Irish, UConn add a little Taurasi to their rivalry
One of the biggest reasons Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi is one of my favorite WNBA players is because she's got some edginess to her.
She's got layers. She's compelling. She's often unfiltered, and unapologetic about it. She's real.
Female basketball players at the college and professional levels tend to be classy and sportsmanlike and they generally stay out of the headlines for brash or inappropriate behavior. And while that's good and noble and a positive example for our kids, sometimes it can be a tad...boring. Yes, I said it.
Taurasi, who speaks her mind, who sometimes showboats or argues with referees and who sometimes plays the role of antagonist, isn't unclassy. But she isn't always perfectly behaved either. And that's ok.
I like it that Taurasi isn't boring.
For the record, I'm not saying that women's basketball is boring. It just could use some spice sometimes.
Like Sunday's game between perennial powers Connecticut and Notre Dame. That annual grudge match suddenly and unexpectedly went from entertaining at the usual level to downright titillating.
It was a bit Taurasi-ish, if you will.
Have you heard about all the crazy drama from this game, which pitted then-No. 2 Connecticut against then-No. 1 Notre Dame, the defending national champion? Notre Dame hosted this rematch of last year's national semifinal, in which the Irish ousted Connecticut from the Final Four with an amazing buzzer-beating game-winner by guard Arike Ogunbowale.
Things got a little chippy this time around as Connecticut, now the No. 1 team in the country, began to put the finishing touches on its 89-71 win in South Bend.
Ogunbowale picked up a technical foul as well as an unsportsmanlike foul, one of which came after she directed comments to the Connecticut bench, reportedly in the direction of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma.
She tweeted that Auriemma had said something to her.
And speaking of Tweets, former Connecticut star Breanna Stewart showed through a Tweet snapshot on Wednesday that Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw, three days after her team's loss to Connecticut, suddenly blocked her on Twitter.
Ummmm. What?
The block seems inexplicable since Stewart has not tweeted anything about McGraw. But of course, Stewart is arguably the best player in Connecticut history, got many victories against Notre Dame and won Connecticut four NCAA titles while she was in college.
Perhaps McGraw wanted to completely, and I mean completely, "de-UConn" herself after that loss?
Not sure, but Stewart's tweet about being blocked by McGraw set off a Twitter firestorm among fans of women's basketball and particularly between UConn and Notre Dame fans, who certainly have no love-loss for each other.
Some people called McGraw unclassy. Most were gleefully pointing out that Stewart has more national titles than McGraw. All seemed to be enjoying the banter.
Isn't social media fun?
Isn't a little Taurasi fun?
Classiness is good. Decorum is fine. Sportsmanship is an expectation, of course. But women's basketball needs a little edginess every now and then, too. It keeps the sport, just like men's sports, fresh and captivating...and talked about.
Money troubles: The next Summer Olympics is less than two years away so it will be interesting to see what happens to USA Gymnastics in the wake of its filing this week of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The organization is trying to restructure as it is faced with nearly $75 million to $150 million (and quite likely more) in lawsuits related to the sexual abuse scandal involving former team doctor Larry Nassar, who assaulted gymnasts under the guise of performing medical treatments and therapies.
In legal filings, USA Gymnastics cites between only $50 million to $100 million in assets.
What also doesn't bode well for USA Gymnastics is that Michigan State, which also employed Nassar, has paid out $500 million to settle lawsuits related to the scandal.
pbabcock@dailyherald.com
Follow Patricia on Twitter: @babcockmcgraw