All you need to do is look at the way the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are structured to know there’s still a long way to go for true gender equity in college sports.
The men play all rounds at predetermined neutral sites. In the early rounds of the women’s tournament, the top-seeded teams play at home.
Whatever the reasons are for this, it should be the same for both.
Regardless, it didn’t bother the Ole Miss and Miami women’s teams, as the Rebels and Hurricanes both knocked off No. 1 seeds playing at home in the second round.
Mississippi beat Stanford 54-49 on the Cardinal’s homecourt at Maples Pavilion on Sunday.
Then, Miami advanced by edging Indiana 70-68 at the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, where the Hoosiers play their home games on campus, on Monday.
Miami happened to beat Indiana in the second round of the men’s tournament, too — the day before. But that game was played at a neutral site, in Albany, N.Y.
This is just the second time in the history of the women’s tournament (which started in 1982) that two No. 1 seeds lost before the Sweet 16, and the first time in 25 years.
Two of the men’s No. 1 seeds this year — Purdue and Kansas — also lost in the first two rounds last week.
But this is the fifth time more than one top seed was tripped up on its way to the Sweet 16 in the men’s tourney, going back to 1981.
That was four years before the tourney expanded to 64 teams; DePaul and Oregon State both lost after first-round byes. (Stanford seems to be in the misery-loves-company camp: In the other three occurrences before this year, the Stanford men were twice one of the two No. 1s to exit early.)
The total of four No. 1 seeds to lose this year in the men’s and women’s tournaments are the most combined to fall before the round of 16.
There is a surviving top seed that looks invincible. The South Carolina women are unbeaten and defending national champions.
The Gamecocks are reminiscent of a certain golfer at his peak. Remember when the question was if you would bet on Tiger or the field?
A friend who has watched very closely for a long time says to be careful before drawing conclusions about the women’s game being significantly more balanced now because two No. 1s fell early.
“Each year there seem to be more quality teams, yet all of the women’s Sweet 16 are from major conferences, including the Big East, whereas five of the men’s 16 are from non-majors,” says Frank Mauz, a retired community college math instructor and part-time sportswriter. “I got excited about Florida Gulf Coast after seeing them win twice here and studying their history.”
The 12th-seeded Eagles, of the Atlantic Sun Conference, knocked off No. 5 seed Washington State 74-63, in the first round, before losing 76-57 to No. 4 seed Villanova on Monday at Finneran Pavilion.
And yes, in anticipation of your next question, Finneran Pavilion is Villanova’s homecourt. It’s probably not worth 19 points, but still, not fair to the visitors.
The other side of that is new attendance records during the first and second rounds, according to the NCAA.
“For sure, overall, women’s basketball, like golf, is getting more attention,” Mauz says.