I wanted to respond to a few BY posters in one post, to make my point. And I am responding with due reverence, as I want to clarify what I have said and what I (and others) have not said.
1) No one on this thread - not me, not
@Fightin Choke , not any poster - said that Muffet McGraw/Notre Dame was on the same level as Geno Auriemma/UConn.
2) No one on this thread - not me, not
@Fightin Choke , not any poster - tried to argue that Muffet McGraw/Notre Dame had achieved parity with Geno Auriemma/UConn.
3) No one on this thread - not me, not
@Fightin Choke , not any poster - tried to argue that the overall series with Muffet McGraw/Notre Dame has not been dominated by Geno Auriemma/UConn, as shown by UConn's overall record and overall winning percentage in the series.
4) What people - including me,
@Fightin Choke , and others have stated is that in looking at recent history, Notre Dame has
emerged as a rival to UConn and that the UConn/Notre Dame rivalry has been the best in the sport of women's basketball for the last nine years. As I explained, in those nine seasons, UConn has an overall record of 331-14. Notre Dame is responsible
for 8 of those 14 losses. And in six of those nine seasons, the teams met in the Final Four. UConn has five NCAA titles in the last nine years; in the four years when UConn did not win and lost in the Final Four, three of the losses were to Notre Dame.
In sum, the overall record in the series vastly favors UConn.
This is undisputed - and has not been disputed by me or any poster in this thread (to the best of my reading comprehension). By my count, Connecticut leads the series, 36–12. But in the last decade, Notre Dame has again emerged (FF in 1997; National Title in 2001) as a powerhouse in women's basketball and has proven to be a true competitor for UConn.
5) Which leads me to my next point - a rivalry does not have to be even to be a rivalry. Overall, North Carolina leads Duke, 136–111, in head-to-head meetings in men's basketball. At the end of the 1996-1997 season, UNC led the series 118-79 (nearly 60 percent); Duke has dominated the last two decades in the series, winning 32 of 50 matchups (64 percent). Was Duke any less of a rival for UNC back in 1997, when UNC won 60 percent of the matchups? Is UNC any less of a rival for Duke, who has won 64 percent of the team's meetings in the last two decades.
Using another example, at the end of 2016, Rafael Nadal led in head-to-head matchups with Roger Federer, 23-11, before Fed won all four matchups in 2017 to cut the deficit to 23-15. Was Federer not a rival to Nadal before 2017? Surely that is not the case. They have been rivals for the better part of the past decade - and rightfully so.
My point is that there does not need to be an equal percentage of wins/losses for a team to be another team's rival.
6) As an aside, I recall (from back in 2001, on the ESPN board) a number of Tennessee fans saying that UConn was not TN's rival, when Tennessee had 6 national titles and UConn had 2. And I recall similar comments from TN fans on The Summitt back around 2007/2008, when TN decided to end the series with UConn, when said TN fans/The Summitt board posters claimed that UConn/Geno Auriemma were not rivals of Tennessee/Pat Summitt -- and even if they were rivals, said TN fans/The Summitt board posters asserted they were not on Tennessee's/Pat Summitt's level, as Summitt was winning her 7th and 8th national titles (with 18 Final Four appearances), while UConn, at the time, had 5 national titles (and 8 Final Four appearances)
And at the time (2007/2008), I noted -- and repeatedly stated on The Summitt - that UConn WAS TN's rival, that UConn WAS on TN's level, and that the UConn-TN rivaly was the best in the sport.
Now, would
@JonathanXIV ,
@Bajan Best , or
@Golden Husky (picking the three of you, since I am responding to your posts) claim that TN is
currently a better/bigger rival for UConn than Notre Dame, as the series is closer (UConn leads, 13-9) and the total number of national titles is closer (UConn has 11 national titles and 19 Final Four appearances; Tennessee has 8 national titles and 18 Final Four appearances), even though the schools have not played since January 2007? I do not believe so (but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong). Would
@JonathanXIV ,
@Bajan Best , or
@Golden Husky agree that Notre Dame has proven to be
better competition for UConn in the last decade than TN and that, in the last nine years (the time frame I mentioned in my initial post), Notre Dame (UConn leads the series in this time frame, 14-8) is UConn's biggest rival, with the possible other exception of Stanford (UConn leads the series in this time frame, 5-2)?
8) Perhaps the issue is semantics. Maybe this is the best way for me to say this:
- In the past nine years, Notre Dame women's basketball has been a rival to UConn, with the matchups between the two schools being the best women's basketball rivalry during this time frame.
- The success of UConn/Geno Auriemma is unrivaled in the sport of women's basketball.
I think that distinction sums this thread up the best.
@ucbart
@CocoHusky
@triaddukefan
@EricLA
The only thing that me and you my good sir disagree on, is the period on which to draw reference. Facts are facts and cant be argued.. Your statement was accurate and so was mine. My question to your response was simply, why look at that specific time period, if you want to look at "recent" why not look at the last 10 games that to me is recent. I am not offended by any means, I am just amused..
