Bella Buckeye: Mr. Massie, Bring on the Blue Devils

I wanted to let you know that the Lady Ohio State Buckeyes will play the Lady BLUE DEVILS on December 3, 2009.  The blue demon basketball would be DePaul University in Chicago, IL, you know in the Big East that was 10-6 last season?

At any rate, I think the Big Ten / ACC Challenge was the best thing that could possibly happen for the Big Ten.  The women’s challenge has only been around since 2007 and I realize the record for the first year the Big Ten was 7-15 and the second 4-7.  But hello?! It is the Atlantic Coast Conference. One of the best there is.  I would not be at all surprised if those ladies’ basketball teams could take on a few of the Big Ten men’s teams.

Mr. Massie, of course the Big Ten will not catch a break as long as they play the ACC.  But isn’t that the whole point?  You know, I’m not a coach, nor have I never been coached on an athletic team for a season.  But doesn’t practice make perfect?  Well let’s not say perfect.  Let’s say practice make better season records.  In the 2008-09 season, the Big Ten women’s basketball standing resulted in five teams with a losing record within the conference and a four teams with a losing record overall.  And wouldn’t you know that stood true for the ACC women’s standing too?

Let’s say practice makes more NCAA tournament appearances.  Big Ten’s 5 women’s team appearances to ACC’s 6.

Let’s say practice brings the Big Ten and the lady Buckeyes more recruits, more excitement about the women’s program.  The ACC plays a different caliber of basketball.  They always have.  The tradition for Duke basketball rivals OSU football.  Maybe we need to get people hype about the Lady Buckeyes more often, I mean they do go further than the boys do in the NCAA tourney, I’m just sayin’.  Part of it for the women’s teams, I would have to imagine, is the year round support they get in comparison to the Big Ten.  As I recall, the UNC v. OSU basketball game did not generate a large crowd.  Yes, the Bucks lost by 11pts.  The first half of that game was amazing; they gave the Tar Heels a run for their money (until they took it to the bank).  But maybe no one really showed up to support the lady Bucks because no one really knew about it.  Mr. Massie, can you speak to the Dispatch about that?

So, the moral of my rant today is: Practice with the ACC Challenge makes sense, because the Big Ten needs to work on being perfect so we can hang with other conferences like the SEC.  Bring on them Blue Devils.

Mr. Massie, I’ll be happy to take your ticket for the Dec. 3 match up in Durham, NC at Cameron Indoor, I’d love to see the Lady Buckeyes take on some real competition with a real crowd.