Welcome back, college basketball! Go #Duke and Go #LadyVols!
It’s @missarob43 week! The baby is 33wks today! @TerryRains claims Duke alum for all the baby’s milestones but I claim a #LadyVol this time!
Legendary figure in women’s college basketball, Debbie Ryan, steps down as head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers.
As a young girl growing up in Virginia, I dreamed of playing for Coach Ryan one day. I still laugh to myself when I recall how upset I was when the Tennessee Lady Vols defeated UVA in 1991 for the National Championship. Also, it’s worth mentioning that to this day, I still think Dawn Staley, UVA’s point guard at the time, is one of the greatest players to have ever played basketball. Isn’t it funny how things turn out sometimes? I mean, at the time, I would have never guessed in a million years that I’d one day bleed orange and white, but fortunately, as fate would have it, I do. Nonetheless, it is hard to imagine someone taking Debbie Ryan’s place as she has been the coach for 34 years, which is only 4 years shy of the entire program’s existence. Best of luck to her in the future as she has been an inspiration to young women everywhere!
Above: Lady Vols Celebrate by Singing Rocky Top
Congrats to Lady Vols for being regular season and SEC tournament champs!
Enjoying watching ESPN’s Gameday at “The Summitt!” First men’s and women’s college doubleheader! Go Big Orange!
Update: Both team’s got the W against Vandy! Woot woot!
52 > 90. Way to go, #Stanford! I suppose I will have to take solace in #UConn losing tonight since my #Vols couldn’t pull out the bowl win.
88 Wins: Husky Women Feast on Cupcake Schedule
From 1971-1974, the UCLA men’s basketball team set the record of 88 consecutive wins and it has remained unchallenged for many years. They were led through this journey by one of the greatest coaches of all time, John Wooden. Coupled with this streak, he also led UCLA to 10 NCAA national championships in 12 years. Currently at 87 wins, UConn is extending the most consecutive wins streak in women’s basketball. (On a side note, the Huskies remain far short of the 131 straight games that Wayland Baptist won from 1953 to 1958, which was nearly three decades before the NCAA began sponsoring women’s basketball.) Today, UConn also has the opportunity to tie John Wooden’s college basketball record of 88 wins. On the surface, UConn’s journey appears quite remarkable, but frankly, the feat isn’t particularly remarkable under closer scrutiny.
First, let me say: Yes, I am a Lady Vols fan. Yes, I admit I am quite biased. Yes, I hate UConn more than any other team in any other sport. Yes, I used the word ‘hate’ and yes, I meant it.
Now that everything’s out in the open, let’s take a look at the evil empire’s streak: In November 2008, UConn unknowingly began its streak against Georgia Tech. With that win and 86 consecutive ones later, UConn has also won two back-to-back titles. Sure, I know that sounds impressive, but from a scheduling perspective I’d like to point out that UConn has a tendency to play cupcakes. Of their 87 wins, only 20 of those were against top 25 ranked opponents, which means that only 22% of those games were not against pansies. If you take an even deeper look at those 20 games against top 25 opponents, 11 of those games were required as in-conference match-ups. Thus, UConn has scheduled awhopping 9 out-of-conference top 25 games over the last 2.5 years. This equates to approximately 3.6 tough games per season for UConn.
Now, if you were to compare the same stats to a team like Tennessee, you’ll find UT played 28 games against top 25 ranked opponents. Only 12 of those were from within the SEC, resulting in almost double the number of out-of-conference games as UConn.
Anyway, it’s time to close this post as it’s already too much time to dedicate to UConn. Gag!
Final thoughts: I think UConn needs to stop playing such a cupcake schedule and schedule higher caliber out-of-conference opponents. Only then would such a ‘streak’ be worth talking about!
