College basketball fans in the state have been busy this season. They’re either twittering cheap one-liners about college hoops’ new tackling dummy, the Pac-12, hopping on Colorado State’s bandwagon or hopping on and off the Denver Pioneers’. Bandwagons at Northern Colorado and Air Force have long since gone back into the garage.
But the biggest in-state hoops story this season is the Women’s Final Four at the Pepsi Center. For those who watch the women’s game only during the Final Four, don’t feel bad. Here is an update on what you have missed this season and what you should expect to see in Denver on April 1 and 3. (And if you’ve never heard of Brittney Griner, please keep reading.):
The favorites: Baylor (25-0), Notre Dame (24-2) and Connecticut (23-2) are Nos. 1-3 in The Associated Press poll and a long Skyler Diggins trey from the rest of the field.
“Those three, I’d be surprised, it’d be an upset not to see them in Denver,” said Kara Lawson, in her ninth year as a women’s basketball analyst for ESPN.
Baylor has beaten both, albeit at home, and in Griner boasts a 6-foot-8 player who has revolutionized women’s basketball. Forget that she dunks. That’s only part of her repertoire in averaging 22.9 points.
Her big tour de force is she leads the country with 5.4 blocked shots per game and ranks second all time with 533.
“She gets 25 points on the offensive end but also takes away 20, 30 points on the other end,” said Brenda VanLengen, in her 17th year broadcasting Big 12 women’s games. “Look at the defense and what Baylor holds opponents to. They’re so hard to score on.”
Some analysts say Baylor’s weakness is a backcourt that’s a tad younger than Notre Dame’s. But sophomore point guard Odyssey Sims was the national freshman of the year and has played in as many big games as most four-year starters.
“I don’t think they have a knock-down shooter,” said Ceal Barry, Colorado’s all-time winningest women’s coach and a TV analyst for CU men’s and women’s games. “Sims can obviously shoot. But watching them, if somebody plays really good zone for 40 minutes and keeps the ball away from Griner and her away from the basket, I don’t know if they’ll shoot that well from the perimeter.”
Griner has helped Baylor hold opponents to 30.2 percent shooting, second only to UConn’s 29.6 percent. That’s another reason both teams’ fans are perusing B&B’s in the Rocky Mountains in April. UConn, which has lost only at Baylor and at Notre Dame, no longer has national player of the year Maya Moore but may be better on the defensive end.
“They don’t have a player yet that you know the ball is going to go to down the stretch,” Lawton said. “With that said, they’re terrific defensively. As good as Baylor is defensively, UConn’s been better, which is pretty remarkable.”
Added Barry: “They’re the best-coached team in women’s basketball. They may be the best-coached team in collegiate basketball.”
And what of Notre Dame, the only team to beat UConn twice in a row in four years and which lost to Texas A&M 76-70 in last year’s final? Four starters return, including Diggins, a three-year starting guard and social media diva (rap stars are among her Twitter followers) who has helped the Fighting Irish lead the nation in scoring with an average of 82.5 points — although their 21-game winning streak ended Sunday against West Virginia.
“Notre Dame is a veteran team,” Barry said. “They play well together. They have the chemistry deal going. St. Patrick’s Day is always around the Elite Eight and it’s a good motivator. They put shamrocks on their fingernails. They’re rockin’ and rollin’.”
The contender: Fourth-ranked Stanford (22-1) has lost only at UConn and is cruising through a Pac-12 that’s almost as bad as the men’s. Stanford has arguably the best player in the country in 6-2 senior Nnemkadi Ogwumike (averaging 22.1 points and 10.8 rebounds). But the Cardinal also has a freshman point guard, Amber Orrange, who has been up and down — and the team’s first guard off the bench, Lindy La Rocque, is shooting only 26 percent.
“I don’t want to rail on Stanford,” Lawton said, “but a team like Kentucky or Duke, in a one-game situation, could beat Stanford to get to the Final Four.”
The dark horse: Kentucky isn’t just powerful in men’s basketball. Coach Matthew Mitchell has quietly built a women’s powerhouse. In his fifth year, the Wildcats (21-3) are off to their best start and lead the Southeastern Conference by two games.
Of the old standbys — Duke, Maryland, Ohio State — and the new kids on the national scene — Wisconsin-Green Bay , Delaware, Miami — Kentucky might have the best shot at being Miss Cinderella in Denver.
“They play really good defense and are extremely athletic,” Barry said. “They press teams and the SEC is a decent league.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, or jhenderson@denverpost.com
