3.26.2011

Anatomy of the STREAK

Much has been made of the amazing 90 game winning streak of the UConn Huskies. Quite a feat to go for 2 plus years without a defeat in any sport. But nobody has taken the time to analyze that streak to see exactly what made it possible.

How many of those games were played on UConn's home courts for instance?
How many were played vs significant highly ranked out of conference foes?
We all realize that the best chance of being beating in WCBB is to play a top 10 team on the road and that is intensified by playing 2 or 3 top 10 opponents in a row on the road so the team has more limited time to prepare So how often did UConn take a significant risk to it's streak?

XX Out of Conference Road game
YY Conference Road Game
Italics - NCAA Tournament Neutral Court Game Sweet 16 to Final Four
BOLD = significant top 10 ROAD Win Out of Conference

2008-2009 SCHEDULE
11/16/08 vs. Georgia Tech Storrs, Conn. W, 82-71
11/20/08 vs. San Diego State Hartford, Conn. W, 99-55
11/22/08 vs. Rhode Island Hartford, Conn. W, 91-43
11/25/08 at BYU Provo, Utah W, 96-47...XX
11/30/08 vs. Oklahoma Storrs, Conn W, 106-78
12/03/08 vs. Holy Cross Storrs, Conn W, 96-37
12/14/08 vs. Penn State Madison Sq Garde W, 77-63
12/18/08 vs. Washington Cancun, Mexico W, 109-51
12/19/08 vs. N Colorado Cancun, Mexico W, 85-40
12/21/08 Florida State Cancun, Mexico W, 83-71
12/28/08 South Carolina Columbia, S.C. W, 77-48..XX
12/31/08 vs. Hartford Hartford, Conn. W, 78-41
01/03/09 vs. LSU Hartford, Conn. W, 76-63
01/06/09 at USF * Tampa, Fla W, 83-37..YY
01/10/09 at W Va Morgantown, W.Va W, 85-55..YY
01/13/09 vs. DePaul * Storrs, Conn W, 77-62
01/17/09 vs. Syracuse * Hartford, Conn. W, 107-53
01/19/09 at North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C. W, 88-58XX
01/24/09 at Cincinnati * Cincinnati, Oh W, 65-34..YY
01/26/09 vs. Louisville * Storrs, Conn. W, 93-65
01/31/09 at Georgetown * Washington, D.C W, 80-61..YY
02/03/09 vs. Rutgers * Hartford, Conn. W, 75-56
02/07/09 at Marquette * Milwaukee, Wisc. W, 83-49..YY
02/11/09 at St. John's * Queens, N.Y. W, 77-64..YY
02/15/09 vs. Pittsburgh * Storrs, Conn. W, 95-42
02/18/09 at Providence * Providence, R.I W, 75-39..YY
02/22/09 vs. Notre Dame * Hartford, Conn. W, 76-66
02/24/09 vs. Villanova * Storrs, Conn. W, 74-47
02/28/09 vs. Seton Hall * Hartford, Conn. W, 81-50
03/02/09 at Rutgers Piscataway, N.J. W, 69-59..YY
BIG EAST Tournament
03/08/09 vs. USF Hartford, Conn. W, 79-42
03/09/09 vs. Villanova Hartford, Conn W, 72-42
03/10/09 vs. Louisville Hartford, Conn. W, 75-36
NCAA Tournament
03/22/09 vs. Vermont Storrs, Conn. W, 104-65
03/24/09 vs. Florida Storrs, Conn W, 87-59
03/29/09 vs. California Trenton, NJ W, 77-53
03/31/09 vs. Arizona State Trenton, NJ W, 83-64
04/05/09 vs. Stanford St. Louis, Mo. W, 83-64
04/07/09 vs. Louisville St. Louis, Mo. W, 76-54

21 games AT HOME
Out of Conference significant road wins – ONE vs NC in Chapel Hill
significant neutral court wins – ONE vs Stanford in Final Four

