We have seen the craziness of the NCAA tournament time and time again. We have witnessed shocking upsets that crush brackets across the nation year after year (I went 10 games into the tourney this year before giving up on my bracket after watching one of my upset picks in North Carolina St. somehow blow a game after leading by 8 points with 1:41 remaining. Never trust Mark Gottfried no matter what you do. Trust him less than Larry Drew, which is saying something. It is, however, longer than I went last year when I gave up on my pool after a whopping two games when Butler beat my upset pick in Bucknell). March Madness has been the home to unthinkable finishes and seemingly implausible moments ever since the field expanded to 64 teams all the way back in 1985. Honestly, the tournament has more twists and turns than an episode of The Walking Dead and everybody, including Rick Grimes, has come to expect the madness.
Just look at last year's tournament as a snapshot of the insanity that is inherent in the big dance. Florida Gulf Coast, a school that was established less than 25 years ago, beat Georgetown, a program that has been to the Final Four 5 times (3 times in a 4-year stretch during the days of Patrick Ewing) and then went on to become the first 15 seed to reach the sweet 16 after beating San Diego St. in the next round. It was the second time in tournament history that a 15 seed (Florida Gulf Coast), a 14 seed (Harvard), a 13 seed (La Salle), at least one 12 seed (Ole Miss, Cal, and Oregon), and at least one 11 seed (Minnesota) all won a game in the big dance (the only other time was in 1991 when Richmond, Xavier, Penn St., Eastern Michigan, UConn/Creighton got the victories as double digit seeds). For just the 4th time ever, there was only one team along the top
three seed lines in the Final Four (the other years were 1980 with Louisville, Iowa, Purdue, and UCLA,
2000 with Michigan St., Florida, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, and 2011 with UConn, Kentucky, Butler, and VCU). Wichita St. also became the first 9 seed to reach the Final Four since the field expanded in 1985 and the second 9 seed to reach the National Semifinals since the NCAA began to seed in 1978, joining the Penn team from 1979 that lost to eventual champions Michigan St. and Magic Johnson.
With all this in mind, you know things have to be nothing short of outrageous when the first two days of the tournament can totally surprise fans, even those that have grown accustomed to the madness of march. That is no hyperbole either, as this was the greatest slate of opening games in the history of March Madness.
We saw a little bit of everything from the 2nd round of the tourney. There were shocking upsets all over the place in the four regions. Mercer, a team playing in its third ever NCAA tournament game, beat Duke, a school that has won four National Championships. It was Mercer's first ever win in the big dance, topping a Duke program that has won 99 tournament games, the third most all-time in postseason history, only behind Kentucky's 111 and North Carolina's 109. The Bears won the game despite the fact that the Blue Devils made 15 three pointers (the record for threes in an NCAA tournament game is 21 by Loyola Marymount in 1990 against Michigan). Who would have thought that Duke would lose to a 14 seed or lower in two of the last three NCAA tournaments (Coach K is turning into John Thompson III). Saint Louis was the only 5 seed to move on to the third round, as Harvard beat Cincinnati (nothing like Harvard kids ruining perfect brackets and taking a billion dollars away from others), North Dakota St. topped Oklahoma (the best thing that has probably ever happened in North Dakota), and Stephen F. Austin stunned VCU in 5-12 match-ups. It was the just the fourth time in tournament history that three different 12 seeds won a game in the tourney along with 2002 (Missouri, Tulsa, and Creighton), 2009 (Western Kentucky, Arizona, Wisconsin), and last year (Oregon, California, and Ole Miss).
Upsets were so rampant that there was an extended period of time in the Virginia-Coastal Carolina game where it looked very possible that a 16 seed could finally beat a 1 seed for the first time in 120 attempts before the Cavaliers pulled away in the latter stages of the second half (Virginia was down 5 at half). Mark my words: in the next 10 years a 16 seed will beat a 1 seed. We have already had seven 15 seeds knock off 2 seeds (Richmond in 1991, Santa Clara in 1993, Coppin St. in 1997, Hampton in 2001, Norfolk St. in 2012, Lehigh in the same year, and Florida Gulf Coast last year) and as 16 seeds Princeton and East Tennessee St. got within one point of a victory in 1989 and the next year Murray St. took top seeded Michigan St. to overtime before losing by 4. A 16 seed will win against a 1 seed before the Cubs win the World Series (which isn't saying a lot). Ok, how bout this: it will happen before the Nets get under the salary cap again or before the Cleveland Browns have the same starting quarterback for an entire season.
However, there are always upsets in the big dance, and the opening two days of this tournament had a whole lot more than that.
We had a buzzer-beater from Texas, courtesy of Cameron Ridley, in their 87-85 victory over Arizona St. in the Midwest Region, which is always a much needed necessity. Although it will certainly not go in video montages forever like the Laettner shot against Kentucky from 1992, the 1983 Lorenzo Charles dunk against Houston, or the Bryce Drew jumper vs Ole Miss from 1988, it was the first loose ball, scramble on the floor, layup buzzer-beater I've ever seen in my life. It was also the first ever buzzer beater from somebody that is as big as Prince Fielder.
There were five overtime games in the first two days of the tournament with UConn and Saint Joseph's, North Dakota St. and Oklahoma, NCST and Saint Louis, San Diego St. and New Mexico St., and VCU and Stephen. F Austin, which set the record for the most overtime games in the round of 64 (Iowa and Tennessee also played a overtime game in their first four game). It makes up for the last two years, each of which only had one nail-biting, overtime game (North Carolina vs Ohio in 2012 in the sweet 16 and Kansas vs Michigan in 2013 in the regional semifinals as well).
The first two days of the tournament also featured one of the wildest endings to a basketball game that you will ever see (I'm talking USA-USSR 1972 Olympic Gold Medal game crazy). It had everything a great comeback needs (ask the 2007 Phillies or the 2011 Rays): an impressive resurgence (1992 Bills like), a terrible collapse (Jean Van de Velde 1999 British Open bad), and a crazy sequence of events at the end of the game (think fifth down game) that made people question if this is real life or if this is actually a dream state where Leonardo DiCaprio is coming to save us all (if that joke didn't make sense it goes perfectly with the plot of Inception). I'm referring to the madness that was the VCU-Stephen F. Austin game, which broke twitter much more than any Ellen DeGeneres selfie. After staying close for the majority of the game despite coughing the ball up 17 times against a VCU defense that was the best in the nation in forcing turnovers during the regular season, Stephen F. Austin had to come back from 10 down with 3 minutes to go, and they did just that. Although the Lumberjacks got some help from VCU's very poor shooting from the free throw, they still remained down by 4 points with 10 seconds left and Jordan Burgress on the foul line for VCU. What occured next was so crazy that it made Project X look docile. Not only did Burgress, nearly a 70 percent free throw shooter, miss both free throws, but Desmond Haymond for Stephen F. Austin then nailed a three and got fouled. Why JaQuan Lewis got anywhere near a Stephen F. Austin player taking a three when the Rams were up four will be one of sport's biggest mysteries along with if the immaculate reception was really a legal catch, did Michael Jordan retire because of gambling in 1993, did Geoff Hurst goal really go in against West Germany in 1966, and did David Stern fix the 1985 NBA draft so that the Knicks could get Patrick Ewing (so I guess it's not as big of a question as those, but still, why did he get anywhere near a shooter up by four points in the waning seconds of the game). The Lumberjacks went on to win the crazy game in overtime, in a much better finish than the ending of The Sopranos.
