With half of the national Final Four in Division I women’s basketball being decided yesterday, there’s a fact that blew my mind when it was broadcast.
For the first time since 1985, neither Stanford, Connecticut, or Tennessee made the final eight of the women’s tournament. That’s an amazing figure, given the fact that there has been some diversity in the ranks of who wins the tournament. The winners have included the likes of Baylor, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Purdue, Texas Tech, and Maryland. It hasn’t been the closed club that women’s lacrosse has been since 1991.
Still, the stable and excellent coaching of Tara VanDeveer, Geno Auriemma, and Pat Summitt have turned their respective universities into perennial powerhouses. The coaching staffs didn’t have to do much in order to attract top talent; they were often sought out by players ambitious enough to find the best competitive environment.
But as we’ve been seeing in many college sports, there have been lots of changes in the landscape — COVID-19, the presence of sports betting and NLI deals, and some coaches who have decided to leave, citing lack of institutional support.
It is troubling to ponder; are we going to see an economic elite of sport, with schools like Alabama, Clemson, Penn State, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona State, Oregon, Michigan, and Stanford who are able to raise and spend millions of dollars on intercollegiate sports in any and every endeavor?
Given what we’ve seen in the collegiate world, with some 900 universities in America closing since 1984, it wouldn’t be surprising if a scholarship arms race for top players in every sport has already begun.
