1) The game exhibits more skill than the men's game, which emphasizes athleticism
In the modern era the women are, on average, more skilled players. Don't think so? Watch a few tapes of the NBA finals from this year. Good shooting, huh? How about that stellar free throw percentage? Each year, the men's and women's college three point contest champions square off. Want to guess who wins most years? That's right- the woman does. None of this is meant to imply that the women players will beat the male players in a straight-up game. They will not. However, it is true that the men's game has come to rely upon athleticism and size more than skill. The lack of skill in the men's college game is actually the reason that so many foreign players are now being drafted by the NBA. The women's game still relies upon skill. If you are a young player wanting to learn the right way to play the game, watch the women. Since they cannot rely upon their athletic abilities to "bail them out" when they make a mistake on defense or end-up with a poor shot on offense, they must play correctly and with good fundamentals.
2) The athleticism is at a much higher level than you realize
Jackie Stiles is in the WNBA now, where she has unfortunately suffered some injuries, but anybody who saw the all-time leader in women's college scoring play at SW Missouri State knows that she is one serious athlete. She is strong, quick, and has explosive driving ability. Couple all of this with the hours and hours she spent honing her jump shot, and she was a pleasure to watch in college. Even with all the women's games that I had watched over the years, I still felt that the women weren't quite at the athletic level that they should be. Until, that is, the first time I saw Jackie Stiles play.
