the size of the women's basketball

>could someone tell me why even on the college level why the size of women's
>basketball is still smaller than the size of men's? u would think that on
>this level women would have hands large enough to be able to handle a
>regulation size basketball.
>

Could I tell you why? Probably not definitively. But, I think the idea at the
time it was adopted probably went along the lines of "women have smaller hands,
so to make things even, let's give them a smaller ball." The same thinking has
lead to a perrenial debate as to whether or not the height of the basket should
likewise be scaled down for women.

I have no problem with the ball size. I'm a guy, but I prefer using the
women's ball to shoot, dribble, and pass with. It's more "controlable." I
think BOTH genders should use the 28.5 (women's) ball. The height of the
basket is a different story. No way in hell should it come down for the
women's game. However, if I were the Basketball Czar of the Universe, I'd
raise it to 12 feet for the men's game. Today, high school boys routinely
dunk, and even some of the better junior high boys can do it. I once attended
a CYO Seniors game (boys not good enough to make their high school teams) where
there were 26 dunks. Clearly not what Mr. Naismith (or Mike Nesmith of the
Monkees) had in mind. But, in an America where the male lexicon is full of
pushing the limits ("weapons of mass destruction", "shock and awe",
"overwhelming force to bear", and other great macho terms), getting the
sports-crazed public to give up the dunk will be an impossibility. In my book,
though, dunks should be made so rare that when one happens, it's front-page
news.

Women play the game more the way it was meant to be played (finesse over
muscle, team over solo star), but even they have a long way to go. Lots of
sloppy play, poor shooting from the floor, and basic incompetence at all but
the very highest levels keep women's basketball from achieving anything like
equality with the men's game.

Jim