Doc: UConn’s success speaks volumes on evolution of women’s game – Cincinnati.com

Connecticut Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma looks on from the sideline.(Photo: USA TODAY Sports/David Butler II)

After winning for the 100th straight time last week, the UConn womens basketball team almost lost at Tulane Saturday, which would have been like pizza losing to lima beans.

The Green Wave cut the Huskies' lead to two twice in the last 1:15, but missed its final three shots. What would have been an epic upset became instead consecutive win No. 101 for Connecticut, 63-60. Still, the Tulane women did something almost no one else has been able to do since UConns streak began on Nov. 17, 2014:

Made a UConn game compelling.

Took it off the assembly line of Ws. Made it more than another Globetrotters win over the Washington Generals. Made it competitive.

Count me among the legions fawning over Connecticuts streak, which is now 13 games longer than anything John Wooden achieved. Excellence and the attendant work required should never be taken for granted. UConn lost its three best players this season they went 1-2-3 in the WNBA draft and was picked No. 3 in the country yet still rules the world, as if by habit.

Greatness is making the difficult look routine. If there were a word higher than greatness, wed use it in this case. The Huskies dont have to apologize for being 101-0. Everyone else does.

In the process of creating a kingdom all its own, Connecticut has turned the rest of womens college basketball into sharecroppers. In fashioning singular greatness, the Huskies have shown how far the rest of the league still has to go.

In 2015, 349 Division I schools had womens basketball teams. A total of 5,124 women took part. Each team could have a maximum of 15 players on scholarship. Not one school could find enough good players to at least compete with Connecticut?

Dominance requires partners. Otherwise, its just looking into a mirror. Given that womens college basketball has been ascendant for 25 years at least, why is itthat no school can come up with a roster that can keep UConn coach Geno Auriemma awake at night?

Here are some numbers. Here is statistical proof that UConn is the sneaker of womens basketball and everyone else is the bug:

Of the 100 wins, only two were by fewer than 10 points.

Twenty-five were by 50 points or more. Fifty-six were 40-plus. Fifty-six opponents were props. The average victory margin throughout 100-0: 38.4.

UConn is 9-0 this year against the top 5 teams in the country, winning by an average of 14. Earlier this year, the Huskies beat No. 20 South Florida, 102-37.

Cmon.

This isnt sports. Its performance art.

Why cant anyone give them a game? Why cant anyone given 15 scholarships and playing in a more prestigious league than the AAC recruit a roster capable of making the Huskies nervous? What does this say about the depth and breadth of talent in the womens game?

While we celebrate the greatness, shouldnt we also question the evolution?

The mens game is what it is now because no team dominates. March is Mad because none of us knows whose Moment might Shine. Seasons begin with a usual-suspects list of teams favored to win it all. But not even Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina get automatic invites. And the fight for the crown always involves social strivers and climbers such as Butler, Villanova and, this year, Gonzaga.

There is mystery and genuine hope. Sports cant survive without both. There arent 38-point blowouts game after game.

I asked Scott Rogers about this. He coaches basketball at Mount Notre Dame. As the Cougars head coach, his teams have gone to the state title game three times and won it all twice. When Rogers was as an assistant, the Cougars won another. Rogers even sent a player, Mel Thomas, to UConn.

The frustrating part I see is teams subconsciously saying, If we stay within 10, weve done a good job, "Rogers said. Its almost like the streak has gotten inside the heads of some programs."

Rogers admires what Geno Auriemma has built. Not only does he get the top five players every year, he gets the top five he needs,"he said. But Rogers wonders if the lack of competition might turn off some fans. People dont want to watch people get beat by 50."

Thats the rub for the Huskies. Too good for everyone. Too good for their own sport.

Read the original:

Doc: UConn's success speaks volumes on evolution of women's game - Cincinnati.com