UConn women loss not exactly doom and gloom
There was a tweet ESPNW put out this week about how the Connecticut women's basketball team had lost 2 games in the past 32 days. (Gasp!)
The tweet noted that three years ago, Connecticut (20-3) - No. 5 in the country and 10-0 in conference - was in the middle of a 111-game winning streak.
The insinuation: "What is wrong with UConn?"
Pardon me, but I am literally laughing out loud.
I'm sure 95 percent of college coaches would love to have UConn's "problems," which entail losses to No. 1 South Carolina, No. 3 Oregon and No. 6 Baylor.
As ESPNW points out, Connecticut's 70-52 loss to South Carolina was the Huskies' third by double-digits, which is one more loss by double-digits than they had suffered in the previous decade.
(Double triple gasp!)
This is why I love coach Geno Auriemma and how unscripted and brutally honest he can be with the media.
After the Huskies lost Monday to South Carolina, Auriemma made it clear nothing is wrong with his team, that just maybe there's a lot right with other teams around the country. That maybe other teams are just as good or even better than Connecticut on a given night, and that that's OK, perhaps it's even good for the women's game.
The fact there has been movement within the Top 25 national polls this season and that Connecticut, Oregon, Stanford and South Carolina have all been No. 1 makes the game more interesting.
"I have to say, we're allowed to lose a (gosh darn) game every once in awhile when the other team plays better than us," Auriemma said, pointedly in the South Carolina postgame news conference.
When a reporter then asked where Connecticut fits in the national polls, from say, fourth to 12th, Auriemma again provided some straight talk.
"We were No. 1 earlier in the season ... hard to believe, right?" Auriemma shrugged and quipped only as he can. "So who gives a (bleep) what it is, where you are, 4, 5, 12, 17, 25? Who cares?
"This year, the object is, 'Get through the season, get in the NCAA tournament and see what happens. This year, we're like every other team in the country ... God forbid."
And this is what will make the NCAA tournament fun. Instead of a few teams capable of winning it all, there's legitimately many more.
More movement: It's been an interesting WNBA off-season so far.
First there was news of the new collective bargaining agreement, which improves pay and benefits.
Now, there is all kinds of player movement, and more so than usual by big names.
The biggest move has been former Notre Dame star Skylar Diggins-Smith going from Dallas to Phoenix. Meanwhile, Angel McCoughtry left Atlanta for Las Vegas and DeWanna Bonner is going from Phoenix to Connecticut. Former Sky guard Kristi Toliver is going back to Los Angeles after winning a WNBA championship in Washington last summer.
The Chicago Sky acquired guard Sydney Colson from Las Vegas this week, and traded last year's top draft pick Katie Lou Samuelson to Dallas.
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