What's perfection mean for Memphis, UConn?
One undefeated New England may have lost Sunday, but there’s another still standing. And it’s an awfully familiar unbeaten sight.
The UConn women’s team torched Providence on Saturday, setting up a showdown against Big East rival Rutgers on Tuesday. Rutgers beat the Huskies in the Big East Championship last season and was the conference representative in the Final Four, losing to Tennessee in the title game. Since then, the Huskies (21-0) have torn through the competition, winning all but one game by double-digit margins.
There’s some symmetry that another team from the New England region would be toying with a perfect record, too. Geno Auriemma’s squad was the last D-I college basketball team to finish a season unbeaten, going 39-0 in 2001-02. (The last men’s team? Bob Knight’s 1975-76 Indiana squad.)
This year’s version may be just as good as the two previous undefeated squads (’95 was the other), because of its depth and ability on both ends of the court. The Huskies average more than 80 points a game and allow less than 50.
Of course, Memphis’ men’s team is no slouch either. It just takes me out of the New England theme…
The No. 1 Tigers (21-0) are off to the best start in school history, and despite a lackluster win against UTEP on Saturday, they remain a good bet to enter the NCAA Tournament without a loss. That hasn’t been done since UNLV in 1991.
However, if there’s a weakness in the Memphis machine, it’s the free-throw shooting.
(Memphis’ three-point shooting stinks too. Yet even at 34.0 percent, it’s positively scorching compared to the free-throw shooting, which is dead last among D-I schools on kenpom.com.)
The Tigers missed 20 free throws against UTEP, which has to be a major concern for coach John Calipari. Instead of putting teams away in crunch time, Memphis could very well clang its way out of the record books. No team has ever finished a season 40-0, which Memphis would do with an NCAA title.
As the Patriots’ loss showed, no team is perfect. Memphis or UConn could be knocked off that perfect porch soon, too.
Then again, what’s perfection mean, anyway? John Wooden – who had four undefeated championship teams at UCLA – says his best squad may have been the 29-1 squad of 1967-68. (I maintain few things are as enticing as the thought of the perfect season, yet must admit the crushing expectations that come with it make it tough to actually deliver on that final game.)
If Memphis or UConn do lose a game, but still win the title, it wouldn't diminish their seasons. Just ask the Pats.
