Good Morning POU! This week we will take a look at the best of the women’s teams as they head into the Final Four of March Madness.
The UConn Huskies are the most successful women’s basketball program in the nation, having won a record 11 NCAA Division I National Championships and a women’s record four in a row, from 2013 through 2016, plus over 50 conference regular season and tournament championships. They have taken part in every NCAA Tournament since 1989; as of the end of the 2018–19 season, this is the third-longest active streak in Division I.
UConn owns the two longest winning streaks (men’s or women’s) in college basketball history. The longest streak, 111 straight wins, started with a win against Creighton on November 23, 2014, and ended on March 31, 2017 when a buzzer-beater at the end of overtime caused a 66–64 loss in the 2017 NCAA Final Four to Mississippi State. The second streak counts 90 consecutive wins, including two undefeated seasons (2008–09 and 2009–10), and was delimited by two losses against Stanford, the first on April 6, 2008 in the National Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, and the second – three seasons later – on December 19, 2010. The Huskies also own the longest winning streak in regular-season games in college history; after an overtime loss to Stanford on November 17, 2014, they won their next 126 regular-season games until a 68–57 loss to Baylor on January 3, 2019.
UConn’s current head coach is Luigi “Geno” Auriemma, who joined the team in 1985. Coach Auriemma is one of the most successful coaches in college basketball: his 1119–144 (.886) record as of April 2021 represents the highest winning percentage among NCAA basketball coaches (minimum 10 seasons), any level, men’s or women’s, while ranking him second in all-time women’s wins behind current Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.
UConn has also been one of the leaders in women’s basketball attendance; the team plays its home games at both the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs and the XL Center in Hartford.
The list of UConn women’s alumni is a Basketball Hall of Fame dream: Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, Tina Charles, Rebecca Lobo, Sue Bird, Kara Wolters