Women’s Championship Guarantees a Title Change

Looking for a “team of destiny” in this 2005 women’s NCAA tournament? There still are two choices.

Both Michigan State (33-3) and Baylor (32-3) are playing tonight in their first title games. Neither team has lost since January, the Bears having won 19 in a row, the Spartans 17. Both have green as the dominant color in their uniforms.

And they are teams that, until their current coaches arrived five years ago, were never part of the national picture in women’s basketball.

“Both teams, at this point, are teams of destiny, equally so,” Michigan State Coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “They’re both great stories.”

Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson said, “Players see now that they don’t have to go all across the country just to [be on a championship team]. And that’s good for women’s basketball. Parity is good for any sport, but it’s especially good for our sport right now.”

That remains to be seen. The TV audience is used to seeing either Tennessee or Connecticut --or both -- in the final.

And then there are the thousands of ticket-buyers from Louisiana State and Tennessee who watched their teams getting eliminated on Sunday. Are they still in town? Will they show up for tonight’s game?

A well-played game would help as a selling point for future matchups. So would a high-scoring game. And since both teams average in the 70s, a showcase on offense is possible.

But the difference in winning or losing a title game usually is defense. And each team has a signature style.

Michigan State will stay almost exclusively in its matchup zone, trying to seal up the inside games of All-American Sophia Young and Steffanie Blackmon while not giving Baylor guards Chameka Scott and Chelsea Whitaker too many open three-point looks.

“They are very good post players,” said Spartan center Kelli Roehrig of Young and Blackmon. “They work very well together. So it’s going to be a great matchup. It should be a very interesting game in the frontcourt.”

Baylor depends more on man-to-man defense, although the Bears have to keep Michigan State guards Kristin Haynie and Lindsay Bowen, or forward Liz Shimek from getting a hot hand. Baylor also has to keep Shimek and Roehrig from controlling the rebounds.

“They look pretty physical,” Blackmon said of the Spartan frontcourt. “Roehrig is a big, wide body, and Shimek is a pretty physical player. We’ve got to see what their strengths are and guard them toward their weaknesses.”