Let's get this straight: UConn's win streak amazing at any level
Really? There's a debate about the winning streak of the Connecticut women's basketball team?
Really?
How is 100 straight wins, which No. 1 UConn hit on Monday with a victory over No. 6 South Carolina, not universally revered and respected?
How is 100 straight wins by any team at any level diminished by anyone, in any capacity?
Oh right, it's women's sports. That's how.
It must be because women's basketball is lame. That's how this streak happened.
I don't believe that of course, but some people do.
Because 56 of Connecticut's 100 straight wins have been by 40 or more points and 71 have been by 30 or more points, some people think that there is something not as legitimate about the streak, that the state of the rest of women's college basketball is so pathetic that Connecticut's feat is basically a farce, like an NBA team trying to take credit for beating a kindergarten team 100 straight times.
Let me put this as plainly as I can. No.
There are some really good women's college basketball teams out there. Notre Dame, Maryland, South Carolina, Baylor, Texas, our hometown DePaul Blue Demons, just to name a few.
Connecticut is just way better than all of them. Head and shoulders better.
That speaks to Connecticut's uncanny greatness, not a patheticness of the entire sport.
Ironically, the Huskies have no preseason all-Americans this season. But they've got a roster full of very talented players who seem to fit head coach Geno Auriemma's style perfectly. They buy into his system and he squeezes every last ounce of talent out of them over their four years.
And so the streak goes on, and on, and on …
Connecticut hasn't lost since November 2014. That's 824 days with nothing but victories. The Huskies boast the third-longest winning streak in the history of all of college sports, behind the Miami men's tennis team (137 wins from 1957 to 1964) and the Penn State women's volleyball team (109 wins from 2007 to 2010).
How can anyone argue that's not impressive or legitimate?
If the Connecticut men's basketball team was in the midst of this streak, no one would question the state of men's college basketball. No one would suggest that the streak was built by taking candy from babies.
If the Chicago Bulls put together a streak like this, no one would say that the rest of the NBA must be pathetic.
A streak of this magnitude in any men's sport would be lauded and appreciated for the spectacular physical, strategic and mental focus that is demanded day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year to maintain it.
The haters out there want to take that away from the Connecticut women.
Shame on them.
Fair sports fans, and I know you're out there, know better.
Fair sports fans appreciate greatness, in all forms.
pbabcock@dailyherald.com
Follow Patricia on Twitter: @babcockmcgraw