Has anyone else lost interest in college ball?

[Big Old Booger]

We used to go to those 6 on 6 games also. The atmosphere in those small-town games was incredible. Really unbelievably sexist if you think back on it now, but it didn't dawn on me as a kid.

I'm a big fan of women's basketball too, but it that's just because I think they are amazingly skilled and talented athletes. To each their own.

Oh, I definitely agree they are talented and skilled. Stacey Dales was so fun to watch because of her skills, as is D-Rob and plenty of players in between those 2 (along with Hand, and others on this team).

However, just because they are skilled doesn't mean they are playing above the rim and just relying on 3 point shots and alley-oops. It's more skill and tactician type basketball.

 

[Big Old Booger]

While it was true that a sexist attitude led to the different rules for the boys and girls, the girls and their coaches took advantage of being a specialist in offense or defense and the average player was very skilled in the fundamentals of being a guard or a forward. And the teams enjoyed support that few teams these days can fathom - unless they play in class A or B.

All of my cousins played for a class A or 2A 6 on 6 power at the time at Amber-Pocasset. They made the state finals 3 years in a row and the state tournament something like 7 or 8 years in a row. They were incredible to watch and the games were nailbiters every time.

 

[Tony]

While it was true that a sexist attitude led to the different rules for the boys and girls, the girls and their coaches took advantage of being a specialist in offense or defense and the average player was very skilled in the fundamentals of being a guard or a forward. And the teams enjoyed support that few teams these days can fathom - unless they play in class A or B.

That the girls dedicated themselves to being the best at what they were allowed to do is unsurprising and they should be commended. The notion that girls are incapable of runing the full length of the court is so utterly offensive it frankly boggles my mind that it took until 1995 for Oklahoma to change the rules. Pretty shameful actually. I loved the atmosphere at those games, but I have no nostalgia for the sport itself.

All of my cousins played for a class A or 2A 6 on 6 power at the time at Amber-Pocasset. They made the state finals 3 years in a row and the state tournament something like 7 or 8 years in a row. They were incredible to watch and the games were nailbiters every time.

We've probably been to some of the same games. The problem was when you had one team that was outgunned by the other and the entire game was spent on one half of the court.

 

[Big Old Booger]

That the girls dedicated themselves to being the best at what they were allowed to do is unsurprising and they should be commended. The notion that girls are incapable of runing the full length of the court is so utterly offensive it frankly boggles my mind that it took until 1995 for Oklahoma to change the rules. Pretty shameful actually. I loved the atmosphere at those games, but I have no nostalgia for the sport itself.



We've probably been to some of the same games. The problem was when you had one team that was outgunned by the other and the entire game was spent on one half of the court.

Actually, they changed the rule for the larger classes in the mid 80's because my high school, Chickasha, had just won a 4A state championship before they changed it the next season. I think they put it up to a vote or allowed each class to choose what they wanted to do, and overwhelmingly the small schools voted to stay with 6-on-6 and some large schools, such as Chickasha, voted the same. So, they had a separate class for the large schools that wanted to continue playing 6 on 6. Then, less than 10 years later the large schools all converted to 5 on 5 when they saw the opportunities some of the 5 on 5 players were getting for scholarships. Eventually, the smaller schools wanted their girls to have an opportunity to get scholarships so they switched to 5 on 5 as well.

My dad was one of the people who was very adamant that women should continue to play 6 on 6. I don't think he did it because he was a sexist, because he wasn't, I think it was more due to selfishness because he loved the 6 on 6 game and never thought he would like to watch women play 5 on 5. However, shortly after they switched he became a huge 5 on 5 womens basketball fan and attended OU womens games back when Sherri Coale was still coaching at Norman High school.

