The Winning Streak

[Longtime fan]

Every day, certainly after every win, some news person asks the coach, or a coach or a player, " so what do you think about the winning streak" ( now at 92 )?

One of the things no respondent has yet responded is that the streak, by definition, includes: winning, four years in a row, the NCAA tournament; playing and defeating pods of top-ranked teams; consistently winning the conference tournament; and much more. It is not 92 straight wins against East Carolina.

Uconn takes on all comers, most whom whom are trying their best to out-recruit, and outplay UCONN. To win the championship for their own, fine universities. When someone does defeat UCONN, it will be a sign that women's basketball, at Division I level, is getting much better.

The streak means much more than a lot of wins.

 

[UcMiami]

When someone does defeat UCONN, it will be a sign that women's basketball, at Division I level, is getting much better.

Not really - because it is quite possible that like after the last steak of 47 straight wins (the fifth longest in the women's game) ended with the loss to Stanford, UConn went out and started this current streak. So should this team lose this year either during the regular season or the NCAA, there is no guarantee that they will not start a new streak that could reach into many games.

And the other reality is that it is not just UConn, but ND, Baylor, and SC are all doing similar things - UConn has gone 92-0 but those teams have nearly kept pace with 84+ wins during the same period. It is possible that Baylor would beat UConn in the NCAA at which point they are likely riding a 36+ game wining streak into next year with a team that should be getting stronger as their young'uns continue to mature. They would not be playing UConn until the NCAAs next year and could easily be well into the 70s by then. ND was at 38-0 when we met for the finals a few years ago. Miss State I think losses to SC twice this year, but I could be wrong in which case they could be entering the NCAAs with 30+ wins and no losses and if they prevailed they too would enter next year with a 38 game winning streak.

While parity has not entered the WCBB universe as a whole what we are seeing is an expansion of the teams that 'get it' to 5 or 6 at the top end, and we are also seeing an expansion in the teams in the next tier that are competent and talented - that universe from 7-40 that can compete with almost everyone. Some of them do it because of the talent they recruit, while others are talent challenged but really well coached.

 

[j66kicker]

Small blurb in 1/23/17 SI (print edition) "Go Figure" section: