UConn and Miss. St. lady hoops

To the surprise of few, Geno's Bambinos, sometimes known as the UConn Lady Huskies, roared through the regular season undefeated in college hoops.

But wait a second. So did Mississippi State. If memory serves, it was that same Miss St. team that knocked off UConn in the national semi-finals last year, ending their record setting (by a long shot) winning streak.

True, in turn MS would get toppled by South Carolina in the finals a couple days later.

[Idle thought. South Carolina teams, at least the men's version, are known as Gamecocks. So how does one apply that to the female teams? Lady Gamecocks is an oxymoron. Lady Game Hens? Huh. Do they come in the cornish variety?]

No doubt both will enter the NCAA tournament as #1 seeds. Sure, there's other worthy teams out there, but UConn and Miss St. would seem to be a cut above all the rest.

Here's hoping the geniuses (committee) that fill out the brackets have the sense to align them so that these two teams can only meet in the finals. And it's entirely possible, perhaps probable, that is exactly how it will play out.

This year's Final Four will be held in Columbus, Ohio. Buckeye country, and roughly about the same distance from UConn and Miss St., so no advantage there.

It's fair to say the Lady Bulldogs (an oxymoron itself) have played a tougher schedule throughout the year, having to wade through the tough Southeastern Conference, which includes South Carolina among others.

Meanwhile, UConn is pretty much in a patsy conference, though they did play several non-conference games against highly ranked opponents.

[Idle thought II. Why doesn't UConn join a more competitive conference? It might just be the big ones, notably the ACC, where they'd geographically fit right in, don't want them there to beat up on their mega-universities.]

I dare say a UConn/Miss St. game is the one lady hoops fans really want to see. Even more so than the men, putting 64 teams into the tournament is overkill. At least 50 of them have no chance, ZERO, of seriously competing for the title. Play a couple games, get some hefty checks for their schools, and be happy with whatever TV exposure they can get. But most of them are cannon fodder going in. This is no big secret, the talking head hype machine aside.

Yours truly has watched a few UConn games this year. Sure, they look pretty good, but not as dominant as in years past. They're beatable.

I have not seen a single Miss St. game, but a 30-0 record pretty much speaks for itself.

If it comes to that, and odds say it will, will UConn avenge their semi-final loss to the same team this year? Maybe. Or will Miss St. have their number again?

One thing's for sure. It would be quite the game. What better than two undefeated teams duking it out for the national championship?

Yes, it's still a month away from possibly happening, but yours truly has but three words to say about such a scenario.

Bring it on.