By Chris O’Grady
On Sunday, Feb. 7, when most sports fans were restlessly anticipating the Super Bowl, Freedom Hall played host to arguably the most talented team it will see all year. No, you didn’t miss the Lakers. But the University of Connecticut women dismantled the Cards 84-38, in yet another highlight of the most dominant team in all of sports.
Geno Auriemma’s Huskies have taken the guesswork out of the game. The women have won 66 games in a row, and counting. These wins date back to last year, which ended with a national championship victory over your Louisville Cardinals. The classic mantra of sports-lovers is that anyone can win any day. There’s surprise, shock, awe; the underdog can pull it off. Try telling that to the last 66 teams to play UConn.
In a sport still trying to catch wind under its wings, this kind of dominance by one team may be doing more harm than good. College programs are desperate for attendance figures to support these teams, but who wants to go when the outcome is already known? Their record would seem to indicate that amateur tennis players have a better chance of beating Roger Federer than other teams do of beating UConn. Sure Tiger Woods dominated golf for the better part of a decade, but half the world was kept on the edge of their seats when Rocco Mediate took him to a playoff hole.
Just imagine the recruiting pitches of all the other schools in NCAA Division I. Well, you’ve got a great chance to compete for second. In fact, one of the greatest women’s basketball players of the last decade, U of L’s own Angel McCaughtry, only had this opportunity. Throughout last year’s tournament it seemed teams were competing for the right to second place. Even in the championship game, UConn ran all over the very talented Cardinals.
UConn doesn’t even play close games. Every one of these last 66 has been won by double-digits, and 11 have been by more than 40 points. No team has had such a wide margin between the closest contenders—not Michael Jordan’s Bulls or Kobe Bryant’s Lakers. Larry Bird had Magic Johnson, the Yankees have the Red Sox, but the Huskies have yet to find a worthy opponent.
While this may be fun for the team, it is killing the sport. At a time of such flux, when fans need to be rushing to the game in droves, this hegemony is sucking interest dry. Until a program can rise to meet UConn’s level, the only interesting story left is: Can anyone beat the Huskies?