2009-10 UConn Women's Basketball Schedule
11/17/09 at Texas San Antonio, Texas(AT&T Center) W, 83-58
11/20/09 at Holy Cross Worcester, Mass. (DCU Center) W, 87-34..XXX
11/27/09 vs. Hofstra Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 91-46
11/28/09 vs. Richmond Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 91-37
11/29/09 vs. Clemson Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 87-48
12/03/09 vs. Vermont Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 84-42
12/10/09 vs. Hartford Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) W, 80-45
12/20/09 vs. Iona Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 90-35
12/23/09 vs. Stanford Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) W, 80-68
12/28/09 at Florida St Tallahassee, Fla. W, 78-59..XX
01/02/10 at Seton Hall * Newark, N.J. (Prudential Center) W, 91-24..YY
01/04/10 vs. USF * Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) W, 84-42
01/07/10 vs. Cincinnati * Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 83-51
01/09/10 vs. North Carolina Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 88-47
01/13/10 at Marquette * Milwaukee, Wisc. (Al McGuire Center) W, 68-43..YY
01/16/10 vs. Notre Dame * Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 70-46
01/18/10at Duke Durham, N.C. (Cameron Indoor)W, 81-48XX
01/23/10 at Villanova * Villanova, Pa. (The Pavilion) W, 74-35..YY
01/26/10 vs. Rutgers * Hartford, Conn.(XL Center) W, 73-36
01/30/10 at Pittsburgh * Pittsburgh, Pa.(Petersen Events Center) W, 98-56..YY
02/02/10 vs. West Virginia * Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) W, 80-47
02/07/10 at Louisville * Louisville, Ky. (Freedom Hall) W, 84-38..YY
02/10/10 at DePaul Chicago, Ill. (McGrath Arena W, 95-62..YY
02/13/10 vs. St. John's * Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) W, 66-52
02/15/10at Oklahoma Norman, Ok (Lloyd Noble) W, 76-60XX
02/20/10 vs. Providence * Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) W, 85-53
02/24/10 at Syracuse * Syracuse, N.Y. (Carrier Dom W, 87-66..YY
02/27/10 vs. Georgetown * Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) W, 84-62
03/01/10 at Notre Dame *South Bend, Ind. (Joyce Center) W, 76-51..YY
BIG EAST Tournament
03/07/10 vs. Syracuse Hartford, Conn.(XL Center) W, 77-41
03/08/10 vs. Notre Dame Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) W, 59-44
03/09/10 vs. West Virginia Hartford, Conn. (XL Center) W, 60-32
NCAA Championship
03/21/10 vs. Southern orfolk, Va. (Constant Convocation Center) W, 95-39
03/23/10 vs. Temple Norfolk, Va. (Constant Convocation Center) W, 90-36
03/28/10 vs. Iowa State Dayton, Ohio (UD Arena) W, 74-36
03/30/10 vs. Florida State Dayton, Ohio (UD Arena) W, 90-50
04/04/10 vs. Baylor San Antonio, Texas (Alamodome) W, 70-50
04/06/10 vs. Stanford San Antonio, Texas (Alamodome) W, 53-47

19 home games
2 significant out of conference road wins at Duke and at Oklahoma

12/28/10 Stockton, Calif. (Alex G.Spanos Center) 85, Pacific 42.. XX
12-21-10 XL Center (Hartford, Conn.) 93, Florida State 62
12/19/10 New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden) 81, OHIO STATE 50
12-09-10 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) 79, Marquette 47
12-05-10 XL Center (Hartford, Conn.) 86, Sacred Heart 32
12-02-10 Tampa, Fla. 80, USF 54..YY
11-28-10 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) 81, LSU 51
11-27-10 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) 81, Lehigh 38
11-26-10 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) 86, Howard 25
11/21/10 Alexander Mem Col, Atlanta, Ga 71, Georgia Tech 51.. XX
11-16-10 XL Center (Hartford, Conn.) 65, Baylor 64
11-14-10 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) 117, Holy Cross 37
12/30/10 Stanford, Calif. Stanford 71 UCnn 59

48 HOME GAMES compared to 37 for the Lady Vols
26 True Road Games compared to 36 for the Lady Vols
16 Neutral Court Games compared to 17 for the Lady Vols
6 ROAD GAMES VS TOP 2O RPI vs 18 ROAD GAMES VS TOP 20 RPI
See Tennessee's comparative schedule in the post directly below this one


UConn played an amazing 48 home games during this streak. In part because UConn gets the incredible advantage of playing every Big East Tournament game on it's home court at the XL center in Hartford.

