The LPGA Championship: Past, present and future

So there was this important women’s golf tournament this past weekend. Got big crowds and terrific local media coverage, and since it’s a major championship, you surely must have heard all about it, right?

Unfortunately, probably not. Unless you’re a committed fan of women’s golf, it was easy to miss it entirely. The LPGA Championship – which dates back to 1955 – was contested in Pittsford, N.Y., in the greater Rochester area. American Cristie Kerr torched the field for the second major championship of her career.

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Ace and Ice, on the sidelines

This can happen at the Final Four, or maybe any “big event” that finishes your season-long coverage: You might overlook the most obvious story because it is so completely obvious.

Such was almost the case in Tampa in 2008 as I was tossing around ideas for what to write as the championship-game preview. Then I realized, 0f course, that the story was Candace Parker and Candice Wiggins, the two seniors who had led their teams to this Final Four and had been largely responsible for ending different types of “droughts” in their respective programs during their careers.

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The Pat and Geno convo

OK, we’ll try this again, hopefully a more to-the-point entry on this topic. This blog, of course, is kind of like my “journal.” It doesn’t have an editor other than me, and editing your own work can be a tricky proposal.

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An ‘outsider’ view of the Hall of Fame

In the so-called inner circles of women’s basketball – just like in the inner circles of anything else – there is often an understandable reticence to voice any criticism of anything that is universally regarded as a “good cause.”

Certainly, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame falls under that category. The sport’s history is deeper, richer and more bountiful than most people realize or even think about. Much of it was not covered by the media – and even today, we know there’s still a deficit  in that regard. So there is a need to as much as possible have the past chronicled retroactively, if you will. And a museum/hall of fame can lead the way in that.

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Post-HOF visit quick hits

*-In regard to the question of how the proposed conference realignments might affect the entirety of women’s college basketball …  I do have some thoughts and also have asked coaches for theirs. But I’m waiting to see how much more movement there will be first before I write about it. We know there might be a lot.

*-I also have many thoughts on the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and its induction weekend – how it can be better and more fan-inclusive. Those will be coming up, too.

*-Sorry to see things apparently not working out for Plenette Pierson in Tulsa, where there seems to be a personality clash with coach Nolan Richardson. It’s a shame for the Shock, because Pierson when utilized correctly is a very valuable player.  If I had been Richardson, I would have worked really hard to understand Pierson and the best way to motivate her and communicate with her. Bill Laimbeer was able to to it.

*-What an odd situation for some WNBA teams to be in … surely those who are struggling want to improve … but the silver lining to losing this season is that it increases a franchise’s odds in the Maya Moore sweepstakes.

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The Big 12 falls apart a little more

Here at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction weekend in Knoxville, Tenn., I chatted with former Maryland coach Chris Weller, who is in this year’s class.

She acknowledged she hadn’t given much thought to how the ongoing various conference realignments would impact women’s basketball. But she looked completely  stunned when asked about the potential of Maryland being wooed away from the ACC to the Big Ten, which is one of the many, many, many rumors that have been put forth.

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If Big 12 breaks up, fans support is one of the legacies

As we keep moving closer to what more and more appears to be the eventual end of the Big 12, it struck me how pragmatic I’ve felt about the whole thing.

It’s really the only logical way to feel in regard to something about which you have no input and no control. But I think one of the big reasons I’ve looked at it like, “Whatever happens, happens,” is that I’ve gone through the breakup of the newspaper industry (which is still in progress) and realize there’s not much to do when certain big changes come except to figure out how to adapt to them.

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Tune in today for ‘Spoon and Sylvia

I’ll be headed to Knoxville, Tenn., later this week for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. In getting ready for that, we’ll talk to one of the inductees, Teresa Weatherspoon, on “She’s Got Game” today from 1-2 p.m. Central time.

T-Spoon is now coach at Louisiana Tech, where she won an NCAA championship as a player in 1988. She will be joining Brenda VanLengen and me at 1:15.

Then at 1:45, we’ll talk with the Chicago Sky’s Sylvia Fowles, who’s gotten hot and has helped her team heat up, too.

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Is the Big 12 really near the end?

What’s been going on with the Big 12 schools being potentially “wooed” by the Big Ten, Pac-10 or both has reminded me somewhat of a high school dance. You know, where everyone’s broken off into their little cliques, but there are emissaries (admittedly, too grand a word) who are flitting around between the groups and passing on messages.

A lot is lost in translation, of course. And then there’s giggling, posturing, goofiness, embarrassment, shyness, bravado and general misunderstanding. And many rumors started.

So far, various media reports have suggested several possibilities that mean the end of the Big 12 as we’ve known it since 1996. Including a breakup of the eight schools that previously formed the Big Eight.

The most recent came Thursday in the midst of the Big 12 meetings here in Kansas City and at least seemed pretty serious: Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado being invited to the Pac-10. We’ve also heard Missouri, Nebraska and Texas all mentioned as targets of the Big Ten.

Like what might happen with a bunch of hormonally-charged but socially awkward adolescents at a dance, there may ultimately be more smoke than fire here. But … there also may be the possibility that we’re seeing the end of the Big 12.

Obviously, as everyone knows (and I’ve written before), the impetus of any such changes has absolutely nothing to do with women’s sports, or even with most men’s sports. Football drives all conference realignments, and everything else – even men’s hoops – is pretty much just along for the ride.

That said, it’s notable that once again – no surprise – the Big 12 led all conferences in women’s basketball attendance this past season. That was for the 11th year in a row, with average attendance for 2009-2010 games at 5,247 _ pretty far ahead of the second-place SEC (4,005).

First in home attendance in the Big 12 was Iowa State (9,316) and fourth was Baylor (7,209). These are schools that have been portrayed as “orphans” – at least temporarily – along with Kansas and Kansas State after the Big Ten and Pac-10 complete their respective raids (if, that is, any of this occurs.)

What is going to happen to women’s basketball attendance at the current Big 12 schools if the league is broken up? And what about the fact that Baylor has positioned itself as one of the more elite programs in the country, capable of contending regularly for the Women’s Final Four? Will Baylor be able to maintain that status if the school ends up in what’s perceived as a “lesser-tier” conference?

Right now, it’s still all about waiting and watching and, frankly, worrying. Because the stakes are high, and the landscape could change in a way that would dramatically impact women’s basketball.

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Oregon State mess a sad study in power dynamics

Here’s a tale from Tuesday night that will seem not to have anything in the slightest to do with the Oregon State/LaVonda Wagner fiasco. But, in a roundabout way, it really does.

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