Quote:
Originally Posted by packs
I don't follow your logic. This whole time you've said two things: she isn't physically capable of competing on a men's team and she can't defend. I don't think either of those things are dependent on her gender. I'm a man and I can't compete on a men's team either.
The point is this: there is no absolute. If you follow your logic, then you'd have to accept there will never be a woman physically gifted enough to play with men. I don't think that's anymore true than there will never be an NBA player who's 5'3. It will always come down to the individual. So, why not discuss people as individuals?
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I'm one of those people who would love to see a woman compete with men at the D1 level in any major sport.
Let's look at the data. Aside from the USWNT scrimmage against the Dallas U15 team and some other one off examples, females in contact sports tend to avoid mens and boys teams. This, in and of itself, is relevant evidence.
Anyway, I looked at the below, which is from Duke Law School, comparing athletic performance between men and women.
https://law.duke.edu/sports/sex-spor...ic-performance
Though the article is slightly dated (as it does not include the most recent men's world records by Usain Bolt, Wayne van Niekirk, and David Rudisha in the 100, 200, 400 and 800m), the points made are very clear.
To the extent that explosiveness and quickness are key athletic attributes in basketball, you can draw inferences from the comparisons between elite (Olympic level) women and BOYS (forget the men) in the 100m, long jump, and high jump. Basically, the world record holding women do not compare that favourably with U18 boys.
Further, it seems that it is really hard to make a D1 mens basketball program. See the below:
https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2015/3/2...athletics.aspx
To summarize, the NCAA estimates that only the top 1% of high school boys basketball players plays in D1.
When I read this and I look at Caitlyn Clark's game, I struggle to see her even making the starting line up on any top 10 boys high school team in any state in America.