IN addition UConn played 16 neutral court games during their long streak

Leaving only 26 of 90 games on the road on opponent’s courts and 18 of those 26 games were against conference foes YY leaving a total of 8 games on the road Out of Conference designated by XX Those 8 out of conference road games:
Holy Cross
Pacific
Florida State
Georgia Tech
South Carolina
BYU
Duke
UNC
Oklahoma

in conference road games 16
USF
West Virginia
Cinn
Georgetown
Marquette
St John's
Providence
Rutgers
Seton Hall
Marquette
Villanova
Louisville
DePaul
Syracuse
Notre Dame
USF

Here are the top 20 teams by RPI for the 2009 and 2010 seasons
Teams in bold were UConn opponents during the year

2010 Top 20 RPI
1 Connecticut 33-0 0.7323 2 0.6431 1 1
2 Stanford 31-1 0.6996 9 0.6098 2 2
3 Tennessee 30-2 0.6955 7 0.6148 4 4
4 Nebraska 30-1 0.6769 31 0.5800 3 3
5 Duke 27-5 0.6735 5 0.6167 9 8
6 Texas A&M 25-7 0.6646 3 0.6258 15 14
7 Notre Dame 27-5 0.6635 12 0.6034 6 7
8 Oklahoma 23-10 0.6583 1 0.6454 11 12

9 Ohio State 30-4 0.6517 39 0.5748 10 10
10 West Virginia 28-5 0.6453 33 0.5775 7 9
11 Xavier 27-3 0.6400 61 0.5533 5 5
12 Oklahoma St 23-10 0.6367 6 0.6167 20 20
13 Texas 22-10 0.6288 10 0.6093 18 22
14 Florida St 26-5 0.6286 54 0.5585 8 6

15 Baylor 23-9 0.6266 14 0.5958 14 15
16 Virginia 21-9 0.6233 13 0.5977 24 19
17 Michigan St 22-9 0.6226 17 0.5935 25 23
18 Georgetown 24-6 0.6212 50 0.5615 12 11
19 Kentucky 25-7 0.6193 48 0.5653 19 18
20 Vanderbilt 22-10 0.6187 1 0.5958 unranked

2009 TOP TWENTY RPI
Connecticut 33-0 0.7064 7 0.6086 1 1
2 Oklahoma 28-4 0.6984 2 0.6396 3 3
3 Maryland 28-4 0.6959 3 0.6361 4 4
4 Louisville 29-4 0.6728 10 0.6041 5 5
5 Duke 26-5 0.6687 6 0.6120 6 8
6 Baylor 27-5 0.6618 12 0.6012 7 7
7 Texas A&M 25-7 0.6609 5 0.6208 10 9
8 Auburn 29-3 0.6562 33 0.5729 8 6
9 Stanford 29-4 0.6519 30 0.5762 2 2
10 Tennessee 22-10 0.6518 1 0.6399 19 24
11 North Carolina 26-6 0.6512 14 0.5974 11 11
12 Florida St 25-7 0.6484 11 0.6041 13 13
13 Ohio State 27-5 0.6441 26 0.5776 9 10
14 Iowa State 23-8 0.6280 17 0.5900 18 19
15 Notre Dame 22-8 0.6252 18 0.5891 24 20
16 Pittsburgh 22-7 0.6221 29 0.5765 14 17
17 Rutgers 18-12 0.6217 4 0.6290

18 Texas 21-11 0.6197 8 0.6075 23 21
19 Virginia 23-9 0.6170 22 0.5831 25 23
20 LSU 18-10 0.6152 9 0.6060