Talent? Check. Height? Check. Experience?

Last night I watched one basketball player, South Carolina's Devan Downey, single handedly beat the #1 team in Men's Division I College Basketball. The Kentucky Wildcats, led by their three freshman starters John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe raced out to 19 straight wins to start their college "careers" before losing in Columbia last night to the Gamecocks (I don't even want to call them careers, seeing as all three of them might not be playing in Rupp Arena next season). They were handed the number 1 next to their name Monday after Texas dropped both games they played last week. But was it too much too early for the young Cats? Kentucky has four players averaging double figures, three of whom are freshmen. Five players are averaging 20 or more minutes a game, three being freshmen, one a sophomore, and the old man of the group, junior Patrick Patterson. This year's Kentucky team, while young, may very well be the most talented in the country. I would be more than comfortable betting my entire bank account on Wall being the number one pick in June's draft. Cousins can easily be a lottery pick if he is a good boy doesn't try to beat up Coach Cal the way he did his high school coach. Patterson and Bledsoe are also future first round picks. Kentucky is also the tallest team in Division I this year, averaging 6'7". While big on talent and height, the Wildcats lack experience. There's something special about the "We've been here before, we're older, we're wiser, we're smarter" attitude that plenty of national champion teams had in the previous decade. The past three national championship winners have been comprised of mostly juniors and seniors who had made long tournament runs the year or two before and were battle tested when it got time for the stretch run.

This leads me to the other #1 in college basketball right now. The UConn Huskies have been #1 in the women's game for quite some time. Like the current men's #1 (which they will be for about 5 more days until Kansas takes it back), the women's #1 is talented. Maya Moore was the best player in the country last year. As a sophomore. And oh yeah.. She's still in Storrs. Going to class. Going to practice. Playing in places like Cameron Indoor Stadium and on ESPN. She didn't bolt on her team or coach to go be a professional like we see on the men's side so often. Like the men's #1 the Lady Huskies are also tall. Tina Charles is 6'4", Heather Buck is 6'3",and Kaili McLaren is 6'2". But what the Huskies have that the Wildcats don't is experience. A lot of it. Their two best players are Maya Moore and Tina Charles, a junior and a senior respectively. The other three starters are a senior and two sophomores. So all five of them were there last year for the 39-0 season... and the 20-0 start this year. Yeah. 59-0. And it just keeps rolling. On January 16th they beat then #3 Notre Dame by 24. 24!! And then two days later went down to Durham and beat then #7 Duke by 33. 33!! When something like this catches my attention I get obsessed with it. I can't help it if I don't really like to watch women's basketball, but I sure do appreciate greatness. During this 59 game win streak, their closest margin of victory was 10 points. The average score of their games this year - UConn: 83. Opponent: 44. As dominant as they are, I see the experience of the UConn players being a huge factor in not letting themselves get comfortable and slip up.

Kentucky should not be written off by any means after their loss Tuesday night. The Wildcats are still one of the best teams in the country. But, will their lack of experience catch up with them in late March when facing an older, wiser, smarter team in the tournament? For the women of UConn, no need to worry. They can check off experience on the list.