Is UConn coach right?

The current UConn women's team is very much like the Walton led UCLA team from 71-74....they dominated the competition because they had the best players (often the very best individual player) and a very, very good coach. They also had spectacular assistant coaches (Denny Crum, Jerry Norman). The difference between UCLA and the second best team was huge....the Walton gang won by an average of 30 points.....UCLA went undefeated in three seasons between 1964 and 1975 and 29-1 in two others - no other team has done that nor will it happen again (except for the '76 Hoosiers - one season only).

Any team that can win this many games in a row, given the turnover in players due to graduation (remember, no one left UCLA to go pro) and the vicissitudes of fate (injuries), deserve the most favorable comparisons.

Regardless of your feelings about Geno or the women's game, this program deserves all the accolades!!!

telling it like it is wrote:

smr wrote:

There was nothing outlandish about what he said, he was right and your post and most of the posts in this thread prove it.

Reread Gen's statement. Geno himself compared the streak to UCLA and said that the only reason it was being hyped was because it was surpassing a men's record. *Geno* was the one who created a stir about this. Remember back to when Pat Summitt passed Dean Smith and Bobby Knight for NCAA wins, did she come out and make any outlandish statement that it was noteworthy because it was breaking records held in men's NCAA?

Watch the video. The way he says it and the hand gesture he makes during the phrase "chasing the men's record" can only be described as either air quotes or dismissing it. He has actually said that the records shouldn't be compared in other interviews.

Pat Summitt's accomplishment is much more of an individual one than the streak, 1,000 wins is because you are a great coach. 89 straight (I'll call tonight's game at half) is partly because you have a great coach but mostly because you have a fantastic group of players. It's a reflection on that core group of players who won the majority of the games (Moore, Charles, Greene) whose accomplishments are being belittled because they are women and some people can't accept that Women's basketball can be talked about in the same breath as Men's.

And don't for a second think Geno doesn't know that his comments are going to cause a stir, pretty good way of taking pressure off his players don't you think?

We'll the game is over and they did it..my first reaction is this: Rebecca Lobo is really tall and has a deeper voice than me.

But really, this is still a game where people go crazy when a girl dunks. He is really a good coach or just a good recruiter?

trialswatcher wrote:

except tha ball bigger in softball, so reaction time aside it is still easier to hit

Except that men can swing faster than women, and a softball bat is thinner than a baseball bat. You're a moroooonnnnnn.

I hope that all of this hoopla highlights what a complete joke NCAA women's basketball is. It's probably the only business in the world that people can demand (and get) 7 figures in compensation to run a business that is guaranteed to lose money.

At some point the PC crowd that runs American colleges is going to have to wake up and pull the plug on losing millions of dollars every year to fund a sport that absolutely nobody cares about. The fact that men's basketball is very popular and generates a lot of revenue shouldn't entitle women's basketball to fly the same chartered flights, stay in the same nice hotels and get treated to all of the other perks of a cash cow sport.

eb white wrote:

At some point the PC crowd that runs American colleges is going to have to wake up and pull the plug on losing millions of dollars every year to fund a sport that absolutely nobody cares about. The fact that men's basketball is very popular and generates a lot of revenue shouldn't entitle women's basketball to fly the same chartered flights, stay in the same nice hotels and get treated to all of the other perks of a cash cow sport.

Not all collegiate sports are played to entertain the public and make money. Take T&F for instance.....

Most aren't and women's basketball is the only one of those that pays coaches and spends money like it does. Which T&F coaches make over a million dollars a year in comp and which T&F teams lose several million dollars a year?

How Geno take the spotlight away from me! Did he not know I hold teams hostage and make them play me so I can knocked out of every game. ARGHHHHH. Farve is venegful on Geno!!!

eb white wrote:

I hope that all of this hoopla highlights what a complete joke NCAA women's basketball is. It's probably the only business in the world that people can demand (and get) 7 figures in compensation to run a business that is guaranteed to lose money.

At some point the PC crowd that runs American colleges is going to have to wake up and pull the plug on losing millions of dollars every year to fund a sport that absolutely nobody cares about. The fact that men's basketball is very popular and generates a lot of revenue shouldn't entitle women's basketball to fly the same chartered flights, stay in the same nice hotels and get treated to all of the other perks of a cash cow sport.

Back up your assertions with statistics. Otherwise they are just BS and you are J Bag.

eb white wrote:

Most aren't and women's basketball is the only one of those that pays coaches and spends money like it does. Which T&F coaches make over a million dollars a year in comp and which T&F teams lose several million dollars a year?

All T&F teams lose money. Provide statistics on one program that runs in the black.

If you were Wilbur, Charlotte would have left you on the chopping block.

