LETTERS: UT women's team gave boost to Toledo

4/10/2011

As longtime season-ticket holders we were so disappointed when the University of Toledo women's basketball team lost in the MAC tournament semifinals. But I cheered for our arch-rival Bowling Green as the best team to go to the NCAA at that point.

Knowing we would get a WNIT bid, we delayed our vacation to Florida to see how the games worked out. We delayed and delayed. We finally left Sunday.

Our team always draws well but what a treat to see the place packed for the last two games.

Based on the WNIT games, it appears UT had the toughest bracket to reach the semifinals. What the team did with the help of a crazed crowd was the basketball story of the year. Wow: Delaware; Auburn and Alabama; a Big East team in Syracuse; UNC-Charlotte and finally USC of the Pac-10. You ladies were great and the fans loved it as much as you did. Folks, come on back next season.

Barb and John Mather
Waterville

 

• "Thank you" to the University of Toledo's women's basketball program.
  
  

Even before winning the WNIT title, you have given the city of Toledo a "huge victory." You have brought us much "positive press" in the national spotlight. WNIT champs sounds just about right.

Bill Bradner
Toledo

• What a positive experience it has been to attend my first season of home games involving the UT women's basketball team.
  
  

As these young ladies made progress during the season, I observed their coming together as a team and playing off one another's strengths that included tremendous skill, perseverance, determination, and apparently their enjoyment of the games.

The postseason games leading to the championship, of course, could not have been accomplished without the experienced coaching staff.

We can all learn from the leadership qualities this team and coaching staff exhibited. In addition, the cheerleaders, the dance team, the band, the media and the UT staff personnel certainly enhanced the games.

Thanks to you, this has given Toledo and area a much needed and wanted new direction for better years ahead.

Susan Hirsch
Toledo

• As the late, great Woody Hayes once said, "You win with people."

From the end of the bench to the head coach Tricia Cullop, you will find the finest individuals who came together as a team to accomplish the unthinkable.

This team made our community so proud as it fought powerhouse programs.

The fight in these girls should be an inspiration to anyone with leadership roles in the Toledo area. As the Rockets would not give up until they reached their goal of an WNIT championship, our leadership should be inspired to come together and do the right things, as a team, to put Toledo back on the map as a champion community. We have been there before and can fight our way back again.

Thank you, Lady Rockets!

Jeff Savage
Maumee

• Our very own UT women's basketball team captured the hearts and souls of northwest Ohioans as David again slayed Goliath.
  
  

No, it's not the NCAA championship, but this team beat at least three or four teams that most experts would suggest belonged in the "big dance."

Don't discount the value of winning the WNIT as many teams, both on the men's and women's side, have used this championship to springboard their team to NCAA tournament success the following year. Additionally, this incredible effort will lead to increased attendance next year, open more doors for recruiting and the ability to further showcase our fine university.

I sincerely hope that The Blade, its writers and its editors come to realize that people want to hear the positive side of situations, not just the negatives. The distasteful and incorrect story run a couple weeks ago about the costs of hosting these games has been vindicated by this teams efforts supported by the finest coaching staff in the MAC, along with the awesome support of the athletic department and administration. Couple all that with a swelling fan base and not only didn't this tournament run cost the university a dime, I'm sure the final tally will show a significant profit. Whether UT broke even or made a six-figure profit, the end result is priceless and something that anyone involved will remember for the rest of their lives.

Tricia Cullop has developed a program that all Toledoans should be very proud of and that is what should be reported. With all the lying, cheating and deceit that plagues college athletics, these fine young ladies played extremely hard and countless times recovered from deficits to come back and win.

Please, Blade, wake up and start focusing on the positives in our wonderful community.

Dan Steinberg
Toledo
Editor's note: The story you refer to as ‘‘distasteful and incorrect'' was written to inform how a team in the Women's National Invitation Tournament continued to host games in the tournament and how the process worked. It did not pass judgment on UT wanting to play host to the tournament. The Blade provided thousands of souvenir front pages of the Rockets winning the WNIT at Savage Arena after the championship game. UT's run in the final week alone netted five stories on The Blade's front page. There were eight stories and a column written for the week of the championship game.