An athlete would prefer to lose a game decisively. That way you can always say to yourself “it just wasn’t our day” or the other team “was the better team that day.” Good on them.
Losing a close game will haunt you for the rest of your life. It hurts. You will replay it over and over again in your mind. “What if” and “if only.” You will always question.
The Arizona women’s college basketball team lost by only one point to the Stanford Cardinal on Sunday in the NCAA Championship game.
The Wildcats played a smothering defense, taking Stanford out of its game and forcing 21 turnovers, including 12 steals. But their dominate defensive effort did not translate into offense on the other end of the court. According to the game stats the Wildcats shot just 17-60 (28.3%) from the field and 13-18 from the free throw line.
Just one more made basket, or two more made free throws, and the Wildcats would be National Champions today.
As Maxwell Smart used to say, “missed it by that much.”
The solace is that no one can now question that the Wildcats did not belong in the Final Four with legendary programs like UConn and Stanford. The Wildcats proved that they belonged. This basketball program has arrived. They toppled mighty UConn and came up just short of toppling mighty Stanford for a National Championship. It was an historic season. These athletes earned respect from the sports world.
This team should be proud of its accomplishments. They have built a foundation for an elite basketball program at Arizona going forward, much the same way that Lute Olson’s much beloved 1987-88 squad built the foundation for the men’s basketball program as an elite program.
As sports writer Greg Hansen says, Wildcats’ title-game loss isn’t the end; it’s the beginning of something big:
As the years pass and coach Adia Barnes, Aari McDonald and UA fans reflect on Sunday’s championship game, they’ll find closure. The hurt will ultimately become past tense. They’ll remember Friday’s stunning upset over mighty UConn and a resounding victory over No. 2 seed Texas A&M.
A banner will be raised at McKale Center. McDonald and her teammates will be measured for Final Four rings.
The ’21 Wildcats will forever be the standard by which future Arizona teams will be measured.