 

[Tony]

Actually, they changed the rule for the larger classes in the mid 80's because my high school, Chickasha, had just won a 4A state championship before they changed it the next season. I think they put it up to a vote or allowed each class to choose what they wanted to do, and overwhelmingly the small schools voted to stay with 6-on-6 and some large schools, such as Chickasha, voted the same. So, they had a separate class for the large schools that wanted to continue playing 6 on 6. Then, less than 10 years later the large schools all converted to 5 on 5 when they saw the opportunities some of the 5 on 5 players were getting for scholarships. Eventually, the smaller schools wanted their girls to have an opportunity to get scholarships so they switched to 5 on 5 as well.

My dad was one of the people who was very adamant that women should continue to play 6 on 6. I don't think he did it because he was a sexist, because he wasn't, I think it was more due to selfishness because he loved the 6 on 6 game and never thought he would like to watch women play 5 on 5. However, shortly after they switched he became a huge 5 on 5 womens basketball fan and attended OU womens games back when Sherri Coale was still coaching at Norman High school.

My dad still muses about it from time-to-time as well. He says he liked it because it was "something different." That doesn't make him a sexist, but the fact of the matter is that the entire reason 6 on 6 existed was that people thought girls couldn't run up and down the court. Hard to get around that. Girls should be allowed to play basketball, and we're all better off because they now can.

 

[Big Old Booger]

My dad still muses about it from time-to-time as well. He says he liked it because it was "something different." That doesn't make him a sexist, but the fact of the matter is that the entire reason 6 on 6 existed was that people thought girls couldn't run up and down the court. Hard to get around that. Girls should be allowed to play basketball, and we're all better off because they now can.

Agreed.

However, I don't think they were never "allowed". Now, I'm sure not every girl wanted to play 6-on-6 so some weren't allowed, but I'm pretty sure the OSSAA left it up to the schools to vote and more small schools voted to stay with 6-on-6 than voted to not. Maybe I'm wrong on my facts and the OSSAA said, "no you can't play 5 on 5", but I don't remember it that way. I know we had some parents in Chickasha who were upset their kids weren't playing 5 on 5, but we had some upset who thought they were going to switch to 5 on 5, so it was probably a wash.

I'll also add, back in the early 80's womens basketball on the college or even pro level was nothing like it is now. So, the small town girls/families/coaches didn't see the opportunities they were missing.

 

[Tony]

Agreed.

However, I don't think they were never "allowed". Now, I'm sure not every girl wanted to play 6-on-6 so some weren't allowed, but I'm pretty sure the OSSAA left it up to the schools to vote and more small schools voted to stay with 6-on-6 than voted to not. Maybe I'm wrong on my facts and the OSSAA said, "no you can't play 5 on 5", but I don't remember it that way. I know we had some parents in Chickasha who were upset their kids weren't playing 5 on 5, but we had some upset who thought they were going to switch to 5 on 5, so it was probably a wash.
.

No, your memory is correct. Everyone in my extended family -- who all went to Class A and B schools -- hated when they switched.

 

[Big Old Booger]

No, your memory is correct. Everyone in my extended family -- who all went to Class A and B schools -- hated when they switched.

Which class A and B schools? If you don't mind me asking...

 

[MsProudSooner]

In the latter years of 6 on 6, it was a very high pressure game, with the forwards pressing the guards after every made basket. Most teams had the guards pressure the forwards from the half court line. Contrast that to what you saw in the early 5 on 5 girls games - lots of walking the ball up the court and extremely poor fundamentals. When the people from ther small towns saw that, the kids didn't want to play that game and the fans didn't want to watch it. But, as someone else mentioned, the lure of college scholarships was the tie-breaker, so to speak.

Most of the coaches I knew didn't want to switch because they genuinely liked the coaching and strategies of 6 on 6. Jim Keith went from coaching guys to coaching girls 6 on 6 and thought he'd only coach the girls a couple of years. He coached girls for the rest of his career.

