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Forum nameOkay Sports
Topic subjectWNBA players vs Men
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2696965
2696965, WNBA players vs Men
Posted by auragin_boi, Thu May-23-19 05:04 PM
I could have sworn we had a discussion about this a while back:

https://sports.yahoo.com/wnba-teams-routinely-dominate-allmale-practice-squads-180743957.html

Joe Twitter might sound tough when he’s making bold proclamations about women’s basketball online, but put him on a court and he’ll get dominated. WNBA teams routinely square off against all-male practice squads during practice, and the women are much better than the men, according to Natalie Weiner of SB Nation.

All-male practice squads are the norm in the WNBA. Teams are not allowed to have women on the practice squad because those teams could use the squad to develop future players.

The men on the Connecticut Sun practice squad are well aware of all the criticism that gets lobbed at women’s basketball online, but they know it’s all completely false.

“I just laugh,” says 30-year-old Garvin McAlister, who is an assistant coach at Post University, a DII school in Waterbury. He’s been on the Sun practice squad for years, and knows better than most just how implausible those online claims to on-the-court dominance really are. “I’m like, ‘You will get killed, what are you talking about?’”

For some members of the practice squad, that feeling doesn’t exist initially. Wes Murphy — who has been a member of the squad since college — said he was surprised at how good the women were during his first practice with the team. Murphy said the women could tell you what they were going to do on the court, and there was no way to stop them.

Jason Pelham, who was trying out for the Sun practice squad, still gets grief from the high schoolers he coaches because he played against the UConn women’s team in practice while in college, as Weiner explained.

“I’ll tell them, ‘Alright, you guys laugh, but one of these girls could come in here and beat every last one of you,” he says. “Any DI women’s player is extremely fundamentally sound, and that’s where you can get easy points and take advantage of people. You kind of have to humble yourself, put your pride aside and realize these are the most talented women basketball players in the world.”

Given that trolls will be trolls, the ignorant and stubborn comments about women’s basketball are unlikely to stop. For some, the only way to get them to reverse course would be to get them on a court with a WNBA player.

Based on the comments from the Sun practice squad players, that might not end well for the trolls.
2696966, Super excited for the usual suspects to weigh in on this!
Posted by Frank Longo, Thu May-23-19 05:15 PM
Yeah, anyone who thinks they could give a WNBA player that work is an absolute maniac. Anyone who thinks that should watch a D1 girl's team play against a practice squad of routinely bigger and faster dudes (and *all* of the major conference teams absolutely do this for obvious reasons), and their preconceptions will be shattered, because they won't just out-finesse the dudes-- they're happy to try to get physical too. Women don't get to that level of their sport by fucking around.
2697005, I wud be an WNBA all stah n I cud beet up Rhonda Rousy!
Posted by DJR, Fri May-24-19 08:32 AM
2697001, RE: WNBA players vs Men
Posted by PimpTrickGangstaClik, Fri May-24-19 06:44 AM
http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2618760&mesg_id=2618760&listing_type=search
2697003, Definitely not the same thing...
Posted by ThaTruth, Fri May-24-19 07:27 AM
>http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2618760&mesg_id=2618760&listing_type=search
2697007, Nah, I feel like it was posed as could YOU/avg dudes
Posted by auragin_boi, Fri May-24-19 08:45 AM
beat a WNBA team.

I might look for the post if I find some time.
2697020, RE: Nah, I feel like it was posed as could YOU/avg dudes
Posted by PimpTrickGangstaClik, Fri May-24-19 09:35 AM
http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2469406&mesg_id=2469406&listing_type=search#2469548
2697030, RE: Nah, I feel like it was posed as could YOU/avg dudes
Posted by ThaTruth, Fri May-24-19 10:22 AM
>http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2469406&mesg_id=2469406&listing_type=search#2469548


http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2469406&mesg_id=2469406&listing_type=search#2469609
2697028, The amount of respect women basketball players get from
Posted by Marauder21, Fri May-24-19 10:17 AM
actual men who actually play professional basketball is all you need to know.

The hate mostly comes from internet randos who peaked in 9th grade.
2697032, Ha, yup. It was the same way in high school though
Posted by DJR, Fri May-24-19 10:25 AM
I remember kids talking shit trying to aggravate the girls, like “girls can’t play basketball.” It was never the guys on the team saying that stuff. It would be some volleyball player or something who was a pickup hoops scrub, but thought he was doing something because he could grab the rim.

I think where a lot of people get confused in these discussions is they think their little 3 on 3, 1 basket games at the side basket of the Y is “basketball.” There’s average guys who play pickup who could probably use their height and strength to get buckets in that context. They couldn’t actually step on the court with high level women players and play real 5 on 5 full court basketball effectively though.