The Illinois women's wheelchair basketball team prepared for the 33rd Annual National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Tournament (starting March 1 at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute, GA) by beating the seventh, eighth and ninth ranked men's teams in the nation.

It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, since there are specific rules that address the height of the wheelchair that actually even out some of the physical differences between men and women. The rules also address the various player classifications which means, as the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation website explains, an athlete is classified

based on their functional capacity to complete the skills neccessary to play -- pushing, pivoting, shooting, rebounding, dribbling, passing and catching. In particular, the trunk movement and stability observed during these actual basketball situations forms the basis for the assignment of a player to a particular class.

Players are then assigned points depending on their class and there is a cap on how many "points" you can have on the court.

While organized men's basketball traces its roots back to the end of World War II, the women's side seems to have made its first signifcant appearance back in the 70's. On February 24th, 1974 the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign "Ms. Kids" defeated the Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) Squids 34-14. Since then the game has grown to include international competition, including the paralympics. It should come as no surprise that the USOC has announced an expanded military program to support physicaly disabled veterans.

While some may have caught the men's wheelchair all-stars at the NBA All-Star Jam session, fans attending the Women's 2003 Final Four will remember the exhibition game the women played during the WBCA high school and college seniors game.

If you're interested in more information, you can check out the National Wheelchair Basketball Association's (slightly frustrating) website here.