 

[NMSooner'80]

I was a student at OU in 80 and went to all of the games. At the beginning of the year that team was truly awful and had a home loss to the DIII Northern Ohio Polar Bears that was probably worse than this year's Chaminade loss. But Billy did a good job of keeping the team motivated and trying and they did get better as the year went on and set the team up to be a good NIT team the next year (remember that was before the tourney was 64 teams...so that team would have likely been a tourney team today). Let's wait for the year to end before we declare this team being worse than the 80 team...at this point in the year they are pretty similar. Can this team be like the 80 team and continue to try and improve (and steal a couple of home games they shouldn't)...or do they quit like last year's team.

Unfortunately, I also remember the December of '80 home loss to Ohio Northern. I'm just lucky that I'd graduated in May so I didn't see it happen.

I've always wondered how much better the '80-81 team (Tubbs' first at OU) would have been with a healthy Raymond Whitley and an eligible David Little. Little had to sit out that season because of his transfer.

 

[campbest]

Watched three different CBB games last night...great time spent. Can't believe so many people don't like CBB just because OU isn't good. That's ridiculous to me.

 

[mattham4]

I'm among those who have lost a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for a sport that I used to religiously follow.

I fondly remember the days of sitting in the old Municipal Auditorium then Kemper Arena in KC with my dad from 9AM til nearly midnight for 3 straight days watching the NAIA national tournament....I couldn't get enough.

I played in Jr High and HS. I went to OU and went to every home game I could for 5 years (save your comments :ez-laugh: ) from '84-'89.

Yes, the current state of our program has something to do with this but I have to echo Elephantitis' comments regarding the way the game is played these days.

Also, the "one and done" guys have killed the ability for most fans to develop a real passion for individual players (and their teams) as they mature and grow as players and teammates.

Oh yeah, I'm now 43 years old with twin daughters and I finally realized that there's just so much more to life than what I thought for a long time.

 

[ben]

I read somewhere that the godaddy.com bowl had more viewers than any college basketball game this year. So yea...no one cares anymore.

 

[scrybe]

"Never cared for the rest of the college basketball teams besides OU.
I also don't care if we never have a winning season again, I'm still going to watch OU basketball because I love it with a passion."

"Part of following your team is struggling through the down years as well as revelling in the good years. Why does anyone wonder why there aren't more fans in the good years? Well the majority of what few fans we have are only there for the good years."

Those quotes from Sooner918 and gwydion pretty much sum up my feelings about college basketball in general and OU basketball in particular.

Oh, and this to BOB: I'm a huge women's basketball fan, too. But I also enjoy watching the smaller girls play. :ez-laugh:

 

[campbest]

A lot of people mention AAU as a reason they don't like college basketball anymore...my question would be did you like college football in the '80s when programs were openly cheating (like OU was)?

AAU has it's problems, but it migrates mainly to the elite prospects...AAU still does a lot of good for many players. Sometimes I think people concentrate too much on the negative.

 

[campbest]

I read somewhere that the godaddy.com bowl had more viewers than any college basketball game this year. So yea...no one cares anymore.

Not a fair comparison...there are hundreds of bball games a week, there was only one college football game that night and it was in primetime, on a Sunday.

 

[Big Old Booger]

"Never cared for the rest of the college basketball teams besides OU.
I also don't care if we never have a winning season again, I'm still going to watch OU basketball because I love it with a passion."

"Part of following your team is struggling through the down years as well as revelling in the good years. Why does anyone wonder why there aren't more fans in the good years? Well the majority of what few fans we have are only there for the good years."

Those quotes from Sooner918 and gwydion pretty much sum up my feelings about college basketball in general and OU basketball in particular.

Oh, and this to BOB: I'm a huge women's basketball fan, too. But I also enjoy watching the smaller girls play. :ez-laugh:

Sorry Scrybe...I don't follow you?

 

[Crimson King]

In college in the 80s I watched it regularly on a national level and went to as many OU games as possible.
In the 90s my interest waned some except for the tournament.
In the 2000s my focus changed to conference play and I went to as many OU games as possible from out of town.
In the 2010s my interest appears to be NCAA Tournament only.