SI:AM | UConn Women Complete Yet Another Undefeated Regular Season

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m back from my post-Olympics hibernation. While I was gone, we published the latest in my Stadium Wonders video series. This one covers Hinchliffe Stadium in New Jersey, one of the few remaining ballparks used for Negro Leagues baseball.

In today’s SI:AM:
🦁 What NFL teams can learn from the Lions
⛰️ Rockies try to solve a puzzle
🏈 Offensive linemen to watch

Huskies cruise into March

The UConn women’s basketball team just wrapped up one of the greatest regular seasons in program history—even by the Huskies’ lofty standards.

With an 85–49 win over St. John’s on Sunday, UConn completed a 31–0 regular season, the 11th time the Huskies have entered tournament time unbeaten. Seven out of their previous 10 undefeated regular seasons have ended with national championships.

But UConn has rarely been as dominant as it has been this season. The Huskies have an average margin of victory of 37.8 points per game, the third highest in NCAA women’s history. The top two spots belong to the 2014–15 UConn team (40.6 points per game) and ’15–16 Huskies (39.7).

The only time UConn even came close to losing this season was all the way back on Nov. 21, when it squeaked past Michigan, 72–69. Every other Huskies win this season has come by at least 13 points, including 27 games where UConn won by at least 25 points. No other team in the nation has more than 19 games with a margin of victory that large. The Huskies won 14 games by at least 40 points and six games by at least 50.

“When you are fortunate enough to go through 31 games and win them all, there is something to be proud of,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Sunday. “There is something good about it, and they should feel really good about it.”

Next up for the Huskies is the Big East tournament, which should be little more than a formality. Not only did they win 18 of their 20 conference games this season by more than 30 points, but it’ll essentially be three more home games for the regular season champs. The tournament is being held at Mohegan Sun Arena, 30 miles from the UConn campus.

In many ways, this season has just been a prelude to the NCAA tournament. UConn is the defending national champion, but this team looks a lot different from last year’s title squad. The main difference is that Paige Bueckers, one of the greatest players in the history of this storied program, has graduated and gone on to the WNBA. But even without Bueckers, UConn has been better this season than it was last year. It’s not just the unbeaten record. The Huskies have scored more points per game this season and allowed fewer than they did last year.

Bueckers might be gone, but the Huskies still have the best player in the country. Sophomore forward Sarah Strong has built on an outstanding freshman season and seized the opportunity to become the team’s star player. She’s averaging 18.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, serving as a dominant interior presence while redshirt senior Azzi Fudd continues to be one of the best guards in the nation.

The Huskies were, of course, the No. 1 overall seed when the selection committee released its most recent in-season rankings on Sunday afternoon. UCLA, South Carolina and Texas got the other No. 1 seeds. Those four teams comprised last year’s Final Four. If the rankings were to stay the same, it’d be the third time in NCAA women’s history that the four No. 1 seeds were the previous year’s Final Four.

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The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:
5. Chet Holmgren’s pump fake that sent Dwight Powell to the floor.
4. A pair of impressive alley-oops from Austin Reaves.
3. Lionel Messi’s free-kick goal against Orlando City. He then taunted the Orlando sideline by asking if anyone wanted his autograph.
2. Audi Crooks’s 41 points for Iowa State against Kansas State. It was her fifth 40-point game of her career, tying Brittney Griner’s Big 12 record.
1. Victor Wembanyama’s vicious dunk all over OG Anunoby.