A couple of guys who liked WBB are John Wooden and Jack Hartman. Both said that the concepts of team play were more evident there than in the men's game. (In other words what you call "athleticism" others call "showboating")
What you call "showboating", others call "scoring".
I don't get the dislike a lot of people have for offense that wasn't featured prominently in Hoosiers. The fact is, a lot of male athletes can create better opportunities to score in one-on-one situations than can be gained in running a strict offense all game.
Just because there aren't six passes before every shot doesn't mean that you can't have a higher probability of scoring with smart one-on-one moves.