Gus Mahler
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By my calculations Saniya Chong has now played on UConn teams over three-plus years that have won 119 out of 120 games, for a winning percentage of 99.17%. Not bad. I know of no other player in the annals of college basketball, men’s or women’s, who has ever accrued such a record.*
Of course it is fragile and probably won’t last much longer. But if this year’s team could manage to lose no more than three games, her loss total would equal Maya’s class and she could say she beat her chum Stewie’s class by one on the loss side. And, she is still in the running for winning four championships herself.
Yes, I am quite aware that the same points hold for Tierney Lawlor. Tierney is wonderful and is a great asset to the UConn program. Her escapades on the bench alone are worth the price of admission. She is, however, a former walk-on who was gifted with a scholarship for her contributions to the team. That was a tremendous gesture by Geno and I fully support it.
I focus on Saniya though because she earned a scholarship offer by virtue of her advanced play in high school and her apparent potential, and because she accepted that offer in good faith with all the attendant pressures, obligations, and responsibilities. Among others these include the pressures a scholarship athlete faces normally, plus the pressure of being the only member of a class that followed immediately an historically great class, plus the pressure of playing behind several multi-year All-Americans. She has successfully negotiated these pressures so far and is now as a senior a valued member of the current team. For these reasons I feel Saniya has much more ownership of the record. Of course they will share it, no matter what it ends up being, but it is Saniya who has by far the most skin in the game.
In any event, it’s a pretty darn spiff record with a little bit of upside remaining. I wonder what it will be in the end.
*Larry Farmer of UCLA went 89-1 in an era when freshmen were ineligible.
Of course it is fragile and probably won’t last much longer. But if this year’s team could manage to lose no more than three games, her loss total would equal Maya’s class and she could say she beat her chum Stewie’s class by one on the loss side. And, she is still in the running for winning four championships herself.
Yes, I am quite aware that the same points hold for Tierney Lawlor. Tierney is wonderful and is a great asset to the UConn program. Her escapades on the bench alone are worth the price of admission. She is, however, a former walk-on who was gifted with a scholarship for her contributions to the team. That was a tremendous gesture by Geno and I fully support it.
I focus on Saniya though because she earned a scholarship offer by virtue of her advanced play in high school and her apparent potential, and because she accepted that offer in good faith with all the attendant pressures, obligations, and responsibilities. Among others these include the pressures a scholarship athlete faces normally, plus the pressure of being the only member of a class that followed immediately an historically great class, plus the pressure of playing behind several multi-year All-Americans. She has successfully negotiated these pressures so far and is now as a senior a valued member of the current team. For these reasons I feel Saniya has much more ownership of the record. Of course they will share it, no matter what it ends up being, but it is Saniya who has by far the most skin in the game.
In any event, it’s a pretty darn spiff record with a little bit of upside remaining. I wonder what it will be in the end.
*Larry Farmer of UCLA went 89-1 in an era when freshmen were ineligible.
