And, perhaps most appealing to us, they re underdogs. Nothing against UConn or Notre Dame or Purdue, but they re old news compared to Southwest Missouri State. The Lady Bears are the proverbial breath of fresh air. Plus, getting back to Stiles, you get to watch her in action. As talented and dominant a player as Ruth Riley is, she isn t as fun to watch as Stiles.
Stiles is devastatingly quick off the dribble.
She creates space, sometimes mid-shot. She gets out in front on the break so fast that she often leaves two defenders in her wake. 3-pointers look fluid and effortless. In the Duke game, she made a jumper despite being triple-teamed by much taller defenders on the baseline. Sometimes, when she makes a particularly tough shot, we laugh out loud at the absurdness of it.