Women's Final Four offers homecoming for Bueckers
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The 2022 Women's Final Four tips off in Minneapolis on Friday night with a lot to offer — and a lot to prove.
One of the two national semifinal games features the University of Connecticut and its sophomore phenom Paige Bueckers — who dominated the court in Minnesota as a star player for Hopkins High School.
She missed 19 games this season due to a knee injury. But she's back on the court and back in Minnesota, even back to a locker room at Target Center where she once played in high school.
"I think there's a reason why I'm back here, and why I am getting the opportunity again," she told reporters on Thursday. "It's crazy what God does in your life."
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But beyond highlighting the talents of Bueckers and the other athletes taking the court this weekend, the women's tournament is looking to rebound from COVID, and questions raised anew last year about the NCAA's commitment to gender equity.
And it’s a chance for Minneapolis to reassert itself as a host for national sports events.
'Keep dreaming big'
"Maybe it is destiny," Bueckers' old Hopkins High School coach said of her return to Minnesota to compete for a national title.
Brian Cosgriff is now at Providence Academy in Plymouth. Ironically, he and Bueckers themselves were headed for a championship in Minneapolis just two years ago, for what many thought would be a second state high school title at Williams Arena — only to be shut down by COVID the day before the final.
"It was devastating, there was no question about it. And I can say this quite confidently. We weren't going to lose that championship game. She wasn't going to be denied."
As a college freshman, Bueckers won national player of the year honors — but UConn fell to Arizona in last year's national semifinals. Cosgriff says he thinks Bueckers has the skills and savvy to go all the way this year.
Her dad, Bob Bueckers, who now lives in Maryland, says he's been on the phone rounding up tickets to get her biggest fans into Target Center. But he says he hopes there are yet more fans to be made at her homecoming.
"The coolest thing, though, about it being in Minneapolis is for the young kids — especially the young girls that are out there playing basketball and are dreaming big — that something like this is in their backyard, and represented by a Minnesota girl as well," he said. "They can see that and keep dreaming big."
Tournament, host looking to rebound
But Paige Bueckers isn't the only one looking for redemption in Minneapolis.
Big time college sports is, too.
Cringeworthy comparisons of accommodations for men and women at last year's college basketball championships have the NCAA vowing to do better, this year officially calling the women's playoffs "March Madness" for the first time.
There's a basketball expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center, a celebration at the Mall of America to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX, and part of First Avenue is blocked off for a street party — the kind of ancillary events once reserved solely for the men's games, and a stark contrast to the women's last stop in Minneapolis, in 1995.
Which UConn won, by the way.
Lynn Holzman is NCAA vice president for women's basketball and said at Target Center that 2022 is a milestone in efforts to address the equity issues raised again last year.
"We are proud of the fact of where we've been able to elevate this championship," she said of the Women's Final Four.
And maybe most of all, the tournament's host, the city of Minneapolis, is looking for a win. After being battered by the killing of George Floyd and its aftermath, and the setbacks from COVID, the city is looking to bring visitors and business back.
Wendy Blackshaw is CEO of Minnesota Sports and Events, a group started recently to make bids to host big events like NCAA championships and Super Bowls. She said ad-hoc groups made bids in the past, and this is a key test of a new way to do business.
"Now it's one group," she said. "We bid on it. We win it. We keep our promises, we execute and we go on to the next. That has been something that has been really important for our community, that we have consistency across the board so that you're dealing with the same people from beginning to end."
The head of the Minneapolis Downtown Council Steve Cramer says they're expecting tens of thousands of visitors, and as much as $25 million in spending. He says it will help build on the recovery from the pandemic.
"I think it'll be a great weekend for the restaurant and hospitality industry, with all these visitors from outside of town and the Twin Cities. It comes at a good moment."
South Carolina and Louisville play in the first national semifinal at 6 p.m. Friday, and UConn takes on Stanford after that. The final is Sunday evening.