Notre Dame or Tennessee will Never Break Streak Record

[Wbbfan1]

For Gardler, the daughter of Auriemma's high school coach, the fact that her team is no longer the historical standard bearer for consistent excellence is somewhat disappointing.

"I thought that in maybe 20 years we'd all come back for a Hall of Fame induction. You know, 'they won 90 straight, they were amazing.' But it lasted just a little over five years," Gardler said. "That's such a testament to what kind of machine it is. If I went to practice tomorrow they would be doing the same type of drills, running the same plays. He hasn't changed anything. That's why a UConn team is breaking our record. It will never happen at Notre Dame or Tennessee.

Stars Of UConn's First Streak Not Surprised By Run Of New Group Of Huskies

 

[bags27]

Kelly Faris:
Honestly, it's a great year for it to happen because so many people doubted this team. … It's fitting that they are the group that is able to break it.

 

[oldude]

Great article. The one thing I would respectfully disagree with is Meghan Gardler's comment that, "he (Geno) hasn't changed anything." While the intensity & expectations remain the same, I believe Geno and his staff are constantly making changes in their process.

Just this past year Geno spent time with Greg Popovich & the Spurs. Subsequently he incorporated some changes to what the Huskies did based on what he learned from
Popovich.

The scariest thing for the rest of WBB is that Geno and his staff, after all of their success, are actually getting better at what they do. They have turned a modest gap between the Huskies and everyone else, into a chasm as wide as the Grand Canyon.

 

[chuck.r]

Meghan Gardler:
"My senior year, I just remember feeling so much pressure, but we were so good. Maya [Moore] was hitting her stride. Tina was unbelievable. Kalana [Greene] was killing it. We just meshed well as a group. We had such a high level of confidence that we knew we could win every game and we did win every one by at least 10 until the championship game [a 72-63 win over Notre Dame in Indianapolis]."

Actually, the championship game in question was the 53-47 victory over Stanford, at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio. That was the "20-12" halftime score game.
(I'm not a subscriber so I can't post the correction on their site)

 

[chuck.r]

Great article. The one thing I would respectfully disagree with is Meghan Gardler's comment that, "he (Geno) hasn't changed anything." While the intensity & expectations remain the same, I believe Geno and his staff are constantly making changes in their process.

Just this past year Geno spent time with Greg Popovich & the Spurs. Subsequently he incorporated some changes to what the Huskies did based on what he learned from
Popovich.

The scariest thing for the rest of WBB is that Geno and his staff, after all of their success, are actually getting better at what they do. They have turned a modest gap between the Huskies and everyone else, into a chasm as wide as the Grand Canyon.

In tandem with the coaching process changes/improvements you mention, it appears recruiting efforts have attained a level of consistency. It wasn't that long ago the program had a couple of one-person classes (2009-Kelly Faris, 2013-Saniya Chong) interspersed among blockbuster groups. Since Chong's class, the program has signed 3-4 quality recruit classes each of the last three (and soon to be four) years.

 

[Carnac]

Kelly Faris:
Honestly, it's a great year for it to happen because so many people doubted this team. … It's fitting that they are the group that is able to break it.

I like the mantra this team has adopted with respect to the streak being broken..........................."Not on my watch".

 

[UcMiami]

In tandem with the coaching process changes/improvements you mention, it appears recruiting efforts have attained a level of consistency. It wasn't that long ago the program had a couple of one-person classes (2009-Kelly Faris, 2013-Saniya Chong) interspersed among blockbuster groups. Since Chong's class, the program has signed 3-4 quality recruit classes each of the last three (and soon to be four) years.

I think that is only as good as the next recruiting class kind of situation - it isn't anything that they can realistically plan around, it is dependent on the whims of teenagers.

 

[MilfordHusky]

For Gardler, the daughter of Auriemma's high school coach, the fact that her team is no longer the historical standard bearer for consistent excellence is somewhat disappointing.

"I thought that in maybe 20 years we'd all come back for a Hall of Fame induction. You know, 'they won 90 straight, they were amazing.' But it lasted just a little over five years," Gardler said. "That's such a testament to what kind of machine it is. If I went to practice tomorrow they would be doing the same type of drills, running the same plays. He hasn't changed anything. That's why a UConn team is breaking our record. It will never happen at Notre Dame or Tennessee.

Stars Of UConn's First Streak Not Surprised By Run Of New Group Of Huskies

The hair-pin girl from the Philly suburbs tells it like it is.

 

[pvdoggy]

I am in love

The hair-pin girl from the Philly suburbs tells it like it is.

 

[BigBird]

The hair-pin girl from the Philly suburbs tells it like it is.

Smoly hokes!

 

[chuck.r]

I think that is only as good as the next recruiting class kind of situation - it isn't anything that they can realistically plan around, it is dependent on the whims of teenagers.

No argument here, but I think that reinforces my point - consistent excellence requires consistent quality recruiting (which was the first of ESPN's five points in their article). I don't disagree with "the whims of teenagers", but the program appears lately to self-sustain the kind and character of recruits it desires. Enticing #1 recruits to select Stoors is a regular crap-shoot for sure, but UConn has managed a kind of "every 3 years" rate of success even there. This current squad is a beautiful combination of quality and character recruits at all years levels, with a consensus #1 (KLS) as an important anchor.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Smoly hokes!

LOL you know there's this thing called google? Plenty of pictures of Huskies current and former doing their thing.