The Oregon women’s team lost to a very strong Michigan team on Friday. But it wasn’t exactly a fair fight, thanks to an overly long tournament on top of an overly long season.

Michigan was fresh after earning essentially a two-day bye. The Ducks, after a cross-country, three-time-zone trek, had to play their third game in three days. Not to mention it’s during the school year. The Ducks would have had to win five games in five days to take the top prize. That’s beyond crazy at the end of a long season, when injuries pile up and recovery from injuries keeps starters from playing at the top of their game.

I’m not sure there’s an answer, given the greed of the conferences (not just the Big Ten). More games, more revenue, more opportunity for tired players to be injured before the NCAA tournament. Isn’t it time to simply lose the tournaments? For the sake of the players, maybe?

John Russial
Eugene

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