You know the first two days are just something else when I haven't even mentioned Kansas escaping against 15th seeded Eastern Kentucky (the game was tied with 8 minutes to go), Louisville likewise narrowly beating Manhattan (the Cardinals needed two Luke Hancock threes to top the Jaspers by 6), Bryce Cotton breaking his back from nearly carrying Providence over North Carolina (the First Team All-Big East guard had 36 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds in the two point loss), or Adreian Payne setting a Michigan St. postseason record of 41 points against Delaware (he was 17 for 17 from the charity strike, breaking Bill Bradley and Fennis Dembo's free throw record without a miss). It wasn't an oversight on my part that I didn't mention the Gonzaga-Oklahoma St. because in a great two days of basketball that game had more whistles than the theme song of The Andy Griffith Show.
We can only hope that the rest of the tournament can come somewhere close to the greatest of the first two days and it certainly has the potential to do so. Every big tourney needs its fair share of giants, and this one is no different with Florida, Syracuse, Kansas, Michigan St., Arizona, Louisville, and Michigan amongst the favorites for the National Championship. We also have the storyline of Kentucky trying to bring all of their ridiculous talent together for a deep run in the dance (I don't see it because I just don't think they will get consistent enough guard play from the Harrison brothers). Not to mention the fact that Wichita St. is trying to become the 8th team to finish a season undefeated with a National Championship at the end of it (they would join Bill Russell's 1956 San Francisco team, Lennie Rosenbluth's 1957 North Carolina club, Gail Goodrich's 1964 UCLA squad, Lew Alcindor's 1967 UCLA club, Bill Walton's 1972 and 1973 UCLA teams, and Scott May's 1976 Indiana squad to have a perfect, title winning season).
I think it is safe to say that even the Russian judge loves March Madness.
Images
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
NCAA March Madness - West Regional Podcast
Cory's West Regional Bracket:
Round of 64:
1. Arizona
16. Weber St.
8. Gonzaga
9. Oklahoma St.
5. Oklahoma
12. North Dakota St.
4. San Diego St.
13. New Mexico St.
6. Baylor
11. Nebraska
3. Creighton
14. LA Lafayette
7. Oregon
10. BYU
2. Wisconsin
15. American
Round of 32:
1. Arizona
9. Oklahoma St.
5. Oklahoma
4. San Diego St.
11. Nebraska
3. Creighton
7. Oregon
2. Wisconsin
West Regional Semifinals:
1. Oklahoma St.
4. San Diego St.
3. Creighton
2. Wisconsin
West Regional Finals:
9. Oklahoma St.
2. Wisconsin
Rory's West Regional Bracket:
Round of 64:
1. Arizona
16. Weber St.
8. Gonzaga
9. Oklahoma St.
5. Oklahoma
12. North Dakota St.
4. San Diego St.
13. New Mexico St.
6. Baylor
11. Nebraska
3. Creighton
14. LA Lafayette
7. Oregon
10. BYU
2. Wisconsin
15. American
Round of 32:
1. Arizona
9. Oklahoma St.
12. North Dakota St.
4. San Diego St.
11. Nebraska
3. Creighton
7. Oregon
2. Wisconsin
West Regional Semifinals:
1. Arizona
4. San Diego St.
3. Creighton
2. Wisconsin
West Regional Finals:
1. Arizona
3. Creighton
NCAA March Madness - East Regional Podcast Part 2
Rory's East Regional Bracket:
Round of 64:
1. Virginia
16. Coastal Carolina
8. Memphis
9. George Washington
5. Cincinnati
12. Harvard
4. Michigan St.
13. Delaware
6. North Carolina
11. Providence
3. Iowa St.
14. NC Central
7. UConn
10. Saint Joseph's
2. Villanova
15. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Round of 32:
1. Virginia
8. Memphis
5. Cincinnati
4. Michigan St.
11. Providence
3. Iowa St.
7. UConn
2. Villanova
East Regional Semifinals:
1. Virginia
4. Michigan St.
3. Iowa St.
7. UConn
East Regional Finals:
1. Virginia
3. Iowa St.
NCAA March Madness - East Regional Podcast Part 1
Cory's East Regional Bracket:
Round of 64:
1. Virginia
16. Coastal Carolina
8. Memphis
9. George Washington
5. Cincinnati
12. Harvard
4. Michigan St.
13. Delaware
6. North Carolina
11. Providence
3. Iowa St.
14. NC Central
7. UConn
10. Saint Joseph's
2. Villanova
15. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Round of 32:
1. Virginia
8. Memphis
12. Harvard
4. Michigan St.
6. North Carolina
3. Iowa St.
7. UConn
2. Villanova
East Regional Semifinals:
1. Virginia
4. Michigan St.
3. Iowa St.
7. UConn
East Regional Finals:
4. Michigan St.
3. Iowa St.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
NCAA March Madness - South Regional Podcast
Cory's South Regional Bracket:
Round of 64:
1. Florida
16. Albany/Mount St. Mary's
8. Colorado
9. Pittsburgh
5. VCU
12. Stephen F. Austin
4. UCLA
13. Tulsa
6. Ohio St.
11. Dayton
3. Syracuse
14. Western Michigan
7. New Mexico
10. Stanford
2. Kansas
15. Eastern Kentucky
Round of 32:
1. Florida
9. Pittsburgh
5. VCU
4. UCLA
11. Dayton
3. Syracuse
7. New Mexico
2. Kansas
South Regional Semifinals:
1. Florida
4. UCLA
3. Syracuse
2. Kansas
South Regional Finals:
1. Florida
2. Kansas
Rory's South Regional Bracket:
Round of 64:
1. Florida
16. Albany/Mount St. Mary's
8. Colorado
9. Pittsburgh
5. VCU
12. Stephen F. Austin
4. UCLA
13. Tulsa
6. Ohio St.
11. Dayton
3. Syracuse
14. Western Michigan
7. New Mexico
10. Stanford
2. Kansas
15. Eastern Kentucky
Round of 32:
1. Florida
9. Pittsburgh
12. Stephen F. Austin
4. UCLA
11. Dayton
3. Syracuse
7. New Mexico
2. Kansas
South Regional Semifinals:
1. Florida
4. UCLA
11. Dayton
2. Kansas
South Regional Finals:
1. Florida
2. Kansas
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
The Craziness Of Kansas Winning Its 10th Consecutive Big 12 Regular Season Championship
Immediately after watching Kansas beat Oklahoma for its 10th consecutive Big 12 regular season championship, I began to search the web for the most impressive streaks in sports history.
