Last Updated: November 15, 2023, 02:30 IST
Geno Auriemma has seen a whole bunch of gamers come by way of UConn over the previous 30 years.
The names have modified from Rebecca Lobo to Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart — the usual has not. The eighth-ranked Huskies handed Tennessee on Monday, incomes a spot in The Associated Press ladies’s basketball ballot for a document 566th consecutive week, breaking a tie with the Lady Vols for essentially the most all-time.
“Players come and go and eras come and go, but what we’re most proud of is that at Connecticut we expect being in that spot,” Auriemma mentioned. “That’s good and bad.”
During their 30-12 months run, the Huskies have by no means been worse than No. 18 — the staff’s rating within the preseason ballot of 1993-94 when the streak began.
“Like many things that this UConn program has accomplished over the past 30 years, this ranked streak is something that no one on that team could have fathomed,” mentioned Lobo, who starred on the staff that began the run and now’s an analyst for ESPN. “And to realize that UConn hasn’t been ranked worse than No. 18 in that time, I mean c’mon, that’s not normal.”
The Huskies have received a document 11 nationwide championships since that streak started and have been No. 1 within the ballot 250 of the weeks. UConn has additionally been within the prime 10 for an unbelievable 548 of the 566 weeks, together with a run of 313 straight polls.
“The most impressive part of UConn’s excellence is the way they’ve sustained it,” Lobo mentioned. “Others have had great teams and impressive runs of success, but no program other than Tennessee has come close to touching what Geno and UConn have done. thirty years is just ridiculous.”
UConn has had many eye-popping streaks over the previous 30 years which have all ended, together with a 111-sport profitable streak; 1,083 consecutive video games with out again-to-again losses; and their run of 14 consecutive Final Four appearances.
The ballot streak will finish too in some unspecified time in the future, however for now Auriemma will benefit from the run.
“We’re pretty proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish,” Auriemma mentioned. “Knowing what players we want to get and the players that buy into this is what the expectation is here. This is how high the bar is set here.”
No. 20 Maryland has the second-longest energetic streak, showing within the ballot now for 251 consecutive weeks. The Huskies will welcome the Terrapins on Thursday night time.
TOP NOTCH TEAM
South Carolina’s first sport because the No. 1 staff can be on Thursday in opposition to in-state rival Clemson. The Gamecocks subsequent three video games are at house earlier than visiting North Carolina for the ACC/SEC Challenge on Nov. 30.
TAKING A STEP BACK
After the opening week noticed a plethora of prime ranked matchups, there are solely two video games this week that function Top 25 groups enjoying in opposition to one another. The Maryland-UConn sport and No. 4 Utah visits twenty first-ranked Baylor on Tuesday. The Utes are the primary prime-5 staff to go to Baylor for the reason that 2018-19 season.
STREAK’S OVER
Saint Peter’s ended a 32-sport dropping streak by beating Central Connecticut State 61-57 on Monday night time. The Peacocks misplaced their remaining sport of the 2022 season after which went 0-30 final 12 months. Saint Peter’s misplaced its opener this season to UMass earlier than lastly ending the dropping skid.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
