Maesyn Thiesen, who joins Brooke Olson as UMD's only two seniors, is a stabilizing force as floor general.  Photo by John Gilbert.

It was about the time Gianna Kneepkens raced in and around and over and through all manner of opponents to lead Duluth Marshall to the state girls basketball tournament that the realization hit me. While I always enjoyed watching and writing about young women playing basketball, I actually preferred it to the men’s game.

The men’s game can be very exciting and entertaining, especially at NCAA tournament time, but so often the games are lopsided, played above the rim, and boil down physical superiority. One team’s player gets the ball and simply tries to charge through the defense, knowing there will be contact, and then both players tumble to the floor and wait to see which player on which team will be called for the foul, to perpetuate the closing minutes’ parade to the free-throw line.

Meanwhile, it was at the same time we learned that Paige Bueckers from Hopkins High School could be named NCAA player of the year after a fabulous freshman year at Connecticut. In fact, her torn ACL suffered in a pickup game that knocked her out of this whole season is undoubtedly the reason UConn missed the Final Four for the first time in anyone’s memory. '

Kneepkens went to Utah and was named Pac-12 freshman of the year last season and had a strong second season this year as the Utes, turned scoring focus over to a strong, dominant transfer named Alisa Pill from Southern Cal. She came through, right until the end, and while it was difficult to see or get information on Utah’s outstanding women’s team, it became apparent that Kneepkens was dedicated to becoming a set-up artist for the team’s sake.

When Pill had an off-night, or shot poorly, Kneepkens readily filled in and led the way. That happened at the Greenville Region semifinal, where LSU forced Pill to the bench with foul trouble, and Kneepkens hit from 3-point range, drove through the defense, and led the team with 20 points and an 11-1 run in the fourth quarter that fell just short in a 66-63 loss to LSU.

So I was all prepared when UMD played so well this season. Brooke Olson has proven pretty unstoppable, as a 6-foot-2 inside scorer who jumps center, rebounds, and spins free to score with an amazing inside touch, but is really a guard at heart, and mind. She scored 30 points here, 35 there, 40 at season’s end, and her best, 41, to lead the Bulldogs through the Central Regional — held at Romano Gym — and then on through the Elite Eight and into the Final Four, where they beat Catawba 70-59 to reach the NCAA Division II championship game, against undefeated Ashland.

That game was delayed until this Saturday, April 1, at 2:30 p.m. in Dallas. It is part of a massive 50th anniversary celebration for the passing of Title IX, declaring women to be worthy of equal financing, support, pay, and attention to the males of the species. Saturday in Dallas, the NCAA will put on the Division I, Division II, and Division III national championship games in a stirring tripleheader.

In the Division I semifinals, Iowa defeated Louisville 97-83 on the brilliant individual performance by Caitlin Clark, who scored 41 points, with 12 assists and 10 rebounds — a dazzling “triple double” in the biggest game of her career. At the same time, Louisiana State ended Miami’s magical run 54-42 to reach the Final Four semis. Those teams await the winners of Monday night’s regional finals, with defending champion South Carolina battling Maryland to earn the slot against Iowa, and Ohio State facing Virginia Tech to get the shot at LSU in the semis. Those winners are part of Saturday’s tripleheader.

UMD’s first venture as far as the Elite Eight in Division II, and now the national championship game, is already a thorough success — especially as the only team making such an impact in basketball from a noted hockey school!

Men’s Final Four scrambled

All of the gamblers who bet on the men’s Final Four and conduct office pools and now national bracket competition have been completely confounded by the great parity, which has rendered basketball tradition as a nonfactor. UConn, a legend in women’s basketball, was a fourth-seeded long shot to reach the men’s Final Four, but the Huskies whipped Gonzaga 82-54, and will take on Miami, which eliminated Texas 88-81 and now, as a No. 5 seed, faces UConn in a game the computers saw as having a 0.3 percent chance of happening.

The other semifinal is an even longer longshot, as Florida Atlantic, a No., 9 seed,  shocked No. 1 seed Kansas State 79-76 on a dramatic late 3-point shot, and the Owls advance to meet San Diego State University, a No. 5 seed that took out the South’s top seed in Alabama 71-64, and then beat Creighton 57-56. The Aztecs facing Florida Atlantic in the Final Four had a computerized 0.05 percent chance of happening.

And in hockey… The NCAA hockey Frozen Four will be delayed a weekend to leave all the space for basketball’s climactic show, and when they do reconvene in Tampa next week, there will be something missing. As in any representative from the NCHC. It will be the first time since the current system was installed, when the NCHC was formed, that the clearly dominant national collegiate conference failed to win a spot.

The Big Ten, which has boasted about being competitive, if not superior, all these years, has never won an NCAA title, but this surely should be its year. Minnesota, which beat St. Cloud State to win the Fargo Regional, is the heavy favorite with its 14 NHL draft picks and a swift-striking attack, but the Gophers have a tough semifinal against Boston University, while  Michigan, which had to rally to beat Penn State 2-1 in overtime, will take on Quinnipiac, a solid outfit that eliminated Ohio State 4-1 in the Bridgeport region final.

Odds are that we’ll see a Minneota-Michigan championship game on April 8, and it would be a fitting replay of the 4-3 victory Michigan won from the Gophers at Mariucci Arena in the Big Ten tournament final.