I will admit that there was a rather long period somewhere in there where I played ESPN's NBA draft machine so that I could fantasize about the Celtics landing Joel Embiid or Andrew Wiggins.
A quick thought I had during my adventures on the draft machine that has nothing to do with the C's: I really like the trade that the 76ers made with the Pelicans during last year's NBA draft. Despite giving away a 23-year old point guard coming off a career year averaging 17 points and 8 assists per game, Philly not only got Nerlens Noel, who could be one of the league's best rim protectors like a Larry Sanders type, but they also got the most important thing of all, a top five protected pick in the best draft since AI, Kobe, Ray Allen and Steve Nash in 1996, or at the very least, since the superstar draft of 2003 with LeBron, Carmelo, Bosh, and Wade (funny how 3 of them are on the same team now).
The Pelicans should remain in the lottery, especially with Jrue Holiday's leg injury, Anthony Davis's shoulder problems, Al-Farouq Aminu and Luke Babbitt combining to play nearly 45 minutes a night, and the team allowing opponents to shoot 46 percent from the field, not to mention the fact that they are named the Pelicans and play in the Smoothie King Center (a close contest with the Overstock.com Coliseum, KFC Yum! Center, Sleep Train Arena, and Jobing.com Arena for the worst name of a stadium in sports). The 76ers could conceivable wind up with something like Jabari Parker and Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle and Rodney Hood, or Andrew Wiggins and Gary Harris in the lottery. Philly fans could actually see their lineup change from a bunch of guys that make the 1997-1998 Denver Nuggets cringe - no offense to Hollis Thompson, Henry Sims, and Elliot Williams - to a respectable core group of young players with the likes of MCW, who has the best acronym in pro sports other than AK47 or Run DMC, Noel, Tony Wroten, and whoever they draft this year.
I just wasted way too much time on a team that is 3-21 over the last two months, let the Bucks score 130 points in an actual NBA game, and is tanking as hard as Tulane did in 1985.
Anyway, back on topic, so here is the list that I have come up with for the best streaks in sports.
1. Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941
You know a streak is just crazy when it allows you to win a MVP over a guy that is still the last hitter to bat over .400 in a season and the only batter since Rogers Hornsby in 1924 to do so (many people do not realize that the sacrifice fly rule was not instituted into the MLB on a permanent basis until 1954, and therefore Williams would have actually batted .411 had the rule been in place). Who cares if I wasn't born until 54 years later, I'm still bitter about the splendid splinter losing out to DiMaggio (and the fact that Grady Little left Pedro in the game in 2003, but that's besides the point).
There is no doubt that it takes a little bit of luck to go 56 consecutive games with a hit, no matter who you are in baseball (unless maybe you are Babe Ruth in 1921). In fact, in 34 of those games during the hit streak, Joltin' Joe had just one hit and was just that close to losing the historic mark (in DiMaggio's 35th game of the hit streak he was 0-3 going into his final at-bat of the seventh inning and was fortunate enough that St. Louis Browns pitcher Bob Muncrief disobeyed his manager Luke Sewell and didn't walk him, allowing the Yankee Clipper to get a base hit in his final at-bat. Two games later against the St. Louis Browns again, DiMaggio only got a hit in his final at-bat in the 8th inning because Red Rolfe walked and got on base for him). No player has ever gotten close to threatening DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak, as Pete Rose is the only batter since to ever surpass 40 games in a row with a hit, but his streak ended at 44 in 1978.
Taking into account the fact that DiMaggio batted .357 in 1941, advanced metrics tells us that his probability of getting a hit for 56 straight games was the slimmest of odds at 1 to 40,000 (nearly the chance of being killed by an asteroid or comet, dying in a bath tub, or getting struck by lightning. I'm not even making this stuff up or am I? To take a page out of How I Met Your Mother, 83 percent of my statistics are just incorrect). Despite my reference to a show that has lasted 3 seasons too long, DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak is the most legendary run in sports for a very good reason, and the chances of another batter going 57 straight games with a hit is as likely as the Bobcats making the playoffs (oh wait, how could I forget that the East is the biggest joke since the Johnny Depp's The Lone Ranger. Your 27-30 Bobcats, ladies and gentleman, meet the 7th seed in the East right now).
2. Bryon Nelson's 11 Consecutive PGA Tour Wins
This run is far too underrated, as it is rarely ever mentioned in the conversation for the best streaks of all-time. It may have something to do with the fact that Nelson went on his roll in 1945 when televisions weren't even around (checking the Internet now to see if I'm just dead wrong with that fact too). Going five months without losing a tournament in a time period with golfers like Jimmy Demaret, Lloyd Mangrum, Ben Hogan, and Sam Snead is just insane. Lord Nelson (I feel like this has to be his name, especially after Lord Bendtner started trolling the world with Arsenal this year) won the 1945 PGA Championship during the streak, in a match play format, over a guy that played 8 years in major league baseball (contemplating if this should really be the second best streak ever).
In 2011, the top five golfers on the PGA tour's wins list did not even accumulate 11 victories combined during the season, and in the last 60 years, only Tiger Woods in 2000 (9 wins) and Vijay Singh in 2004 (9 wins) have had more than 8 wins in a season. Nelson eclipsed that in less than half a golf calendar in consecutive starts. In fact, Ben Hogan is the only golfer to have more wins in an entire PGA Tour year than Nelson did over the course of his ridiculous streak in five months, as Hogan had 13 victories in 1946, which included a PGA Championship at Portland Golf Club. Tiger Woods got close to Nelson's record in the 2006-2007 season, winning seven straights PGA tour events from the British Open in July to the Buick Invitational in January, but he still feel well short of Nelson's incredible mark. This streak will leave an indelible mark on history for its longevity, especially with Tiger Woods hooking his driver like he is Jim Furyk on the 16th tee at Olympic in 2012.
3. Roger Federer Making 23 Straight Appearances In Grand Slam Semifinals
This one I really struggled with just because of some of the other absurd streaks I was leaving off of this list. There are some consecutive start streaks that are just Inception mind-blowing (ok, not that far) such as Cal Ripken playing 2,632 straight games in an Oriole uniform (the guy closest to Ripken and the iron horse Lou Gehrig is Everett Scott at just 1,307 games, nearly an entire 8 seasons less) and Brett Favre starting in 297 straight NFL games. Hockey's version of DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak is Wayne Gretzky's glamorous streak of going 51 consecutive NHL games recording a point in 1983-1984 with the Edmonton Oilers (other than the great Mario Lemieux, who had a goal or assist in 46 straight games for the Penguins in 1989-1990, no other hockey players has ever eclipsed a 30-game NHL point streak). Finally, this should not come as a surprise, but Wilt Chamberlain has a bevy of records that deserve to be touched upon in this category. He had 126 straight games scoring at least 20 points from 1961 to 1963, seven straight games scoring 50 points in 1961 (not even Terrence Ross can do that), and a streak of nine games in 1967-1968 with the Philadelphia 76ers where he had a triple-double in each contest.
