Connecticut 102 South Florida 37 (Womens)

Connecticut gets their 90th straight win. How is there such a separation in talent in women's basketball? Its difficult for me to fathom how a number 20 team with only one loss can lose by almost 70.

For any basketball team to win 90 straight is unbelievable in this day and age.

They also play the toughest non conference schedule in the country.

They are 15-0, and 9 of the teams they have beaten are currently in the top 25.

Five of those nine are top 10, and he still has #5 South Carolina on the schedule. Geno doesn't dodge anybody.

Connecticut gets their 90th straight win. How is there such a separation in talent in women's basketball? Its difficult for me to fathom how a number 20 team with only one loss can lose by almost 70.

 

For any basketball team to win 90 straight is unbelievable in this day and age.

I think the problem is there is a dearth of top-level talent in the women's game. The best players end up in only a few places, Connecticut in particular. Those teams tend to dominate the game, obviously, but because the talent gap is wide there is no real ability for the lower teams to knock off the top teams.

On the men's side, there are far greater numbers of top-level players and they are more spread out. That allows the mid-level (and occasionally even low-level) teams to knock off the best teams, although when it comes to championships the high-level talent teams always win.

Gotta love parity!

Gotta love parity!

I think we'll have to settle for parity among the other 300 teams.

A friend said you can take UCONN now to win the championship or every other team.

I think the problem is there is a dearth of top-level talent in the women's game. The best players end up in only a few places, Connecticut in particular. Those teams tend to dominate the game, obviously, but because the talent gap is wide there is no real ability for the lower teams to knock off the top teams.

 

On the men's side, there are far greater numbers of top-level players and they are more spread out. That allows the mid-level (and occasionally even low-level) teams to knock off the best teams, although when it comes to championships the high-level talent teams always win.

Agreed with the above, but add to that the fact that the girls stay four years. In the guys game teams with less talent can make up for that fact by being 1-3 years older than star Freshmen and having the experience of playing with each other for lingers periods of time.

Taking nothing away from UCONN, but they have the best players playing with each other for multiple years. This year is probably even more impressive because they had Breanna Stewart the past four years.

The USF ladies played horribly last night. I think they shot something like 20% from the floor. They could not get anything to fall. They also had 20 turnovers, averaging less than 8 a game coming in.

I said after the Tulsa game Saturday night, which USF won by 20, that if they played like that against UConn, they'd get run over. However, I did not expect this kind of dubbing. USF was 13-1 coming into the game. And over the last few years, USF has been the only team in the American Conference to remotely challenge UConn. Last year, they were the only team in the nation to lead UConn at halftime and that was up there. They still ended up losing by 20, though.

Even Geno said the game last night was the most complete game his team had played this year. They shot almost 68% for the game, 75% in the first half. I heard it said that Coach A wanted to make a statement, because he was irked that ESPN had handed off the game, that would tie the NCAA record for most consecutive wins, to CBSSport Channel. Well he did that.

It will be interesting to see how the ladies respond to this beat down when they host ECU this Saturday night.

I'm curious to hear what Jose Fernandez says in his pregame talk in the Hardwood Club, that night.

I think the problem is there is a dearth of top-level talent in the women's game. The best players end up in only a few places, Connecticut in particular. Those teams tend to dominate the game, obviously, but because the talent gap is wide there is no real ability for the lower teams to knock off the top teams.

 

On the men's side, there are far greater numbers of top-level players and they are more spread out. That allows the mid-level (and occasionally even low-level) teams to knock off the best teams, although when it comes to championships the high-level talent teams always win.

There are only about 10-15 top level players that are available every year and only 2 to 4 elite players. UConn usually gets half of both categories. I see nothing to stop them from winning out and getting another Championship. I think that will set the consecutive winning streak record to 113.

The problem is there are relatively very few little girls who dream of playing basketball, as opposed to the boys. The pool of talent is just not there.

UCONN gets the best players in the nation every year, all 5 stars, and he stockpiles them. Simple as that.

It would have been lovely if UK could have kept John Wall or Anthony Davis for 4 years but the top teams in the men's game don't have that luxury. They did back in John Wooden's day but those days are long gone.

I knew they would be good as always, but man they lost a ton of talent off of last year's team. Top 3 players in WNBA draft.

I thought they might struggle just a little bit with their schedule.

Geno is even surprised with how THIS year's team is playing. I think he is having as much fun with this team as any he has coached. Remember, they were ranked #3 when the season started. They were not considered the lock they normally are due to all the talent they lost last year. Geno may be doing his best coaching job this year.

As good as the Golden State Warriors are they still watch film of UCONN's women's team. They watch it for fundamentals, ball movement and the involvement of the entire team at both ends of the floor. Coach A is a master in all facets of the game. They will be in Cincinnati soon to play at UC and it's free to get in. An evening well spent for sure.

Here is another indication of the disparity in talent and how everybody knows it.

USF loses by 67 to number #1 UConn, then beat a top 60 rpi ECU by 31. They lost only one spot in the top 25, dropping from 22 to 23.

Women's basketball is losing appeal to younger players because of softball, volleyball, soccer, and cheerleading.

Those all have beeen around, but they just more appealing to girls.