I've tried to come up with more than a dozen different leads for this story and none of them are sticking. UConn has won 88 straight games and now, tonight, they're on the verge of surpassing a record set by UCLA 36 years ago and winning number 89.
You can think what you want about that. Go anywhere on the Internet and you'll probably find a different opinion. It's amazing, it's nothing special because of competitive balance, it shouldn't be compared to UCLA, it should be, and on, and on, and on. I can't tell you what to think, but I can tell you what I think.
Whether they end their streak with 88, 89, or 189 wins, what the UConn women have done is a monumental achievement. This is the combined effort of three different teams that fought night in and night out to make sure their opponent, no matter how big or small, never got the best of them. As I wrote on Sunday, 88 wins is a special number in basketball. In terms of what it means for UConn to win this many games, feel free to give it as much or as little significance as you want. I'm not going to make a value judgement on how this compares to UCLA. I don't think it does a lot of good to say that either one is better than the other. They're both monuments to hard work, skill and excellence, and both deserve all the recognition they'll get.
The Huskies tip off tonight at 7 on ESPN2 and ESPN3. If you get ESPNU, pregame coverage is already underway. This is your OpenThread. Join us for some history. Go Huskies.