Sometimes it's good to get left out of the NCAA tourney

Missing out on the NCAA tournament this year may end up being the best thing that could have happened to the Kansas women's basketball team. Everybody wants to play in the Big Dance, of course, but the Jayhawks' run to the WNIT championship felt like the start of something special. I was at the title game at Allen Fieldhouse, one of the 16,113 fans who set a Big 12 women's basketball attendance record.

I was also at the semifinal game three days earlier. It was the first time I'd been to consecutive women's games, but it probably won't be the last. The Jayhawks lost in the championship to a poised, veteran South Florida squad 75-71, but the experience was well worth the $8 price of admission. When Kansas cut a big deficit to one possession late in the game, the near-capacity crowd was on its feet and the scoreboard's decibel meter briefly topped 100 – a noise level comparable to a rock concert.

South Florida called timeout, and the P.A. system started blaring ACDC's “Thunderstruck,” with thousands of people chanting along. It was a spine-tingling, goosebump-raising moment usually reserved for football or men's basketball games against big rivals. As we trudged back to the parking lot after South Florida hung on, any disappointment soon faded.

“That was the most fun I've ever had at a women's basketball game,” my younger brother, Dan, said. “And they lost.”

No doubt many other people who were there felt the same way. The KU women came close to duplicating the men's basketball atmosphere, and for a fraction of the cost to the fans. At least some of those fans are likely to come back for more next fall, and there's reason to believe the women can win enough games keep them coming.

This year's squad loses just three seniors: Katie Smith, Marija Zinic and Ivana Catic. Smith and Zinic rarely got off the bench. Catic was a starter, but probably only because highly-touted freshman Angel Goodrich tore her ACL in October, just before the season opener. Catic was a heady point guard with a big heart, but Goodrich, a high school All-American from Oklahoma, should have little problem replacing her athletically and statistically. She was cleared for full participation April 15 after knee surgery and six months of physical therapy.

The Jayhawks should be able to bring Goodrich along slowly next year, considering the veteran group they've got coming back. Two returning starters, Danielle McCray and Sade Morris, will be seniors. The other two, Nicollette Smith and Krysten Boogaard, will be juniors.

Boogaard is a 6-foot-5 center who can be a dominant force on the occasions when she decides to hit the glass hard and go up strong around the basket. Smith is the rare 6-foot-2 women's player who can light it up from 3-point range, though she's been streaky her first two seasons. Both may find it hard to hold on to their starting spots with freshman Aishah Sutherland, an irrepressible 6-foot-2 uber-athlete, coming on strong. Sutherland runs like a gazelle, consistently makes 15-foot jumpers and reportedly can dunk. She had 12 points and 9 rebounds in the WNIT championship.

Morris and McCray – known somewhat confusingly as 'De and 'D' to their teammates – may be the best tandem in the Big 12 next year. Morris is a long, lean guard with sweet mid-range shooting touch who averaged 12.7 points and was the Jayhawks' top perimeter defender this season. McCray has established herself as quite simply one of the best college players in the country. She averaged 21.6 points and 7.7 rebounds on the season, set the WNIT scoring record, was named First Team All-Big 12 and honorable mention All-America.

McCray is 5-foot-11, muscular and can shoot the 3. Too quick for most interior defenders and too strong for most perimeter defenders, she's a match-up nightmare and should be on everyone's short list for 2009-2010 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year.

Aside from Morris, McCray and Goodrich, the Jayhawks will also have athletic point guard LaChelda Jacobs and capable outside shooter Kelly Kohn to provide backcourt depth. With seven of their top eight players set to return, the Jayhawks will bring back as much talent as any of the six teams that finished ahead of them in the conference this year. Competing for a Big 12 championship doesn't seem out of the question.

It will be a crucial season for coach Bonnie Henrickson. She's taken some heat for having a big contract and not getting the team into the NCAA tourney, but it's still only her fifth year, which means she's only recently gotten to work with players who were all recruited by her. It's been two steps forward and one step back for much of her tenure, but some of the hardships, like Goodrich's injury, have been out of her hands.

Henrickson is building a strong recruiting presence in eastern Kansas, finally drawing some of the state's top talent away from Kansas State. McCray was a product of Olathe East and high-potential Lawrence High forward Tania Jackson will be a KU freshman next year. Henrickson is also a solid game coach. Her three top scorers – McCray, Morris and Boogaard – were in serious foul trouble against South Florida, but Henrickson juggled her line-up and had them all available to make that thrilling run late in the game.

Even though that run came up short, it's hard to overstate how important it was. Getting blown out at home in front of 16,000 fans would have been devastating. Instead those fans got a little taste of what it's like to watch a close, hard-fought, meaningful women's game. For many of them, it might be just an appetizer.

It's doubtful this new fan support would have materialized if Kansas had climbed out of the bubble and crept into the NCAA tournament. Realistically, the Jayhawks might have won one game in the NCAAs, maybe two if everything aligned in their favor. They really weren't ready, as their struggles against ranked teams showed. Instead they got the experience of playing five must-win games in 12 days. They got to play four of those games at home, which would not have happened in the NCAAs.

The Kansas women still have to follow up on it next year. But the stage is set, and it's all because the Jayhawks got left out of the NCAA tournament. They may be the best advertisement for the WNIT in that tournament's history.