However, by a very slim margin, I think that Federer's run to 23 consecutive semifinals in majors is just a little bit more impressive than some of the aforementioned streaks. Federer went on his outrageous streak from Wimbledon in 2004 to the Australian Open in 2010, during a time when tennis saw the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic rise to prominence. To put in perspective just how impressive it is to go nearly six years (119 matches) without losing before the semifinals of a grand slam, the record before Federer went to 23 straight semifinals was just 10 (54 matches), set by the always exuberant and emotional Ivan Lendl from 1985 to 1988, showing that nobody is even in the same hemisphere with Federer for this record (it's like the Oscars was when 12 Years a Slave was nominated). Federer avoided upsets in grand slams for nearly six years, something that all-time great Rafael Nadal has struggled with, as he has gone down to low ranked players Lukas Rosol and Steve Darcis in consecutive Wimbledon opening rounds in 2012 and 2013. Federer was also able to remain amazingly consistent on all surfaces, unlike tennis legend Andre Agassi, who lost before the semifinals of the French Open 12 times in his career.
After going through these unfathomable streaks, I realized I had made one small error. (I promise a small misstep like Neil Armstrong forgetting to say one small step for "a" man or the crew of the Titanic not seeing the giant iceberg right in front of them, which was actually a pretty big blunder... but you know what I am saying) The streaks I had previously just discussed were all individual records and the subject of my article here is on Kansas's unbelievable team streak. Have no fear, though, because here is a list of the best team streaks in sports history.
1. 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers 33-Game Win Streak
Any evidence of just how how hard it is to rattle off win after win in the NBA was demonstated to us last year by the Miami Heat. Their 27-game win streak, which was the second longest run in NBA history, was just as difficult, if not more arduous, than capturing their second straight championship. The NBA is very different from the NFL from the standpoint that the season is so long, and filled with so many games, that it is impossible to bring the same spirit every night. Teams typically have a few games during the season where they just don't show up or don't play with the same energy as usual (unless it's the New York Knicks, who just decide to do this every night). While the Heat's win streak last year helped them stay motivated after coming off of an NBA title, their run took an inordinate demanding toll on the team. Towards the end of the streak, the Heat were so drained that they had to come back from double-digits almost every night just to somehow escape and keep the run alive (the Heat had four consecutive double-digit comebacks towards the end of the streak - a 17-point comeback against the Celtics, a 27-point comeback against the Cavs - tied for the 8th biggest comeback of all-time, a 11-point comeback against the Pistons, and a 11-point comeback against the Bobcats - and they had to come from behind 11 times in the fourth quarter during their run).
The Los Angeles Lakers went on this same exact run in the 1970s except they went on to win 6 more games than the Heat, bringing their total to 33 in a time when the league was not as watered down as it is today (there were only 17 teams in the league in 1971-1972, as opposed to the 30 that are in the NBA today, meaning the Lakers had to face Kareem's Bucks, Havlicek's Celtics, Frazier's Knicks, and Archibald's Royals almost every night, and even the other few teams in the league still were made up of the NBA's best since there weren't as many players in the game). Obviously, it becomes a lot easier to set a ridiculous NBA record with a team of Gail Goodrich, Jerry West, and Wilt Chamberlain, but it doesn't matter who is on the floor, because going 40 percent of a season without losing a single game is just crazy.
2. UCLA's 7 Consecutive NCAA Titles From 1967 to 1973:
UCLA was fortunate enough to hire John Wooden from Indiana St. in 1948, the greatest maverick basketball has ever seen (and to think that if there wasn't a snowstorm in the Midwest, Wooden would stayed in the region and gone to Minnesota. Imagine this story today: Wooden chooses Minnesota over UCLA because a snowstorm knocked out the Golphers phone-lines and he thought he had been passed over for their job). The Wizard of Westwood was not only a genius from a basketball scheming standpoint, implementing the high post into his offense like no one before him, but his "Pyramid of Success" and other motivational sayings have become a trademark for what coaches around the country use today.
However, a wizard is only as good as his tricks, and Wooden's magic was his players (I feel like I'm explaining the plot of Now You See Me). The amazing part about UCLA's 7 NCAA Championships in a row was that they did it with so many different stars leading the way.
When the Bruins won their titles in 1966-1967, 1967-1968, and 1968-1969, Lew Alcindor was the team's 3-time NCAA Player of the Year (it needs to be mentioned that he also got a lot of help from Lucius Allen during the first two titles). UCLA's next two championships in 1969-1970 and 1970-1971 were from a more balanced attack with All-Americans Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe leading the way. The Bruins final two NCAA titles of their unprecedented run were lead by arguably the greatest college basketball player of all-time, 3-time NCAA Player of the Year Bill Walton, and his sidekick, Keith Wilkes, in 1971-1972 and 1972-1973. UCLA won 28 straight NCAA tournament games over the stretch (the Bruins actually won 38 straight overall from 1964 to 1974 because they won the title in 1964 and 1965 and didn't make the tournament in 1966 before going on their streak from 1967 to 1973. Duke has the next most tournament wins in a row with just 13 from 1991 to 1993). While the Bruins won 7 titles in a row, no other college basketball team has been able to win more than two consecutive titles (Oklahoma A&M won in 1945 and 1946, Kentucky had a repeat in 1949 after winning in 1948, San Francisco won two in a row in 1955 and 1956, Cincinnati went back-to-back in 1961 and 1962, Duke won in 1991 and again in 1992, and Florida won two straight titles in 2006 and 2007). This record is definitely very safe (much like how Ukraine is safe from Russian intervention, just kidding on that one).
3. Boston Celtics 8 Straight NBA Championships From 1958-1959 to 1965-1966:
The two greatest dynasties in the history of sports (aside from the Mighty Ducks series) deserve to have their historic title runs next to each other for the final part of our greatest team streaks of all-time. Both UCLA during the 1960s and into the 1970s and the Celtics from the late 1950s and into the 1960s had an impeccable formula for success, an ingenious and shrewd head coach and a team littered with transcendent superstar players. The similarities between the clubs is apparent, as the teams have more in common than the plots of Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles or White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen. Much like how UCLA had John Wooden, the Celtics had the greatest coach in the history of the NBA with Red Auerbach (fun game to play: name all the players or coaches with a color in their name - Red Auerbach, Paul Brown, A.C. Green, Tim Brown, Vida Blue - this game is not as much fun I first thought). Auerbach was a coaching visionary, getting the Celtics to play together as a team at a level that no other coach had been able to do before him, and paraphrasing DJ Khaled "all he did was win" (Red had one of my favorite sports quotes: "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser"). I just did an injustice to society by quoting DJ Khaled and then Red Auerbach, but at least I didn't quote Tom Cruise.