I don't know why we can't compare the streaks. I think it is a fair assessment to say the womens game now is on par competitively with where the mens game was 40 years ago.

I don't watch espn other than to see they had the game on this evening when I was at the fitness center. They are only interested in making money and they must feel more people will watch that game than poker or a bunch of guys arguing or whatever it is they would usually show at that time.

this streak is like comparing the dolphins/pats undefeated regular seasons (i know the pats lost the super bowl) to a CFL team going undefeated. No one cares, they're totally different levels. that being said, unless you are a true diehard basketball fan, womens hoops takes 10 years off your life watching it. aside from the uconn women and that big chick from baylor, athletically its a whole different level. they should bring back shaq vs and have him put together a group of scrubs and play the WNBA allstars....is that league even around still? 89-0 is impressive no matter what sport youre in, but not comparable to mens hoops.

in 2008-09 UConn women's basketball LOST $264K, Tennessee LOST $1.7 million and UNC LOST $1.86 million.

Tennessee paid Summit $1.3 million to lose her $1.7 million in '09:

UConn paid Geno $1.3 million to lose his $254K in '09:

This article examines Big 10 women's basketball and the BEST program of the 11 lost $1.4 million:

He also makes the interesting not that UConn's women's basketball revenue last year was identical to its expenses, which normally is a dead giveaway that numbers are being fudged and that they once again lost money.

What is a "J Bag"?

Pauley Pavilion wrote:

eb white wrote:

Most aren't and women's basketball is the only one of those that pays coaches and spends money like it does. Which T&F coaches make over a million dollars a year in comp and which T&F teams lose several million dollars a year?

All T&F teams lose money. Provide statistics on one program that runs in the black.

If you were Wilbur, Charlotte would have left you on the chopping block.

Go back and look up the difference between a declaratory and interrogatory question. I never claimed any T&F teams make money. I did state that T&F, like women's basketball, loses money. However, women's basketball has the unique distinction among non-revenue sports that it pays coaches as if they were revenue sports. Reading comprehension is a bitch. Dealing with the facts is a bitch for some. You have added as much to this discussion as Homer Zuckerman's manure has.

I think Geno's worked up because womens' hoops doesn't get the respect (or earn the revenue) that mens' basketball gets. I also think that his frustration about the attention the streak got is misplaced. 88 is the standard, and that's all we have to go on. 88 is the measure that we all know, so that's what gets the attention. I have no doubt that he's a great coach, but he's a bit of a blowhard.

I dont know of any other sport where we have men and women competing and sharing records. This is just a made up thing to draw attention to Uconn,

Saying Uconn beat UCLA's record is as silly as saying that Usain Bolt holds the Women's WR in the 100m.

I usd to know wrote:

By the way, everyone is ignoring the fact that the Prarie View A&M women's basketball team (I think it was them, anyway) won 130+ games in a row during the 1970's........

Agreed. What record are they breaking? The press and whoever needs to make up their mind and not just say they broke a record when it's convienent to grab attention. If they are breaking the "NCAA College Basketball winning streak" Fine. They have the "NCAA Multi Gender College Basketball Winning Streak." (they have won more consecutive games than any other NCAA team) But they most certaintly don't have the "Women's College Basketball Winning Streak." (Still haven't passed Hanes or Wayland Baptist) -- The NCAA doesn't count these records bc they claim "women's college basketball didn't exist then." Bullshit. NCAA women's college basketball didn't exist. But even though the women played in the AAU many of these teams represeneted colleges and were sponsered by Alumnis of the institution.

If it's okay to compare the talent pool of women's NCAA basketball (UCONN) to men's NCAA basketball (UCLA), then it's perfectly fine to compare the AAU women's basketball in the 1950s to NCAA basketball today; therefore, no women's college basketball winning streak. Sorry.

ktown killa wrote:

Men\'s basketball talent pool = olympic diving pool

Women\'s basketball talent pool = kiddy pool

UConn is just the smart program and coach that decided to spend the day at the kiddy pool picking all the best women.

Amazing feet breaking that record and everything, but they just don\'t have much competition... It\'s easy to win when you have all the best players.

One, they don\'t have all the best players. Do you follow women\'s basketball? There are PLENTY of other top notch \"best\" players on other teams... IE: OSU\'s Sam Prahalis. And regardless, 89 games straight is 89 games straight... doesn\'t matter who you\'re playing.

Give the girls and coach credit where credit is due. Geno is right about the attention they are getting because of a men\'s record... but does it really matter? UCONN has been a dynasty for 2 and a half seasons.

However, let it be known that although UCLA\'s streak is dead... during that time (before/after) they did win 7 (I think...) straight NCAA titles. They won when it counts, even though they weren\'t keeping that streak going. There\'s the prime difference between the two legacies.

How is the UCLA steak "dead"? Give me a break.