I compare her game to Kareem in his UCLA days as Lew Alcindor in this sense. Shaq and Wilt have said that they should be judged on impact instead of their abilities. One being, did they change the rules due to their dominance. Rule changes? There will be one like the 10 sec. time-line for women. But I don't think the dunk will be outlawed? With her and her team going 40-0. Something has got to give or maybe they will accept her dominance as well as her team? "Sports Century" did a feature on Wilt Chamberlain. It discussed why his team lost concerning that North Carolina played the same way of defense but a 2-3 zone and his teammate, guard, Maurice King, couldn't hit that mid-range shot. The big girl showed her small girls how!
She has a leadership that you don't see in dominant centers then or now. Its quiet but very effective. For instance in that Stanford game, her teammates had open shots due to her opponents all surrounding her in a umbrella man/zone defense. Her teammates started pressing by missing easy open shots from mid-range distance. At open point, they missed something like four in a row. Well, Brittney goes outside and the Stanford defense lets her shoot. She hits one, swish in the first half to keep Baylor tied with Stanford. In the second half, she hit another to extend the lead to eight. She hit only three shots from the floor: two outside, a layup, and free throws for thirteen total points. But her teammates got the message real quick because they started hitting their outside shots.
Credit should go to her coach, Kim Mulkey, for developing her game and so on by getting advice from NBA coaches who coached big men. But the one thing, that coaches have never done for the big guys is to stand up for her when opponents gotten rough with some exception. You hear Wilt, Kareem, Bob Lanier, and other big men complain about coaches' lack of ability of not standing up to the roughness. Hence, they lose respect. I'm sure they will say that Kim Mulkey is tougher than the coaches that they played for and wished they played for her.
But ultimately when it comes to taking responsibility for her team, Brittney Griner is a class by herself from the center position. I have watched women's basketball since 1987 (The 1984 Olympics but U.S. was too dominant and boring due to Russia boycott) due to the restlessness of wanting to see the men's finals the next day. I started to really watch it in 1990 with Stanford winning it, Tennessee responding the next year, and Stanford winning it in 1993. Afterwards, Charlotte Smith, Rebecca Lobo, and Shamique Holdsclaw on their respective teams. But the game really didn't evolve when the WNBA started to get players from college that made immediate impact which took awhile. Yeah, you can say Candace Parker, Lindsay Whalen, and Angel McCoughtry. But all they get asked if they are married to ugly guys. With Brittney, its about her play and how she impacts her team. Period. None of that nonsense.
The talk shows and other discussion outlets are nothing but hypocritical hustlers. They talk about guys shouldn't leave college and how college basketball is missing something with high-schoolers leaving for the pros. They don't have anybody or teams to dislike or like to have rivalry like Duke with Christian Laettner. The whiny stuff. But when it comes to women who stay all four years, good citizens, and students, its "they don't dunk" bull. With Brittney, its wondering about her sex, literally. Well, I don't care because she has impacted the game with such ferocity that I don't bother watching the men. Nothing personal but Brittney's impact is greater than then the guys which you have to go back to Wilt, Kareem, and Shaq. One more of Brittney in college? Wow. New Orleans, here I come even if the talk won't.
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