Much like how UCLA had a collection of different stars during their title runs, Auerbach also had to make sure his various superstars were able to coexist and thrive at a high level. This was made much easier with the "constant" he had in his lineup throughout the Celtics 8 straight NBA Championships, Bill Russell. The greatest center in NBA history was the defensive cornerstone of Boston's championship runs and he just cleared everything on the glass. In the Celtics early title years, Russell teamed up with Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn, and Frank Ramsey for basketball domination. However, towards the end of the run, it was stars like Sam Jones, John Havlicek, and Tom Sanders that helped Russell continue the Celtics streak, and round out their 8th straight NBA title. In the playoffs from 1958-1959 to 1965-1966, Boston had an incredible record of 64-31, and no other team has ever won more than three NBA titles in a row. Put it this way: the Celtics were so good that their 8 playoff victories in each of their NBA playoff runs is just as many postseason wins as the Washington Bullets/Wizards have had in the least 26 years, or since 1988.
After spending a significant amount of time looking at the best individual and team streaks in the history of sports (my lists were as long as Lawrence of Arabia, except I'm not Peter O'Toole), it is time to look at a run right now in college basketball that is already quite impressive, and could, if it continues, be one of the best team streaks of all-time. I'm referring to Kansas's 10 straight Big 12 regular season titles, which is quickly becoming one of college basketball's most amazing streaks (pales in comparison to Adam Sandler's streak of being in just atrocious movies though).
Before I begin with my main point, let me assert that I am not one of those people who think that the college basketball regular season is totally meaningless (anybody who watched either one of those Syracuse-Duke games this year can tell you that there are some really great games that happen during a college basketball season). While I believe the college basketball season still matters, many people would agree that it has been devalued a little bit by the expansion of the tournament field to 68 teams, as the difficulty of reaching the postseason has drastically decreased for big budget institutions. Meanwhile, for as much as people have condemned the BCS like it is the Arizona religious freedom bill, the value of the college football season cannot be argued, as it provides fans with the most exciting regular season in all of sports, and that's not even close! Each and every week teams are playing with National Championship implicatoins because one loss can take you out of the National Championship picture (just ask Michigan State).
However, people that solely judge a program's success in college basketball based on their performance in the Big Dance, and do not even care about the team's play in the regular season, are making a little bit of a negligent assessment. I know way too many fans that have been calling for Josh Pastner's job because some of Memphis's postseason failures over the past three years (the Tigers have only had one tournament win since Pastner took over, despite the fact that they are 106-34 over the span).
Much like Josh Pastner, John Thompson, Mark Few, and even Bo Ryan to a certain extent, Bill Self has had some bad postseason losses over the years at Kansas. In 2005, as a three seed, Kansas was stunned by Patriot League foe Bucknell in the first round of the tournament in a shocking loss, and the following year, this time as a 4 seed, the Jayhawks fell to Missouri Valley's Bradley University, once again in their opening game. Then came Kansas's loss to 9th seeded Northern Iowa in the second round in 2010 and finally their defeat to 11th seeded VCU in the Elite Eight the following year, both of which came in tournaments where Kansas was a number one seed and one of the major favorites for to win a National Championship. Obviously, sports are all about winning, and if a coach's team continues to struggle in the postseason, then there are going to be some real reasons for concern. However, Self won a National Title in 2008 and got to the NCAA Championship Game two years later in 2010 (Steve Fisher, Billy Donovan, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, and Coach K are the only active coaches with more title appearances than Self).
The debate over the job that Self has done with some of his very talented teams in the postseason can be deliberated until you are red in the face, like the kid from Insidious. However, much like how many people look at college basketball through the vacuum of how teams perform in the postseason, which I don't necessarily entirely agree with, lets look at Kansas's amazing Big 12 championship winning run through the prism of their accomplishments solely in the regular season. When viewing Kansas's streak from this standpoint, and not letting everything else cloud your mind, it is rather conspicuous to see just how impressive their run has been, as it shows an incredible amount of consistency (the last time Kansas didn't win a Big 12 title, our world had the privilege of not knowing Justin Bieber) .
Kansas's streak of 10 Big 12 regular season championships in a row is almost unprecedented in the great history of college hoops. It is tied for the third longest streak of consecutive conference titles, only behind UCLA's 13 straight conference titles from 1967 to 1979, Gonzaga's 11 West Coast Conference championships in a row from 2001 to 2011, and tied with Connecticut's 10 straight conference titles from 1951 to 1960 and UNLV's 10 consecutive Big West championships from 1983 to 1992.
However, I would say that Kansas's run is more impressive than the other schools that have had at least 10 conference titles in a row other than UCLA. While it is obviously very hard to finish at the top of any conference year after year, some of the other teams in this conversation did so in much easier leagues. Gonzaga only really had to compete with Saint Mary's out West and although the Gaels did have the beast that was Omar Samhan in 2010, the Zags have not really faced any real competition for the WCC crown. The same goes for UNLV, who played in the very weak Big West conference, a league that only had one team make the tournament four of the ten years UNLV won the conference. Similarly, not only did UConn have their conference dominance in a league called the Yankee Conference, (the only worse conference idea was naming the Big 10 divisions Leaders and Legends) but their biggest competition was also Rhode Island in a very weak six team league. However, Kansas has won 10 consecutive conference titles in the very competitive Big 12, one of the powerhouse leagues in college basketball with top tier programs like Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., and Kansas State (although playing Colorado each year was nice for Kansas before they left for the Pac-12).
In modern day college basketball, no team has come anywhere close to matching the prolific success that Self has had with the Jayhawks in the Big 12, as Kansas is 138-25 over the past ten years in conference games. Coming into this season, Harvard from the Ivy League, Bucknell in the Patriot League, Long Beach St. from the Big West, and Belmont, in the Atlantic Sun first and later moving to the Ohio Valley Conference, are the programs with the longest current conference championship streak at just three in a row, and none of them are in college basketball's major leagues.
Even some of college hoops most dominate teams have never had the same conference supremacy as Kansas has had over the past 10 years with Self. Coach K, who has the most Division I wins, has won 12 ACC Championships, but his longest run of conference titles is 5 in a row from 1997 to 2001. Tom Izzo, whose 6 Final Fours in 12 years have only been matched by John Wooden and Coach K, has won 7 Big Ten regular season titles at Michigan St., but his longest streak of conference championships is 4, which happened from 1998 to 2001. Jim Boehim, who has had the most wins at one school in Division I history, has won 9 Big East Championships, but he has never won more than 2 consecutive conference championships. Billy Donovan, who is one of just seven coaches to lead a team to back-to-back National Championships, has won 7 SEC regular season titles at Florida, but his longest streak of conference championships is 3, which occurred from 2000 to 2002. Finally, Rick Pitino, who is the only coach to take three different programs to the Final Four, has won 7 conference championships in 22 years at Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville, but has never had more than a back-to-back regular season crown.
