Breaking news: Connecticut's women's basketball team has lost, ending its record-setting 90-game win streak.
Just kidding. About the breaking news part, that is. Stanford beat UConn 71-59 Dec. 30, nearly a month ago.
Beyond my beat covering Ohio women's basketball, I admittedly do not follow collegiate women's basketball constantly. I glance at headlines from time to time and note games of interest. Had I not seen the short story published in my hometown newspaper, it might have taken me a few days to figure out why women's basketball disappeared again.
Many sports fans might not have realized the streak had ended before a few minutes ago.
If you count yourself among those, shame on you. But don't take it too personally: the mainstream media share the blame. Communication theorists have studied the relationship between media supply and public demand for decades, with media and fans blaming each other for what is and is not reported. ESPN ran multiple segments on Brett Favre every hour on SportsCenter, claiming that was what the public wanted. Sports fans, meanwhile, grumbled at the network for its excessive coverage of a washed-up athlete. This phenomenon is true for women's basketball as well.
Exhibit A: When typing UConn into Google, the top results refer to the 8-5 football team, which (somehow) made it to the Fiesta Bowl this year and lost by two dozen, rather than the 16-1 women's basketball team. The football Huskies have five career bowl appearances. UConn's women's basketball has made 17 consecutive trips to the Sweet 16.
Exhibit B: ESPN's website lists the NCAA BB tab among the most popular sports at the top of it's home page. Surprisingly (or not), NCAA BB refers only to men's hoops. Women's BB can be found only beneath the More Sports tab, among golf, lacrosse and high school sports.
Exhibit C: Ohio University's online events calendar listed the men's basketball game as a Dads Weekend event but did not mention the women's game.
Exhibit D: On gameday here at Ohio University, Intercollegiate Athletics hangs a banner at the corner of Richland Avenue and Shafer Street that generically reads Basketball Game Today. But that's only for men's games. When the women take the court, an amended banner reads Women's Basketball Game Today. If the men's team doesn't need a qualifier, why does the women's squad?
That question is at the crux of the most recent debate: does UConn's streak top UCLA's 88-win mark under John Wooden? The trends above suggest not. Huskies coach Geno Auriemma disagrees vehemently and publicly.
But Auriemma also shares part of the blame. UConn has not played rival Tennessee since 2007, meaning the 90-game streak did not include a victory against the Lady Vols. Tennessee has won the last three meetings.
And then there are a few differences between men's and women's hoops that irk me. The men should have a 30-second shot clock to match the women. The same ball should be used in both realms. I just learned this week there is no 10-second backcourt violation rule in women's basketball. That's ridiculous. When the rules match each other, most of this debate should end. But 90 wins are 90 wins, and in every sport except golf, that's better than 88.
- Michael Stainbrook is a sophomore studying journalism and a staff writer for The Post. Send him an e-mail at ms229908@ohiou.edu.
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