The evolution of women's basketball
The Kansas program began in 1968, 70 years after the game was invented.
By Ben Ashworth (Contact)
Friday, February 15th, 2008
The year is 1898, a monumental year in the history of Kansas basketball as James Naismith, the proclaimed inventor of basketball, becomes the coach of the first Kansas basketball team. Fast forward to 1968, a full 70 years later. In a year noted for the Tet Offensive, the assassination of Martin Luther King,and the release of the Beatles’ self-titled “White Album,” women’s basketball finally came to the University of Kansas.
In 1896, two years before men’s basketball began at Kansas, the first intercollegiate women’s basketball game was played between Stanford and Cal-Berkeley. While the score was a scintillating 2-1, a score often bested by pee-wee hockey games, it was a landmark game that signified the upcoming presence of women’s basketball in the United States.
During the next 70 years, most universities attempted to create women’s basketball programs. Some programs, like the Tennessee Volunteers, who later became a noted women’s basketball powerhouse, abandoned their programs in the 1920s because of low interest and short seasons, only to bring their program back in the 1960s. Women’s basketball did not even have a national championship process until 1982, when Louisiana Tech won.
During the Lady Jayhawks’ first five years, they saw three coaches come and go. Marlene Mawson, Debbie Artman, and Sharon Drysdale coached three years, one year and one year respectively, each one able to maintain a winning record.
Henrickson seeks to improve team
The year after that, they hired Marion Washington, who helped bring stability to the struggling Jayhawk program, remaining Kansas’ coach for 31 years, during which she reached 11 tournaments, advancing furthest to the Sweet 16 in 1996.
After Washington’s retirement from the program, Bonnie Henrickson, the coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies, took the job. An expert at turning around a losing program, Henrickson helped Virginia Tech improve by a span of 12 games in her first year. Opposing coaches have been quick in their praise of the development of the KU women’s basketball program.
“Kansas is doing a tremendous job of building a program,” said Indiana head coach Felisha Legette-Jack, after a loss to KU. “I have 100 percent respect for Bonnie Henrickson for her style, class and ability to grow a program.”
Even in losing, her abilities were praised by Kurt Budke, coach of then-ranked Oklahoma State. “I love their team. I think Bonnie is a great coach, and I think they have a whole lot of options, and they have a true star in (Danielle) McCray. I don’t think there’s any question they’re an NCAA tournament team.”
Although the Lady Jayhawks have not validated coach Budke’s remarks in their first six games of Big 12 play, going 1-5, they have still shown glimpses of becoming a national threat. With a team starring mainly freshmen and sophomores, morale is still high. Senior Taylor McIntosh confirmed this.
“We just have to keep on fighting and not get down on ourselves,” McIntosh said. “We are in a bad position right now, but we can turn it around. Last year we started out bad but then we kind of turned it on and finished strong. We don’t want to wait too late, but we can definitely regroup.”
Discussion
All comments are moderated by Kansan.com staff. For our full user policy, click here.
Share your 2¢
Requires free registration.