Sometime in the late 1980's, I started paying attention to Texas Tech Lady Raider's basketball. Casually. I did not plan to listen to the games, and just sort of paid attention to the team and results.
As the years progressed, I became more interested, and by the time the Lady Raiders won the national championship in 1993, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_NCAA_Women's_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament http://www.amazon.com/1993-Division-Womens-Basketball-Championship/dp/B000NO2FUQ I was hooked. I even attended the 'welcome home champions rally' at Jones Stadium for the championship team.
But, I did not go to the games. I think the first time I went to a game was in the late 1990's or early 2000's. The games had already moved from the Coliseum to the United Spirit Arena. In 2005, I was going through some life changes, and a dear friend asked me to start going to the games with her. I think she was trying to take care of me. Bless her, it was a good activity for me. I became hooked on going to the games. Since then, there have been some years that I have had season tickets, and some years, I pay as I go, taking advantage of the promotions. Let's face it, the Lady Raiders have not had the best season results and their attendance has dramatically declined, so there are a lot of promotions to try to increase attendance.
Last year, I missed one game due to a medical problem. The year before, I was so disgusted at the uneven performance of the team, I missed attending that last 2 or 3 home games, but I did watch on TV or listen on the radio.
This year, as I did last year, I bought season tickets. I was not going to buy season tickets this year, because, once again, I was disgusted at the results of the team last year. But, as an employee of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, I could get a really good discount, so I bought season tickets. (I think I would have done better to take advantage of the promotions, and buy as you go.)
I do not think Coach Kristi Curry http://www.texastech.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/curry_kristy00.html is the same caliber coach that Coach Marsha Sharp http://www.texastech.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/sharp_marsha00.html was. I question the style of play used by Coach Curry.
When Coach Curry was new, she infused her teams with a lot of junior college players. I questioned this: it does not allow for a real development of team spirit. In the last couple of years, although there may be one or two junior college players on the team, Coach Curry is recruiting and promoting from within. This allows for the team to develop team spirit and gel over the course of several years, as players come and go due to recruiting and graduating.
The other question I have is style of play. Maybe I do not understand changes in the game, but when Coach Sharp ran the team, it was not unusual for one or more players to have a triple double in a game: points, rebounds and assists. I do not think I am wrong in thinking more assists would improve the level of play for the Lady Raiders: as I listen to NBA team announcements, assists is an important statistic, and the more assists, the better the team performance.
Well, because I enjoy Lady Raider basketball, I also watch other women's teams on TV. Just because I enjoy keeping up with what other teams are out their and how they are doing.
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