Swish Appeal

78-0 - Connecticut's streak to all-time winningest team just keeps on rolling. Even after a miserable first half in the national championship game and taking a deficit into the locker room, UConn found a way to dominate the second half and notch back-to-back perfect seasons for the first time ever in women's college basketball.

This morning, Oklahoma head coach Sherri Coale was asked on an Oklahoma City radio station if the streak was good for the sport of women's basketball. Her candid response might surprise a few of you.

Coale expressed the merits of the streak in bringing the casual fan to the game, garnering mainstream media coverage and drumming up overall interest in the sport of women's basketball. Hopeful that by reeling in new fans to the game, these newbies would become long-term supporters and lifetime fans. But that's not where it ended.

However, Coale went on to say for the "tried and true" fan of women's basketball the streak might be detrimental to the game. The seemingly unstoppable Geno Auriemma coached-team might be too dominant, leaving fans begging for a fresh face hoisting the championship trophy and asking for parity that seems to be hidden behind Jonathan the Husky dog's smiling face and wagging tongue. Coale illustrated this point when describing a moment she had with her Final Four team earlier this week as the ladies looked around at the many championship banners but saw just a handful of schools representing a nation of competitors. The streak continues and Connecticut will again fly from the rafters for the sixth time since the aughts arrived.

Back to the question at hand - is the streak good for the game? Well, does it keep you interested and polarized to see it either continues to build and grow or watch it get snapped and stopped? Do you watch games to see who might come closest or maybe even someday catch Connecticut on a bad day and surpass them on the scoreboard? If so, then it can't be all bad, can it?