Pat Summitt

Is it fair to say that women's sports -- not just basketball -- wouldn't be what it is today without her?

 

May Ms. Summit RIP. 64? Way too young.

I admired her from afar because to a kid on the West Coast Knoxville was a long way, but on TV I loved how hard her teams played. (Of course, there was a bit of the UCLA/Duke thing going on where the schools win and keep winning because all the great HS players want to go there, there was a time when UT got all the big recruits.)

 

No doubt one of the pioneers in the post-Title IX era. Not just being in the right place at the right time, but establishing a standard.

 

Maybe she gets credit (or perhaps not) but I recall reading in SI her fielding a male scout squad to battle her varsity team and that likely helped raise the standard for her teams and in turn the NCAA Womens standard.

 

I was trying to hash out a column along these lines this afternoon, but scrapped it because I couldn't quite pull it together. She was one of the ones who helped turn women's basketball into just another brand of the game, which is no small feat. I think in doing that, it also brought other women's team sports like softball and soccer along for the ride in terms of exposure. At the very least, her success at Tennessee helped give a generation of young girls the idea that they could play sports at a high level, even if it didn't lead them to basketball.

 

Every time he checks his bank account, Geno should be saying, "Amen, Pat." Without her, UConn is still a school in cow country.

 

Very sad to hear this news I knew may come sooner rather than later. At my job, I keep a framed photo of her on my desk which helps motivate me when I'm discouraged. I was fortunate enough to meet her after a game when I was a 12-year-old girl. We spoke briefly but I was already mesmerized by her just from watching her courtside, demanding the best from her players. I honestly think I was in college before I realized women's college basketball wasn't more popular than men's. That was 100 percent because of her. She was an inspiration and role model to me, and my dad took me to far more women's games than men's, and I got the message I could do anything, that being a girl wasn't a limitation. Thank you for that, Pat. She did so much for women's sports, but she also did so much for girls who didn't play but saw what she did.

 

One thing that somewhat surprises (and disappoints) me is that after the dominance of Tennessee (followed by UConn) that there is still such a gap between the elites and everyone else. I would have thought that by now there would be a little more parity in the women's game.

 

First step would be cutting down the number of scholarships for each team, but that's probably not happening.

 

Along the lines of what ms. place wrote. Pat had a knack for connecting with anyone, it seems.

http://bos.gl/BXHyHPC

 

Not sure if the talent pool is so deep that would allow a BKW version of Butler, George Mason or Valpo to rise through the ranks. It's a perfect storm of TV money and Title IX that's made the women's game the domain of the Power 5.

 

Except that UConn is in none of those five leagues.