Can I bother you for just second? I need you to stop what you’re doing and applaud those ladies from UConn. Last night they won their 89th consecutive game in a 93 – 62 route over #20 Florida State, which was their 53rd win of at least 30 points during the streak. Maya Moore, who plays like a guy (that’s a compliment) had a career high 41 points in the record setting game. Although they’ve received some recognition, generally I’d say that not many people care. That’s a shame because this is one of the greatest records in the history of sports.
Naturally, simply because it’s women’s sports, people don’t care right off the bat. I get that and I’m not going to waste time telling you that you should pay more attention to women’s sports because I’d be a hypocrite. But here at The Hoop Doctors, we show love where love is due and a few weeks ago I gave you a heads up that the Lady Huskies had just won 80 in a row and were inching closer to UCLA’s record. They just broke the UCLA men’s record of 88 consecutive NCAA basketball wins, which was accomplished in the early 70s. This win puts them all alone in the record books. Many discredit it because they say you can’t compare it to the men’s game. It’s all relative and all that matters is that they have shown dominance for an extended period of time.
What UCLA did was incredible, especially when you consider the number of powerhouse programs during that era. But just think about it for a second. 89 wins in a row. How can that not be the least bit impressive? If I found out that a certain team in curling had 89 wins in a row, at the very least I’d be just a little impressed.
What’s crazy about streaks of this magnitude is that we’re talking about college, where every handful of years, you have a new crop of players. Granted, in the women’s game, they don’t leave early so you have more of an opportunity to build a team, rather than if it was just a bunch of one and done’s like in the men’s game. I definitely hear that argument which is why you will probably never see a modern day men’s program getting anywhere close to this record.
They’ll probably run the table again this year which means they will top 100 in a row. Yes, were talking about women’s sports here, but regardless you can’t deny that this record is very significant.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
