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Message: [QUOTE="CamrnCrz1974, post: 2457487, member: 1052"] Before Skylar Diggins arrived at Notre Dame, Muffet McGraw had two Final Four appearances and won the 2001 national title. McGraw's last [U]eight years[/U] (starting with Skylar Diggins' first year in South Bend; ending with the 2016-2017 season): [LIST] [*]269 wins (33.625 wins per year) against 30 losses (3.75 losses per year) [*].8996655 winning percentage [*]Five Final Four appearances [*]Four National Runners-Up [*]Six conference (two Big East, four ACC) regular season titles [*]Five conference (one Big East, four ACC) tournament championships [/LIST] As an aside, in the last six years (only two of which were part of the Diggins era), McGraw had 209 wins (34.833 wins per year) and 16 losses (2.667 losses per year) for a winning percentage of .9288889. During the same time, Geno Auriemma had 220 wins (36.667 wins per year) and 11 losses (1.8333 losses per year), for a winning percentage of .95238. In these six years, the two schools played 13 game (with UConn winning 7 and Notre Dame wining 6). Of those 11 losses in six years, 6 are from Notre Dame; only Baylor (twice) has more than one win against UConn during that time frame. Now, should McGraw have won the title in 2011, instead of Texas A&M? Remember, to get to the championship game, Notre Dame ended the career of the great Maya Moore. In 2012, Notre Dame again defeated UConn in the Final Four, but lost to Brittney Griner, Odyssey Sims, and an undefeated Baylor team. And in 2014 and 2015, her teams lost to UConn with the Stewart/Jefferson/Tuck trifecta. For her career, Muffet McGraw has 7 Final Four appearances, five appearances in the national title game, and one national title. At some point, we need to stop talking about number of titles and reward sustained excellence. I look at it this way... [LIST] [*]Serena Williams has 23 Grand Slam titles (7 Australian, 3 French, 7 Wimbledon, 6 US Open). She has made 29 GS finals and has won a staggering 79.3 percent of GS finals. Serena has reached the final four of GS tournaments 34 times and made 29 finals, meaning if she reaches the final four of a major, over 85 percent of the time she will also reach the final. Again, [I][U]staggering[/U][/I]. [*]Venus Williams has 7 Grand Slam titles (5 Wimbledon, 2 US Open). She has made 16 Grand Slam finals and the final four of 23 major tournaments. Her record in GS finals is 7 wins and 9 losses; 7 of those losses were to Serena Williams. [/LIST] Venus Williams is a Hall of Fame player. She is one of the all-time greatest female tennis players. With doubles and mixed doubles, she has as total of 23 major titles. She has been an elite player for 20 years and despite injuries, personal tragedies, and setbacks, she still continues to be an elite player and one of the all-time greats. But Venus Williams is not Serena Williams. And she is not Serena Williams [I][U]because no one else is[/U][/I]. This is why Serena Williams is Serena Williams - the greatest player of all time. Muffet McGraw may not have the same number of titles as Pat Summitt, Kim Mulkey, and/or Tara Vanderveer (side question...with my analogy, would they be the Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert of this discussion?). But, like Venus Williams, she has demonstrated sustained excellence over a consistent period of time (with some dips here and there), won at the highest level, made multiple Final Four and national title game appearances, and, to be blunt, [I][U]the only coach[/U][/I] in the last 8 years whose teams have provided [I][U]consistent challenges[/U][/I] to Geno Auriemma and the UConn juggernaut. In other words, [U][I]there is nothing wrong with being Venus Williams[/I][/U] - an elite player, a Hall of Fame player, and one of the best in the history of the sport. [/QUOTE]

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