…
I’m heading to Bridgeport to cover something that, contrary to whatever Dan Shaughnessy seems to think, didn’t even occur to me for a moment to be bored by. This is, as a sports fan, mind-bogglingly impressive, and as a sports reporter, an incredible story to behold. When I hear people talk about covering Russell’s Celtics or John Wooden’s UCLA team, I’m jealous. They got to experience something new and something elite and something remarkable. What I never heard was the idea that anyone was destroying men’s basketball at the pro or collegiate level because of it.
The idea that dominance itself would be a problem is hard to fathom. If I had seen even one example of that in the history of sports, rather than dominance leading to a higher level of play and greater interest, then maybe I’d feel differently about it.
Yet people do claim to be bored by it, especially since UConn rarely plays close games. From that perspective, is UConn women’s basketball hurting the fan experience?
So there are a couple of aspects to this. One of them is: Why do we watch? We seldom watch because there is a transcendent performer who is redefining the way the game is being played. There’s a reason for that: that doesn’t happen very often. In this case, Connecticut has redefined what is possible in women’s basketball. Again, I wish we had more advanced stats to make this case more persuasively, but I’m utterly convinced that this UConn team is an outlier among UConn teams. I think Breanna Stewart is capable of doing more things on the court than anyone in women’s basketball history, which is just a remarkable thing to say in a world where Elena Delle Donne exists.
This is like watching a basketball team as art. I love art. When I’m at the Met, I am not standing there thinking “my goodness this is not enjoyable for me because there’s not a comparable art museum a block down the road.”
You look at the NBA and you see the Warriors dominating the league, maybe with the winningest team ever. Why is it that when UConn gets the same sort of praise, it comes with this controversy as well?
I think there are plenty of reasons for that, many of them insidious. I think there are a whole host of people in sports media who have gotten along just fine never having to pay attention to women’s basketball. What you can’t do is ignore what UConn has accomplished. You’re going to have to reckon with it in some way. So the only way to reckon with it is to find a way to dismiss it. Otherwise you gotta learn about it, pay attention to it and be versed in it. And if you’re not versed in it, then people are going to pass you by.
And we saw something very similar take place in sabermetrics when it came to baseball reporting. You had no shortage of baseball writers working hard to dismiss the idea that there could be a new, comprehensive, fuller way of looking at this thing by saying, “the eye test is all that matters.” Not giving any credence to the idea that sabermetrics is about combining what you see with the numbers, but trying to make it obsolete before its time. And I strongly suspect that plays a part in trying to dismiss women’s basketball, every bit as much as there is this inherent sexism that limits a person’s ability to see Breanna Stewart do remarkable things.
What is it about UConn that no matter who comes through the door, they’re always competing at the highest level?
It’s a combination of things. One is that Geno is obviously terrific at bringing in recruits, though I suspect that’s an easier case to make 10 championships in. But that being said, it’s not easy and there’s more competition than ever before. Give him credit for making the sale.
But the other component that I have seen is the coaching itself. Geno and the staff, Chris Dailey on down. The net result I think you can best see in Katie Lou Samuelson. Katie Lou this year, when I watched her in November, obviously a world of talent, highly regarded. But a very straight-forward three-point shooter. And I suspected at a lot of programs, four years on, she would have still been a 6’4 three-point shooter that you hoped could be made into a more complete player at the next level. But you look at what she’s able to do now: her defensive intensity, her ability to rebound, her ability to get to the hoop, her outlet passing. So when I hear someone say Geno shouldn’t have gotten coach of the year, and I get that argument, but you look at the gap between even what these players are when they get to Geno and what they are after Geno coaches them, and you’re hard pressed to pick anybody else.
What do other programs or coaches need to do to close that gap between UConn and everybody else?
What’s remarkable about it is the stuff they need to do is expedited by the willingness of Geno and his staff to help. We were talking to [UCLA coach] Cori Close after the Texas game and she kept talking about how when she has questions for how to take UCLA to the next level, she reaches out to Geno. He’s always happy to talk to her. He’s opened practice for her multiple days when she flew into town, just to see how it was done.
Also, where the sport is going is: a whole bunch of really tall, young girls are seeing Elena Delle Donne and Breanna Stewart and they’re going to have guard skills. It’s going to open up a position-less game for the next generation. It’s going to make what they’re doing look normal in a way that Oscar Robertson once did and Magic Johnson once did now looks normal in the NBA level.
What are you going to remember about this group, other than just how freaking good they are?
I feel like my most permanent memories of them are still to come. Spending some time in Indianapolis. Seeing them at the apex. Seeing them winning four in four. It was really striking to me because I was watching the [Elite Eight] games with my daughter and we were watching these women celebrating after going to the Final Four and the coaches in tears and everything. And my daughter, who is six, is becoming a huge Breanna Stewart fan. So she said “are they doing what Breanna Stewart is about to do?” And I said “No, they’re so excited and they have tears in their eyes because they’re getting to be one of the final four teams once. What Breanna Stewart is about to do is become the final one team four times.”
The other thing, and this isn’t going to be a moment, is how accessible and how open they were to growing the game. I was at Nebraska-Connecticut back on Thanksgiving Weekend in Hartford. The game was over and Geno’s just staying out there and he’s doing the giveaways and it’s all said and done and he’s shaking hands and meeting people. And he’s Geno Auriemma! He has 10 championships and he can do whatever he wants. And it’s no different with Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson or anyone else. There was this absolute belief in growing the game. They walk the walk.
So you mention your daughter is a big fan of Breanna Stewart. Is she bored by 60-point games? Is it killing her interest?
It certainly is not. My daughters are enjoying what’s on the screen at any given time and I don’t think that would have occurred to either one of them. They’re too into watching it. But to be frank, it wouldn’t have occurred to me either, sitting there and having a front row seat to what was going on Saturday [when UConn demolished Mississippi State in the Sweet 16].
This week, Howard was appointed Editorial Director of Excelle Sports, a site that focuses on women’s athletics. Check it out. Also, if you’re into baseball, buy his book.
