Women's basketball - PLEASE put names on jerseys!

There were two women's college basketball games on TV today...

I watched the Tennessee Lady Vols vs the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

I won't say a word about the abysmal first half the Lady Vols had - scoring a team-history low 13 points in that first half, or the abysmal second half Rutgers had. Except to say that anyone knew to women's basketball who just wanted to see what it was all about would not have become a fan after watching this game, I don't think.

Excuse for the Lady Vols is that actually they are the "Baby Vols" - 4 freshmen starting. They looked like it was their first game (and they were without their top defensive player) and they had more turnovers than points in that half...

But, anyway, the point is, neither the Lady Vols or the Scarlet Knights had their names on the back of their jerseys. So unless you are fans of the team, you wouldn't know who any of these players are! This was the first time I'd seen these girls play (normally I listen on the radio) and the only one I recognized was Angie Bjorkland. When they showed their faces at the line, I was able to put names to faces, but when they're running around, hard to tell. My memory for their numbers isn't that great - would've been a lot easier with names!

Same for Rutgers of course, only more important since I'd never seen them before!

It is really short-sighted of these coaches not to put names on jerseys! I suppose it's supposed to be "team-building" but all it does is make it harder for potential fans to care about the team they're watching. Everyone's anonymous!

It doesn't matter with a team like the New York Yankees, but for women's college basketball, where most teams hardly get anyone to turn out to games, being fan friendly is all important.