All Streaks Come to an End

Geno during UConn's last loss...
in 2008 semis against Stanford

90 straight games. 998 days since their last loss. The same team that defeated them last was the one that stopped the streak.

The Stanford Cardinal put a halt to the UConn women's hoops team streak of 90 consecutive wins last evening. A streak that may never be duplicated in the basketball record books.

I find it refreshing that after taking the loss, UConn coach Geno Auriemma not only took the time to converse with ESPN's Jimmy Dykes, but Auriemma also voiced a couple of astute facts.

"At some point reality had to set in, and today reality set in," Auriemma said. "I'm not destroyed about it. Winning that many games in a row, it's unheard of..."

"...When you see what happens tonight and how it happened, I think you can appreciate it even more what it took to get to that point and how many things can go wrong and how you can have bad nights," Auriemma said.

It really is difficult to appreciate a feat so excellent when you're caught up in it. Now that it's over, Auriemma will go back to the drawing board and embark his squad on another streak.

And that's what Geno does best. He's constantly motivating his young team. Being top dog for so long should serve as a motivating tool in itself. You get every team's best shot night in, night out. After a while, the mental aspect of the game should become a grind. Not to Auriemma. That's when he coaches his best.


And I love that he didn't lay the loss entirely on his team. He appropriately pointed out the play of his opponent.

"I thought we let it get away from us," Auriemma said. "I think the atmosphere and what was going on and when Maya couldn't get going early. I think it affected the rest of our guys. We just didn't play like ourselves. Give credit to Stanford. I think they played an unbelievably good game."

And what a game Stanford guard Jeanette Pohlan had. She played all 40 minutes, scored 31 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and dished out 6 assists. In a game that had All-Everything Maya Moore donning the opposing uniform, Pohlan snagged the spotlight from Moore.

It was Pohlan's night...and a night for Stanford.

But the bigger question may be what does this do for women's college hoops? There's no longer a streak for fair weather women's hoops fans to monitor. Will those that were watching solely to see if the streak would still continue to tune in?

As I have previously stated, I'm not a huge basketball fan. I have to admit that I watched for the sole purpose of the result. I have no interest in one team over the other.

What I'm saying is that I most likely will not watch again until tourney time or until there's another blockbuster matchup. And I hope these two square off again.