The doubters wasted little time before raining on the University of Connecticut’s glorious parade. UConn’s women’s basketball stars are glowing with pride after their win over South Carolina made it a quite astonishing 101 wins in a row.
Forget about the sport itself and digest the numbers. Think about how difficult a streak like that is to maintain. Some miserable folk greeted the news with raised eyebrows before muttering about inferior competitions. ‘Yes, but it’s only women’s basketball,’ they said.
Correct. Though holding everything together for such a long period of time – UConn last lost a match on November 17 2014 – is truly remarkable. In any sporting team there are myriad variables needed to achieve something even close to this.
You need luck. Injuries, officiating, dips in form – these are all aspects of team life which can destroy dreams. The history books, however, certainly don’t lie.
There hasn’t been a college or pro team in US sports who have come anywhere close.
This magical run surpasses the New York Giants (1916, 26 games), LA Lakers (33 games, 1972), the Pittsburgh Penguins (17 games, 1993), and the New England Patriots (18 games, 2008). It’s the greatest college streak ever.
When it comes to making a statement about women’s sport, it couldn’t be more emphatic.
“We can do whatever we put our minds to,” said guard Crystal Dangerfield.
While coach Geno Auriemma has rightly been offered a share of the spoils – the meticulous trainer and tactician once spent three weeks constantly drilling his team over one offensive play until they nailed it – the truth is this year’s team were severely hamstrung.
Three starters – Breanna Stewart along with Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck – went to the WNBA yet the girls who stepped in rose to the challenge and proved the programme’s strength in depth really is something else.
From champion to champion.
— NBA (@NBA) February 18, 2017
Kyrie Irving chats with UConn women's basketball!#BBVARisingStars pic.twitter.com/ip8RQlgZLk
This isn’t a team who have bullied opponents with brute strength either. Cohesive forward play and intelligent defence have been key.
Massive beatings have been dished out – 98 of 101 teams have been beaten by 10 or more points, 25 triumphs have been sealed with over a 50 point cushion (the average winning margin is 38.4.)
But does their utter dominance turn people off? Last Monday’s contest was the highest-rated college game on ESPN2 this season, and also pulled in the best figures for a regular season women’s game for seven years.
Auriemma, who has led Team USA to consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016, and his coaching staff have built something special, taking advantage of four year scholarships at the university.
“You figure it out right away,” UConn. guard Kia Nurse said. “And I think it’s the way the vets teach you how we do every drill, how we lift, how we work out. And the importance of each little detail in what we do. That’s something that you learn right away.”
A little close for comfort, but UConn holds off Tulane 63-60 to make it to 101-straight wins. Collier leads the way with 26 pts #UConnNation pic.twitter.com/1C9U6vv69w
— UConn Women's Hoops (@UConnWBB) February 19, 2017
Saturday night’s win over Tulane moves them a step forward to landing a 12th NCAA championship.
“If this would have been done by last year’s team, I think it would have been less heroic because it would have been, ‘Well of course they are supposed to do it. Look who they have,’ ” said Auriemma, who stressed in pre-season that thinking about going unbeaten wasn’t ‘in the real world.’
“We don’t have a magic formula. We don’t go into a lab and conjure up and mix up things and come up with Young Frankenstein. Unless you are in our locker room every day, at our practice every day, and go through what these kids go through and what they put up with every day from us as a coaching staff, it is impossible to explain.”
This isn’t, however, a rags to riches story. UConn have pumped millions of dollars into their sporting programmes in pursuit of such excellence. And revelations about Auriemma’s new $13 million, five-year deal prove as much.
The 62-year-old Italian born American is the best-paid coach in women’s college sport after penning a new contract. When you’ve landed 11 NCAA titles, it’s no wonder the big bucks are being dished out and such is his standing, it’s also written into the contract that a $400,000 a-year salaried position somewhere in the sports department is guaranteed should he resign or retire in good standing after the 2020-21 season.
A job for life thanks to the streak of a lifetime.
