USF Bulls: My First Experience with Women's Basketball

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Many people do not follow or watch women’s sports. I do watch them. I do not care what sex athletes are, I respect them. They do something that they love doing. One of the things that I love is college sports. My first love is college football. I had the pleasure of covering USF Bulls football for the last three years. In the past, I attended my first college basketball game that was a USF game as well. They played against the Memphis Tigers who are head coached by former NBA star Penny Hardaway. The Bulls lost the game, but it was fun. The experience was much different than attending a football game. I sat in the upper tier of the Yuengling Center, but the energy was good. It was fun to see a basketball, especially at the college level.

I mentioned earlier about women’s sports so I went to my first USF Women’s basketball game earlier this week. What I saw is that when I was at Men’s game is that they had people attending. They have trouble winning games but have people to support them. The lady Bulls win a lot and have very few fans. This team has won many games and Jose Fernandez has been with the program for over 20 years. This team has won the American Athletic Conference in the past. They had maybe 100 fans at the game that I was at. It was senior night and five players got jerseys and played in their final home game. I went with a buddy of mine who probably took about a couple hundred pictures. We got there as the national anthem was playing. We had seats very close to the court.

I was more involved in the women’s game than I was in the men’s. The lady Bulls showed their tenacity. Coach Fernandez was barking orders no matter what end of the floor his team was at. The Bulls were hosting the Houston Cougars. Right off the opening tip, the Bulls dominated the Cougars. They led at the half 49-16. There were five possessions that USF scored and held Houston with no points. The USF bench was excited every time they made a shot. I saw the girls are well-coached. Even when they would make mistakes, he would still high-five them when they came off the court. USF did not have a great second half but a good one leading to a 71-38 win. The Bulls finished second behind rival UCF Knights. It was a great way to finish off the regular season.

What I enjoyed the most is that at the end of the day they are basketball players. It was cool to say that I have now been to a USF Women’s basketball game. I will try to attend more on both men’s and women’s games. It was an enjoyable time and I hope to see some of these players at the next level in the WNBA. I am also interested to see what the team will look like next year. Coach Fernandez has many players that have been solid for him for the last four years moving on. There was a serious injury involving USF guard Maria Alvarez. Near the end of the game, she got her knee in a bad spot and many of us thought she might have torn her ACL. The team played a great game and hopefully will lead to wins in the conference tourney.