One of the most impressive parts about Kansas's Big 12 regular season titles streak is that they have done it with so many different players, as the Jayhawks have had to sometimes face yearly changes in their personnel on the floor, and their assistant coaches on the sidelines. In the Jayhawks 10 consecutive conference championships, they have had a different player lead their team in overall scoring 8 times (Wayne Simien in 2005, Brandon Rush in 2006, Darrell Arthur in 2008, Sherron Collins in 2009, Marcus Morris in 2011, Thomas Robinson in 2012, Ben McLeMore in 2013, and Andrew Wiggins this year). While the early Jayhawk teams had role players like Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright, those players quickly morphed into glue guys like Cole Aldrich, Tyshawn Taylor, Markieff Morris, Jeff Withey, and Trevis Releford.
Another amazing feat that the Jayhawks have had over their title winning stretch in the Big 12 is that in the day of one-and-done players, the program has been able to retool each year, often times having a bench player step into the lineup after someone departed to the NBA, and playing just as well as the previous starter. Self has certainly had some prominent one year college stars like Xavier Henry in 2010 and Ben McLemore (red-shirt freshman) last year, but many of his main contributors have stayed in school and become star players after sitting on the bench and learning how to improve in the fast-paced nature of college hoops (you would think this would happen everywhere in college basketball, where a starter leaves, and a bench guy replaces him and steps up to fill the void, but it really doesn't. Often times, if you aren't a star your freshman or sophomore year, or don't show flashes of talent, the team forgets about you). Sherron Collins played fairly well behind Mario Chalmers in Kansas's 2007 and 2008 teams, and then was a second team All-American in 2009 and a first team All-American in 2010 when he was handed the keys to the offense. Jeff Withey played behind future first round pick Cole Aldrich and didn't see a lot of court time in 2010, but by the end of his career, his resume included a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2012 and a Co-National Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. Despite averaging 20 points and 17 rebounds per 40 minutes, Thomas Robinson only played 15 minutes per game for Kansas in 2011 because the team was led by the Morris brothers (so many brother combinations in sports right now: Lopez brothers, Bryan brothers, Sedin brothers, Pouncy brothers, McCourty brothers). However, after improving his mid-range game and getting much stronger, Robinson was the Big 12 Player of the Year and a first team All-American in 2012.
The scary thing about Kansas is that their future looks as bright as Rihanna's forehead (my best analogy ever), as they could actually be better next year than they are this year. Andrew Wiggins is going to leave for the draft after this season although I think that Jabari Parker and Julius Randle are more ready to play in the NBA given their rookie seasons (hopefully he doesn't follow in the footsteps of fellow Canadian Anthony Bennett, whose 4 points per game and 21.6 three point percentage puts him dangerously close to being the worst #1 overall pick since Josh Smith, Michael Olowokandi, or Kwame Brown). While I think Joel Embiid could greatly improve by staying in school and working on his very raw offense game (remember that he has only been playing organized basketball for 3 years), my instincts tells me he will leave school, just because it is so hard to turn down being a lock for a top 3 pick in the NBA draft. Even in the worse case scenario, where both Wiggins and Embiid depart for the pros, the Jayhawks are likely going to return a back-court of Naadir Tharpe and Wayne Selden Jr., along with Perry Ellis down low. Self is also adding two top-11, five-star recruits, according to ESPN, with power forward Cliff Alexander and small forward Kelly Oubre, who should make Kansas a real National title threat. A starting lineup of Tharpe, Selden, Oubre, Ellis, and Alexander (and possibly Embiid if he pulls a Marcus Smart, minus the fan pushing) could make the Jayhawks the pre-season #1 in college basketball next year and begin their push towards challenging the longest streak of conference or divisional championships in sports: the Braves 14 straight NL divisional titles from 1991 to 2005. However, the Braves streak is not as impressive as Kansas's run since they won 11 of those championships in a five team NL East, which is actually four teams since the Mets were part of the division!
To wrap up this 5,535 word monster, I don't think that the impact of the Jayhawk faithful can be underestimated when it comes to looking at Kansas's unparalleled Big 12 dominance. Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, the KU fanbase, has been the fortress for Kansas's supremacy for years, and opponents that have enter Allen Fieldhouse have become more poised with clouded thoughts, uncertainty, and doubt than Othello in the Shakespearean tragedy. Since the Jayhawks streak began in 2005, their record on James Naismith Court is an astonishing 77-5 in Big 12 Conference games, and they have one game left to play at home this season against Texas Tech. Fanaticism is not only present in Cuba with the following of Castro, but it is also evident in college basketball gyms throughout the country, especially at Kansas.
This brings me to a story about my brother, Rory. One day in Florida he was getting out of an elevator when he saw somebody wearing an Alabama shirt (unfortunately for him, it wasn't Katherine Webb). As the man was getting into the elevator, Rory said to him, "roll tide," and he got a very emphatic "roll tide" right back. He told me it was one of the happiest moments of his life. It is the small things that make sports fans happy. Of course we would want a nice porsche or a big time job, but what we really want more than anything is for Dion Waiters and Kyrie Irving to get along, or for the Raiders to finally get a quarterback, or for Ricky Rubio to stop shooting like he is Victor Oladipo or even, gasp, Josh Smith. As ESPN so perfectly coined, "It's Not Crazy, It's Sports."
I will admit that there was a rather long period somewhere in there where I played ESPN's NBA draft machine so that I could fantasize about the Celtics landing Joel Embiid or Andrew Wiggins.
A quick thought I had during my adventures on the draft machine that has nothing to do with the C's: I really like the trade that the 76ers made with the Pelicans during last year's NBA draft. Despite giving away a 23-year old point guard coming off a career year averaging 17 points and 8 assists per game, Philly not only got Nerlens Noel, who could be one of the league's best rim protectors like a Larry Sanders type, but they also got the most important thing of all, a top five protected pick in the best draft since AI, Kobe, Ray Allen and Steve Nash in 1996, or at the very least, since the superstar draft of 2003 with LeBron, Carmelo, Bosh, and Wade (funny how 3 of them are on the same team now).
The Pelicans should remain in the lottery, especially with Jrue Holiday's leg injury, Anthony Davis's shoulder problems, Al-Farouq Aminu and Luke Babbitt combining to play nearly 45 minutes a night, and the team allowing opponents to shoot 46 percent from the field, not to mention the fact that they are named the Pelicans and play in the Smoothie King Center (a close contest with the Overstock.com Coliseum, KFC Yum! Center, Sleep Train Arena, and Jobing.com Arena for the worst name of a stadium in sports). The 76ers could conceivable wind up with something like Jabari Parker and Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle and Rodney Hood, or Andrew Wiggins and Gary Harris in the lottery. Philly fans could actually see their lineup change from a bunch of guys that make the 1997-1998 Denver Nuggets cringe - no offense to Hollis Thompson, Henry Sims, and Elliot Williams - to a respectable core group of young players with the likes of MCW, who has the best acronym in pro sports other than AK47 or Run DMC, Noel, Tony Wroten, and whoever they draft this year.
