Minnesota's Final Four hosting was a slam-dunk, highlighting women's game
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Loading... - Alban Dupont
- 11 Apr 2022
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The NCAA Women's Division I Final Four basketball tournament successfully concluded in the Twin Cities last weekend and could not have been better if they had planned it.
No offense intended to the actual Minnesota Sports and Events (MNSE) planners who, along with 1,000 volunteers, made the event run smoothly, but many of the highlights and story lines that made last weekend special were unique to Minnesota and could not have been anticipated.
Major sporting events are scheduled years in advance to allow for planning and preparation. So, while the planners knew that this year's tournament would celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX, they could not have known that the event would mark the return to the Twin Cities of a major event since the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd.
The planners could not have predicted that this year's final would feature back-to-back Associated Press Player of the Year recipients on opposing teams. And they certainly could not have predicted that one of those players, UConn sophomore point guard Paige Bueckers, would be returning to her home state.
Bueckers won the award her freshman year, and this year's award went to South Carolina's Aliyah Boston.
Although the Connecticut Huskies were outmatched by the South Carolina Gamecocks, who won handily 64-49, Bueckers dazzled the fans at Target Center with her play-making wizardry.
Planners could not have known that Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve would have been named coach of the U.S. women's Olympic team. Nor could they have anticipated that the two coaches facing off in the final – Geno Auriemma of Connecticut and Dawn Staley of South Carolina – are the two prior Team USA coaches who won the most recent Olympic gold medals, Staley in 2021 in Tokyo, and Auriemma in 2016 in Rio. Read More...
