In women’s basketball, a sense of mission is still alive as game grows

SPOKANE, Wash. — During a recent press conference, UCLA women’s basketball head coach Cori Close referred to LSU star guard Flau’Jae Johnson as a pioneer.

The designation seemed a bit odd. You typically think of a pioneer as an older warrior who has helped clear forests and take down barriers. Johnson is only 21.

But Close was making the point that her praise for Johnson was not just about her basketball talent but the role she has played in moving the women’s game forward. Johnson is a dynamic player, an aspiring rapper and an entrepreneur who is bringing attention to the women’s game in multiple ways.

“Talk about someone who’s been great for the game,” Close said. “I just really admire how she’s juggled all the different things that she does in life let alone on the court.

“Someone 10, 12 years ago couldn’t do what Flau’Jae is doing. The landscape was different. She’s doing a great job of saying, ‘Hey, what’s different, and how do I fit? And how do I move it forward?’ She’s doing a great job. Our game is better off for it.”

As the NCAA celebrates its 43rd women’s basketball championship this weekend in Tampa, Florida, the ceiling continues to get higher, and the depth of talent widens.

For many casual fans, last season may have been a tipping point in popularity for the women’s game. Indeed, last year at this time the nation was obsessed with the phenomenon of Caitlin Clark, the University of Iowa superstar. For two seasons, Clark singlehandedly led Iowa to national prominence. More often than not, however, the conversations around Clark became debates, not about basketball skills, but about the sociology of her significance as a white female superstar in a sport often dominated by women of color. Was she overrated? Given preferential treatment? Did she receive outsized attention from the national media?

A year later, with Clark in the WNBA, the conversation in women’s college basketball has been about basketball and about the number of outstanding players in the game.

Even with USC’s JuJu Watkins being knocked out of the tournament due to a torn ACL, the game’s star power is pronounced. Whether it’s Johnson at LSU, Paige Bueckers at UConn, Lauren Betts at UCLA, Hannah Hildalgo at Notre Dame or the continued dominance of South Carolina, this generation of players has reinforced a strong foundation.

“The reality is that we want to leave things better than we found it,” Close said. “And the reality is, the gap is bigger in our game, but it’s less big now.”

For all the talk about the depth and growth in women’s basketball, what attracted me to it is that it possesses a major quality the men’s game lacks: a consistent and pronounced sense of mission. That mission has been the foundation of the women’s game for decades as it continues to fight for respect and cultivate its audience.

There was a time when the NCAA would not be bothered with overseeing women’s athletics. Just as there has a been a long meandering history in this country of women fighting for equal rights, there has been a long struggle for women at the intercollegiate level to form associations that would facilitate athletic competition.

From 1971 to 1982, the AIWA (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) governed women’s athletics and held championships. When the well-funded NCAA saw that women’s sports — especially basketball — could become profitable, the association began sponsoring women’s championships.

After a prolonged fight with the NCAA, the AIWA went out of business in 1982.

After her team defeated LSU on Sunday to reach the Final Four, Close, 53, gave reporters a quick history lesson. She pointed out that while this was UCLA’s first trip to the Final Four under the auspices of the NCAA, in 1978 UCLA won the AIWA national championship.

More than 35 years later, the struggle for equality continues. The inequities burst into the open as recently as the 2021 NCAA tournament. Sedona Prince, an Oregon player at the time, posted a video showing a small rack of weights reserved for the women at the San Antonio site compared to a fully appointed gym provided for the men in Indianapolis.

The contrasting images sparked national outrage and underscored the lack of investment and attention from NCAA executives.

Subsequent changes attempted to address the discrepancies. But the most important outcome is that the controversy intensified a sense of mission in a younger generation of players.

“I hope we never lose that,” Close said. But she acknowledged that prosperity could dilute that sense of mission. “As more money comes in, that’s always the challenge. I want these women to have financial opportunity. I want them to be able to take control of their own entrepreneurship. But I also don’t want us to lose the pieces of character and the pieces of integrity, the pieces of mission, the pieces of affecting your community.

“It becomes very shallow very fast when you let the finances take over.”

Connecticut’s legendary head coach Geno Auriemma said that he has similar concerns about how positive shifts within collegiate athletics, especially the proliferation of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money, could change the character of women’s basketball. Connecticut defeated USC on Monday to earn its 24th Final Four appearance.

Auriemma said he frequently talks to friends who coach in the men’s game. He asks them how many of those players come to college to try to win a national championship?

“Not many,” he said. “They’re coming to prepare for their next gig, they’re coming to grow their brand, and yeah, it would be nice to win a national championship. That’s third.”

In the women’s game, Auriemma said the motivation has been different.

“I think mostly on the women’s side, because the lure of money has not been there for so long, the goal, the mission was, ‘I want to win a national championship,’ ” he said.

“Well, little by little you can see it starting to gravitate toward ‘I’m here to build my brand.”

Auriemma pointed out that the transfer portal is filled with thousands of players chasing the next thing and, now that there’s money available, chasing the money.

“If you’re not careful the money becomes more important to you than actually trying to accomplish something great,” he said.

The sense of mission in the women’s game is still very much alive because there are still steep mountains to climb. The game is stronger in the post-Caitlin Clark era and continues to liberate itself from comparisons to the men’s game.

The sense of optimism for UCLA’s Close is that a generation of young players has taken the torch and collectively accepted the challenge of leveling the playing field.

“In order to change something, you got to have unity. You got to have momentum. You got to have purpose and vision for what’s next,” Close said. “Without real good vision, people perish. You just can’t do it on your own.”