I just wasted way too much time on a team that is 3-21 over the last two months, let the Bucks score 130 points in an actual NBA game, and is tanking as hard as Tulane did in 1985.
Anyway, back on topic, so here is the list that I have come up with for the best streaks in sports.
1. Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941
You know a streak is just crazy when it allows you to win a MVP over a guy that is still the last hitter to bat over .400 in a season and the only batter since Rogers Hornsby in 1924 to do so (many people do not realize that the sacrifice fly rule was not instituted into the MLB on a permanent basis until 1954, and therefore Williams would have actually batted .411 had the rule been in place). Who cares if I wasn't born until 54 years later, I'm still bitter about the splendid splinter losing out to DiMaggio (and the fact that Grady Little left Pedro in the game in 2003, but that's besides the point).
There is no doubt that it takes a little bit of luck to go 56 consecutive games with a hit, no matter who you are in baseball (unless maybe you are Babe Ruth in 1921). In fact, in 34 of those games during the hit streak, Joltin' Joe had just one hit and was just that close to losing the historic mark (in DiMaggio's 35th game of the hit streak he was 0-3 going into his final at-bat of the seventh inning and was fortunate enough that St. Louis Browns pitcher Bob Muncrief disobeyed his manager Luke Sewell and didn't walk him, allowing the Yankee Clipper to get a base hit in his final at-bat. Two games later against the St. Louis Browns again, DiMaggio only got a hit in his final at-bat in the 8th inning because Red Rolfe walked and got on base for him). No player has ever gotten close to threatening DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak, as Pete Rose is the only batter since to ever surpass 40 games in a row with a hit, but his streak ended at 44 in 1978.
Taking into account the fact that DiMaggio batted .357 in 1941, advanced metrics tells us that his probability of getting a hit for 56 straight games was the slimmest of odds at 1 to 40,000 (nearly the chance of being killed by an asteroid or comet, dying in a bath tub, or getting struck by lightning. I'm not even making this stuff up or am I? To take a page out of How I Met Your Mother, 83 percent of my statistics are just incorrect). Despite my reference to a show that has lasted 3 seasons too long, DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak is the most legendary run in sports for a very good reason, and the chances of another batter going 57 straight games with a hit is as likely as the Bobcats making the playoffs (oh wait, how could I forget that the East is the biggest joke since the Johnny Depp's The Lone Ranger. Your 27-30 Bobcats, ladies and gentleman, meet the 7th seed in the East right now).
2. Bryon Nelson's 11 Consecutive PGA Tour Wins
This run is far too underrated, as it is rarely ever mentioned in the conversation for the best streaks of all-time. It may have something to do with the fact that Nelson went on his roll in 1945 when televisions weren't even around (checking the Internet now to see if I'm just dead wrong with that fact too). Going five months without losing a tournament in a time period with golfers like Jimmy Demaret, Lloyd Mangrum, Ben Hogan, and Sam Snead is just insane. Lord Nelson (I feel like this has to be his name, especially after Lord Bendtner started trolling the world with Arsenal this year) won the 1945 PGA Championship during the streak, in a match play format, over a guy that played 8 years in major league baseball (contemplating if this should really be the second best streak ever).
In 2011, the top five golfers on the PGA tour's wins list did not even accumulate 11 victories combined during the season, and in the last 60 years, only Tiger Woods in 2000 (9 wins) and Vijay Singh in 2004 (9 wins) have had more than 8 wins in a season. Nelson eclipsed that in less than half a golf calendar in consecutive starts. In fact, Ben Hogan is the only golfer to have more wins in an entire PGA Tour year than Nelson did over the course of his ridiculous streak in five months, as Hogan had 13 victories in 1946, which included a PGA Championship at Portland Golf Club. Tiger Woods got close to Nelson's record in the 2006-2007 season, winning seven straights PGA tour events from the British Open in July to the Buick Invitational in January, but he still feel well short of Nelson's incredible mark. This streak will leave an indelible mark on history for its longevity, especially with Tiger Woods hooking his driver like he is Jim Furyk on the 16th tee at Olympic in 2012.
3. Roger Federer Making 23 Straight Appearances In Grand Slam Semifinals
This one I really struggled with just because of some of the other absurd streaks I was leaving off of this list. There are some consecutive start streaks that are just Inception mind-blowing (ok, not that far) such as Cal Ripken playing 2,632 straight games in an Oriole uniform (the guy closest to Ripken and the iron horse Lou Gehrig is Everett Scott at just 1,307 games, nearly an entire 8 seasons less) and Brett Favre starting in 297 straight NFL games. Hockey's version of DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak is Wayne Gretzky's glamorous streak of going 51 consecutive NHL games recording a point in 1983-1984 with the Edmonton Oilers (other than the great Mario Lemieux, who had a goal or assist in 46 straight games for the Penguins in 1989-1990, no other hockey players has ever eclipsed a 30-game NHL point streak). Finally, this should not come as a surprise, but Wilt Chamberlain has a bevy of records that deserve to be touched upon in this category. He had 126 straight games scoring at least 20 points from 1961 to 1963, seven straight games scoring 50 points in 1961 (not even Terrence Ross can do that), and a streak of nine games in 1967-1968 with the Philadelphia 76ers where he had a triple-double in each contest.
However, by a very slim margin, I think that Federer's run to 23 consecutive semifinals in majors is just a little bit more impressive than some of the aforementioned streaks. Federer went on his outrageous streak from Wimbledon in 2004 to the Australian Open in 2010, during a time when tennis saw the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic rise to prominence. To put in perspective just how impressive it is to go nearly six years (119 matches) without losing before the semifinals of a grand slam, the record before Federer went to 23 straight semifinals was just 10 (54 matches), set by the always exuberant and emotional Ivan Lendl from 1985 to 1988, showing that nobody is even in the same hemisphere with Federer for this record (it's like the Oscars was when 12 Years a Slave was nominated). Federer avoided upsets in grand slams for nearly six years, something that all-time great Rafael Nadal has struggled with, as he has gone down to low ranked players Lukas Rosol and Steve Darcis in consecutive Wimbledon opening rounds in 2012 and 2013. Federer was also able to remain amazingly consistent on all surfaces, unlike tennis legend Andre Agassi, who lost before the semifinals of the French Open 12 times in his career.
