As someone from Connecticut, I have to defend the UConn record. But I’m not much of a sports fan, so I’m going to have to borrow most of my argument from elsewhere. The New York Times points out, “The streaks have come at similar times in the development of men’s and women’s basketball. This is the 30th season that the N.C.A.A. has sponsored women’s basketball and a women’s tournament. That same time frame occurred in 1968 in the men’s game — right in the middle of U.C.L.A.’s dominance.” The same article also says, “UConn has defeated 16 top-10 teams during its run, compared with 10 for U.C.L.A, and regularly schedules top teams in nonconference games. During most of the Wooden era, the N.C.A.A. tournament was limited to 25 teams and one per conference — not 64 teams and all of the top challengers, as it is today. And most of those U.C.L.A. teams had to play only opponents from Western states until the Final Four.” (Although another article laments the fact that the haven’t played Tennessee during the past couple of years, because Pat Summitt was unhappy with the tactics used by UConn to recruit Maya Moore.)
And here’s a column from the Los Angeles Times arguing that it’s a pointless comparison.
Both of these things are irrelevant. If I play basketball against my 4 year old cousin do I get to say “look at how long the game has had to advance, this is impressive!”
The argument is that, say, #10 teams in women’s sports are horrible. They’re only #10 in relation to even shittier teams. That’s not so in men’s sports. There is enough talent to get more than a handful of good teams.
Wow! Tell that to ESPN that was playing up the pre-game for #89 all day as if they were breaking UCLA’s record (hence my OP). They also used the top 10 comparison but is that fair if there are let’s say 3 top teams in women’s basketball? Someone has to be #4.
As some of you have pointed out, it’s all about relative competition. Is the competition UConn faces in today’s women’s game equivalent to the amount of competition that UCLA faced during their streak? Does the fact that UConn had only 2 single-digit wins during their streak enter into the discussion at all?
IMO, the only proper comparison between the two streaks has to go a least one level deeper than the 88 games vs 90 games.
Obviously, womens CBB depth is nowhere near depth of Mens CBB in 2010. But I think the gap shirnks greatly if the you consider the depth of 2010 Women’s Basketball with the Depth of Mens CBB from 40 yrs ago. I still think the Mens CBB depth of 1970 is deeper than 2010 but not as much.
Another thing to consider is Stanford took on all comers, all the time. Their schedule is littered with the best of the SEC, ACC, Big 12, and PAC-10 conference fro their non-conference games. UCLA probably played a lot of non-conference cupcakes and didn’t go against the best teams from across the country.
This years OOC schedule for UCONN includes:
#2 Baylor #13 Ohio State #25 FSU #9 Stanford #10 UNC #3 Duke