Straight out of left field | Making the case for women’s basketball

Don't count on it just yet, but there might be post-season basketball on Hawk Hill this year.

What do I mean, you ask? The basketball team is in danger of not even making its own conference tournament.

I'm talking, of course, about the women's basketball team—the best kept secret on campus.

After Sunday's 69-56 win against Duquesne, the women's basketball team will be the fifth seed in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament in early March. If they do well enough (that is, win at least two games and even possibly take the A-10 crown), they have a chance of at least making the WNIT, the first post-season appearance for either St. Joe's basketball program since the 2007-08 men's basketball team made the NCAA tournament and lost to Blake Griffin and the Oklahoma Sooners.

Despite this fact, however, when I go to cover the women's basketball team down at Hagan Arena, I see maybe four or five students, with most of the cheering coming from the band, the cheerleaders, and the players' families.

The biggest crowd of students in recent history came against UMBC during the home opener, a Saturday afternoon game in which the Hawks won by 22 points. Ashley Logue, '10, a senior member of this season's squad, said about the student section, "Our student section was great, everyone supported us. There were a lot of people and a lot of support. I mean, that's the most support I've seen since I've been here, so I want to give it up to them."

Keep in mind, that student section barely filled the bottom half of the center part of the student section, a crowd size that would never be seen at a men's game.

What happened after that game? The student section dwindled. Despite the fact that the Hawks played above .500 basketball for a good amount of the year, still only four or five students showed up to the games. Even when there was a free burrito bar before the game against Rhode Island on February 17, only 10 students showed up.

Not to say that they don't deserve it (because they work just as hard as the women's team), but more students showed up for a men's basketball team that is 10 games under .500 on the year.

Now, I am in no way saying to stop cheering for the men's team, because like I said earlier, they work hard just like every other Division I basketball team does. What I am saying, however, is to at least take a look at the women's team.

Almost every women's game is just as thrilling as the men's games would be. This team can make 15-point runs and score last-second shots just like their male counterparts. Like the men's team, they took a tough Temple squad to overtime (and sadly, like the men's team, they lost) and kept it close with Xavier, who was at that point ranked seventh in the entire nation, just like the men did against then fourth-ranked Villanova.

This team also has depth. Even though they'll be losing some key players this year, the Hawks have younger players like Ashley Prim, '13, and Michelle Baker, '12, to fill the void left by the seniors.

Now I know people will make the case that the women's games just don't fit into their schedule, since many of them take place on weeknights. But think about this: how many times have people made room in their schedules for the men's team? The games last the same amount of time, and are usually just as exciting. Did I also mention that they're free with a student ID? Believe me, these young women would love to hear a few hundred students singing "When the Hawks come flying in" the way the men's team does.

What is sad, though, is that I didn't write this column sooner, since the regular season just wrapped up this past Sunday. However, if the Hawks do happen to make it to a WNIT berth or even and NCAA Tournament berth (if they are very lucky and the bracketology gods smile down upon them) and they're close by, go watch them. If you happen to have one of the players in a class or see them on campus, congratulate them on a good season, just like you would one of the men.

What these young women have done is just as respectable as if the men's team made a postseason tournament, and they deserve as much respect as the men's team does. I'm not asking that the student section end up looking like something out of a Connecticut or Stanford women's game, but I am asking to give this team a chance.

So the next time someone says that St. Joe's basketball isn't so great, make sure to correct him or her and say:

"You're just watching the wrong games."