By Jared Lloyd
Nothing excites me more than a good, hard game of basketball. I love watching the players drain the threes, drive the lane, go man-to-man and crash the boards.
BYU''s most successful basketball team last year is excelling at these elements once again, but to very little fanfare.
Consider this: last year the men''s team was 18-12 and lost in the second round of the NIT to Memphis. They played in front of an average of 8,630 fans in the Marriott Center.
The women''s team finished 24-9 and knocked off 6th-seeded Florida and 3rd-seeded Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament before falling to the 2nd-seeded Tennessee Volunteers in the Sweet 16. Yet the team rarely saw more than a few hundred fans supporting them at home.
Will last year''s success translate into more support from the home crowd?
'We had more people at the exhibition game than we had at most of the games last year,' women''s head coach Jeff Judkins said. 'We''re excited about our marketing and getting people to come support the team.'
I went to my first women''s basketball game in February of 2000. Melanie Pearson, a transfer from UCLA and the first player off the bench last year, knew how much I love the game and encouraged me to come watch the women play.
I''ll admit, I came with low expectations: no dunks, no alley-oops, no excitement, right? Boy, was I wrong!
First of all, I got the best seat I''ve ever had at a basketball game. I was courtside, so close that I could yell at the refs, cheer for the players and feel like they could hear me.
Second, these women can play basketball! The games reminded me of watching the old Princeton offense. At first glance, it doesn''t appear glamorous, but the poetry in motion becomes riveting.
'Fans who come to the games will get a great seat,' Judkins said. 'They''ll also see some good team basketball and hopefully some excitement.'
Since that first game, I''ve become an avid supporter of our women on the court. In many ways, I feel they play a more pure game. Sure, they can score, but the game is a lot more for them.
'I''ve seen you guys can shoot but there''s more to the game than shooting,' Coach Norman Dale said in the classic basketball movie, Hoosiers. 'There''s fundamentals and defense.'
The women don''t rely on individual athleticism to win, but instead focus on those fundamentals: passing, rotation, using the glass, rebounding, and defense. It''s enthralling basketball.
'Our games are just as exciting as the men''s games,' guard Erin Thorn said. 'Fans need to come out and see that for themselves.'
No matter how you look at it, these players deserve the support of the university. They deserve to have thousands of fans screaming, cheering and urging them on.
So I pass on the invitation that Pearson gave to me: if you really love the game of basketball, come to the Marriott Center and support the women. All they want is a chance to make you a believer.