Two for 1

SAN ANTONIO —  Sue Bird is the best player in women’s college basketball today. Diana Taurasi may end up being the best ever.

They are the guards for undefeated and top-ranked Connecticut and they make up the best backcourt ever.

If only the UCLA men had a point guard who could pull up on the fastbreak and make that 12-foot jump shot 90% of the time the way Bird does.

If only the USC men had a two-guard who could grab a left-handed, one-handed rebound, take it the length of the court, dribbling with his left hand with a defender on his right, and score a one-handed layup the way Taurasi can. Or post up with his back to the basket.

No guard tandem in the history of women’s basketball has offered the combination of size, strength, power, athleticism, court savvy, shooting ability and creativity as Bird, a 5-foot-9 senior from Syosset, N.Y., and Taurasi, a 6-foot sophomore from Chino.

“From the days of the AIAW through the time of the NCAA,” Nancy Lieberman says, “no two guards have been as good at playing defense, with the pull-up game, were as physical, were so good at reading plays, both offensively and defensively, as Bird and Taurasi.”

That is high praise. Lieberman was a pretty good guard herself at Old Dominion and had a good backcourt companion in Rhonda Rompola. Both were 5-9, both were strong and could shoot, both had played with men and were fearless. “But you can’t even compare us to Bird and Taurasi,” Lieberman says.

It is dangerous to compare past with present. More women play now; more big, strong women play now. Coaching is better, from grade school to college. Facilities are better, opportunities are greater.

So who can honestly say whether 4-11 Debbie Brock and sharpshooter Cornelia Ward of Delta State would star now? Or if USC’s Cynthia Cooper and Rhonda Wyndham could take Taurasi and Bird?

But, as Ann Meyers noted, “You can remember Dawn Staley, but who played with her? You remember Sheryl Swoopes but not her partner. Cynthia Cooper was not the player in college that she became later. When you do this, trying to think of great backcourts, it’s hard to argue against Bird and Taurasi.”

Bird and Taurasi are an unlikely couple. Bird says Bobby Hurley was her favorite point guard. She is the ultimate old-school player. Fundamentally sound, mentally unperturbable, Bird has a secure shot from everywhere, the ability to square up with textbook form. She rarely makes a bad pass or takes an off-balance shot.

Taurasi’s favorite guard is Magic Johnson. She is flamboyant and loudly confident. Opponents grumble at her unshakable belief in herself, but Taurasi is just a jock. Her hands are huge, the size of her face. She can easily palm the ball with either hand and shoot it or pass it or dribble it, behind her back or up the sideline. She is Oscar Robertson, inventing new limits.

“I’ve got a kid [Taurasi] who I think has a chance to be maybe the best guard, maybe the best player, ever in college,” Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma says. “There’s so much I want to teach her. There’s so much she has to learn. And I don’t want to take away any of her exuberance or flair or spirit. I’m walking a real fine line here. If she does it right and I do it right, she’s going to be the best player ever.”

Bird is what Brock and Lieberman, Jamila Wideman and Staley, Teresa Edwards and Ukari Figgs were leading up to. What Auriemma has in Taurasi is the next generation. The guard who can rebound. The forward who can make the blind pass. The strong banger who can shoot the three-pointer.

Together, Bird and Taurasi start everything for the 38-0 Huskies. Both are point guards, both are shooting guards. If Bird is hot, Taurasi dishes. “When Diana is on fire,” Bird says, “I am constantly looking for her because she is the type of player that has so much talent that on any given night she can dump 40 points on you.”

They also look for their teammates. “Both Sue and Diana can make passes that I haven’t seen anyone else in college make,” center Asjha Jones says. “Both of them are so unselfish. Both of them understand the game to perfection. They can see the court so well. That’s why you hardly ever see any of us take bad shots.”

Meyers cautions against saying Bird and Taurasi are the best anything. “They haven’t won a championship together,” Meyers says. “If you want to say they are the best ever, they need to win a championship.”

That would be nice and an affirmation. But it’s not necessary.

Bird and Taurasi have changed the game. Taurasi will change it more. Bird and Taurasi have shown there are no limits to what female players can do with the basketball and the inside game. The joy of basketball is in its inventiveness. The fun is in creativity. The beauty is in five players creating angles, considering spacing, finding openings, outwitting five opponents. It takes good guards to make that happen.

“Coach [Auriemma] said it,” Taurasi says. “To have a great team you have to have great guards that understand the game.”

And if you have the greatest team, you need to have the greatest guards. One more game will tell us if Connecticut has the greatest team, in addition to the greatest guards.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at [email protected].