I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat around with sports fans having the “different levels of competition” discussion. Could the best high school football team in the country beat an average college team? Could the college national champs hang with a bad NBA team? It’s a fun conversation, but the answer is always “no.” I don’t care how dominant the College World Series champs might have looked… the Pittsburgh Pirates would kick the crap out of them. The levels just aren’t the same.
So why do we insist on comparing things about which there is no comparison?
ESPN has been falling all over themselves this week to tell us about the UConn women’s basketball team and their amazing streak of 89 consecutive wins. I use the word “amazing” here, because that’s what I think it is. It’s amazing to win 89 straight games and the Lady Huskies and their fans should be very proud. We may never see anything like it again in women’s hoops. But ESPN goes a step further. “With its 89th victory, UConn passed the 1971-74 UCLA men's program, which won 88 straight, to claim the longest win streak in NCAA Division I basketball history.”
I’m sorry. It’s just not the same.
To start with, it’s LITERALLY not the same game. It might look the same, but there are differences. The 3-point line is closer. The ball is smaller. But the real difference comes in the level of competition. The UConn women are dominant in a sport that has very little depth. Take a look at their streak. They have AVERAGED 30-point wins for 89 straight games. Very rarely has anyone even been CLOSE to beating them. You could argue that it makes the streak even MORE impressive. I agree. But it also proves why you can’t compare the two streaks.
They got their 89th win last night against a pretty good Florida State team. In fact, FSU was ranked #20 in the country. So obviously that means this would be a real nailbiter and that the streak was really in jeopardy. Um… no. UConn predictably rolled ‘em. It was a 27-point game by halftime. The game that “tied” the UCLA record? A 31-point thumping of the 11th-ranked team in the nation. There is very little competition below the top 5 or so teams in women’s basketball. That means that in a typical season (and postseason) UConn really only will play 2 or 3 games against teams with any realistic chance to beat them. Most of the time it’s just leading lambs to slaughter.
UCLA was tested much more often. Forget 4 or 5 teams in the COUNTRY that are formidable. The Bruins had 4 or 5 teams in their CONFERENCE. It’s apples to oranges.
ESPN got caught up in a local phenomenon that I saw a lot in TV news: the story closest to you is the biggest story. If the baseball and hockey teams are both playing and you happen to be AT the hockey game... there’s a decent chance that you’ll over-inflate the value of that game. It’s only natural – you got a little too excited being in the middle of it.
ESPN – the “worldwide leader in sports” makes their home in Bristol, Connecticut. I guarantee that over the past few weeks as this streak was reaching its apex, folks in Bristol were talking about it – a LOT. You probably couldn’t go anywhere in town without hearing about it. Lady Huskies talk at the grocery store and the hairdresser… at the Blockbuster and the Dairy Queen. Would this story be getting the same kind of ESPN attention if it was the Lady Longhorns team from Austin? I doubt it.
ESPN got a little too excited.
UConn did something remarkable - something that may never be seen again in women’s basketball. But it’s a record that should be reserved for WOMEN’S basketball. UConn has no more to do with UCLA’s record than women’s softball has to do with the New York Yankees.
You may be thinking, “but they’re not even playing the same game!”
Exactly.
