DENVER -- John Wooden, whose brain has downloaded more basketball information than Napster did music files, believes the women's game, at the collegiate level, is better than the men's game.
The fundamentals are much more sound (free throws are usually made, the backboard is utilized, etc.)
The tattoos are minimal. The players parlay their scholarships into degrees instead of gambling on a one-in-a-million post-eligibility job in the NBA. There is much love and respect for the game.
The team concept is mandatory. Like it was back in the day when UCLA was stockpiling NCAA championships under Wooden.
Maybe the Wizard of Westwood is right. Perhaps the game, in general, is better below the rim.
But not this time of year. When it comes to the postseason, the men have March madness and the women have March mildness.
Until the women's game has enough paying customers and/or sponsors to play the entire tournament on neutral floors, the men's game will continue to overshadow it.
Right now, because fans fill the seats in places like Storrs, Conn., and Knoxville, Tenn., the 64-to-16 process in the women's tournament is played on the home courts of the top seeds.
Which is probably the reason Vanderbilt -- which edged Ceal Barry's Buffs, a top 20 team, 65-59 on its home floor in Nashville during the second round -- was playing top-seeded Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional final instead of Colorado on Monday night at the Pepsi Center. (A wonderful tilt won 72-64 by the Irish in a half-empty gym by the way).
If the Commodores' second-round game would have been played on a neutral floor the Buffs would have advanced to the Sweet 16 and possibly, although Ruth Riley (56 points in the regional) is as good as it gets, the Final Four. At least in my bracket.
"In the first two rounds, the home court team has such a huge advantage," said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, whose team didn't even need showers after bludgeoning Alcorn State (98-49) and Michigan (88-54) in front of the Irish faithful before journeying out West for a fair fight. "We're not quite ready for the neutral sites. I think we really need to work on our fan base."
I disagree. Either all of the rounds should be played at neutral sites, even if it means a Magness Arena instead of a Pepsi Center, or there should only be 32 or even 16 teams invited to the postseason party.
In the first round of the women's tournament this year six lower seeds won. Half of those "upsets" were nine seeds beating eight seeds. Teams that hosted the first two rounds were 29-3. The lowest seed to advance to the Sweet 16 was a 10 when Missouri shocked, and I mean shocked, Georgia in Athens.
Once the games were moved to neutral courts for the third round, two No. 1's -- Tennessee and Duke -- were upset, mildly, by a red-hot No. 4 (Xavier) and a No. 5 (Southwest Missouri State) with the best scorer (Jackie Stiles) in the history of women's college basketball.
No. 6 seed Washington "stunned" No. 2 Oklahoma in the third round -- in Spokane.
Meanwhile, things were madder than Russell Crowe after a Steve Martin wisecrack in the men's tournament. Thirteen lower seeds won in the first round, including a 10 seed, an 11 seed, two 12 seeds, two 13 seeds and a 15 seed.
Was No. 1 UConn's 101-29 victory over Long Island fun for anyone? No chance. Would Hampton have beaten Iowa State in Ames? No chance.
There are a lot of little things that make the women's game better than the men's game. But the big dance isn't one of them.