After going through these unfathomable streaks, I realized I had made one small error. (I promise a small misstep like Neil Armstrong forgetting to say one small step for "a" man or the crew of the Titanic not seeing the giant iceberg right in front of them, which was actually a pretty big blunder... but you know what I am saying) The streaks I had previously just discussed were all individual records and the subject of my article here is on Kansas's unbelievable team streak. Have no fear, though, because here is a list of the best team streaks in sports history.
1. 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers 33-Game Win Streak
Any evidence of just how how hard it is to rattle off win after win in the NBA was demonstated to us last year by the Miami Heat. Their 27-game win streak, which was the second longest run in NBA history, was just as difficult, if not more arduous, than capturing their second straight championship. The NBA is very different from the NFL from the standpoint that the season is so long, and filled with so many games, that it is impossible to bring the same spirit every night. Teams typically have a few games during the season where they just don't show up or don't play with the same energy as usual (unless it's the New York Knicks, who just decide to do this every night). While the Heat's win streak last year helped them stay motivated after coming off of an NBA title, their run took an inordinate demanding toll on the team. Towards the end of the streak, the Heat were so drained that they had to come back from double-digits almost every night just to somehow escape and keep the run alive (the Heat had four consecutive double-digit comebacks towards the end of the streak - a 17-point comeback against the Celtics, a 27-point comeback against the Cavs - tied for the 8th biggest comeback of all-time, a 11-point comeback against the Pistons, and a 11-point comeback against the Bobcats - and they had to come from behind 11 times in the fourth quarter during their run).
The Los Angeles Lakers went on this same exact run in the 1970s except they went on to win 6 more games than the Heat, bringing their total to 33 in a time when the league was not as watered down as it is today (there were only 17 teams in the league in 1971-1972, as opposed to the 30 that are in the NBA today, meaning the Lakers had to face Kareem's Bucks, Havlicek's Celtics, Frazier's Knicks, and Archibald's Royals almost every night, and even the other few teams in the league still were made up of the NBA's best since there weren't as many players in the game). Obviously, it becomes a lot easier to set a ridiculous NBA record with a team of Gail Goodrich, Jerry West, and Wilt Chamberlain, but it doesn't matter who is on the floor, because going 40 percent of a season without losing a single game is just crazy.
2. UCLA's 7 Consecutive NCAA Titles From 1967 to 1973:
UCLA was fortunate enough to hire John Wooden from Indiana St. in 1948, the greatest maverick basketball has ever seen (and to think that if there wasn't a snowstorm in the Midwest, Wooden would stayed in the region and gone to Minnesota. Imagine this story today: Wooden chooses Minnesota over UCLA because a snowstorm knocked out the Golphers phone-lines and he thought he had been passed over for their job). The Wizard of Westwood was not only a genius from a basketball scheming standpoint, implementing the high post into his offense like no one before him, but his "Pyramid of Success" and other motivational sayings have become a trademark for what coaches around the country use today.
However, a wizard is only as good as his tricks, and Wooden's magic was his players (I feel like I'm explaining the plot of Now You See Me). The amazing part about UCLA's 7 NCAA Championships in a row was that they did it with so many different stars leading the way.
When the Bruins won their titles in 1966-1967, 1967-1968, and 1968-1969, Lew Alcindor was the team's 3-time NCAA Player of the Year (it needs to be mentioned that he also got a lot of help from Lucius Allen during the first two titles). UCLA's next two championships in 1969-1970 and 1970-1971 were from a more balanced attack with All-Americans Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe leading the way. The Bruins final two NCAA titles of their unprecedented run were lead by arguably the greatest college basketball player of all-time, 3-time NCAA Player of the Year Bill Walton, and his sidekick, Keith Wilkes, in 1971-1972 and 1972-1973. UCLA won 28 straight NCAA tournament games over the stretch (the Bruins actually won 38 straight overall from 1964 to 1974 because they won the title in 1964 and 1965 and didn't make the tournament in 1966 before going on their streak from 1967 to 1973. Duke has the next most tournament wins in a row with just 13 from 1991 to 1993). While the Bruins won 7 titles in a row, no other college basketball team has been able to win more than two consecutive titles (Oklahoma A&M won in 1945 and 1946, Kentucky had a repeat in 1949 after winning in 1948, San Francisco won two in a row in 1955 and 1956, Cincinnati went back-to-back in 1961 and 1962, Duke won in 1991 and again in 1992, and Florida won two straight titles in 2006 and 2007). This record is definitely very safe (much like how Ukraine is safe from Russian intervention, just kidding on that one).
3. Boston Celtics 8 Straight NBA Championships From 1958-1959 to 1965-1966:
The two greatest dynasties in the history of sports (aside from the Mighty Ducks series) deserve to have their historic title runs next to each other for the final part of our greatest team streaks of all-time. Both UCLA during the 1960s and into the 1970s and the Celtics from the late 1950s and into the 1960s had an impeccable formula for success, an ingenious and shrewd head coach and a team littered with transcendent superstar players. The similarities between the clubs is apparent, as the teams have more in common than the plots of Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles or White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen. Much like how UCLA had John Wooden, the Celtics had the greatest coach in the history of the NBA with Red Auerbach (fun game to play: name all the players or coaches with a color in their name - Red Auerbach, Paul Brown, A.C. Green, Tim Brown, Vida Blue - this game is not as much fun I first thought). Auerbach was a coaching visionary, getting the Celtics to play together as a team at a level that no other coach had been able to do before him, and paraphrasing DJ Khaled "all he did was win" (Red had one of my favorite sports quotes: "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser"). I just did an injustice to society by quoting DJ Khaled and then Red Auerbach, but at least I didn't quote Tom Cruise.
Much like how UCLA had a collection of different stars during their title runs, Auerbach also had to make sure his various superstars were able to coexist and thrive at a high level. This was made much easier with the "constant" he had in his lineup throughout the Celtics 8 straight NBA Championships, Bill Russell. The greatest center in NBA history was the defensive cornerstone of Boston's championship runs and he just cleared everything on the glass. In the Celtics early title years, Russell teamed up with Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn, and Frank Ramsey for basketball domination. However, towards the end of the run, it was stars like Sam Jones, John Havlicek, and Tom Sanders that helped Russell continue the Celtics streak, and round out their 8th straight NBA title. In the playoffs from 1958-1959 to 1965-1966, Boston had an incredible record of 64-31, and no other team has ever won more than three NBA titles in a row. Put it this way: the Celtics were so good that their 8 playoff victories in each of their NBA playoff runs is just as many postseason wins as the Washington Bullets/Wizards have had in the least 26 years, or since 1988.
After spending a significant amount of time looking at the best individual and team streaks in the history of sports (my lists were as long as Lawrence of Arabia, except I'm not Peter O'Toole), it is time to look at a run right now in college basketball that is already quite impressive, and could, if it continues, be one of the best team streaks of all-time. I'm referring to Kansas's 10 straight Big 12 regular season titles, which is quickly becoming one of college basketball's most amazing streaks (pales in comparison to Adam Sandler's streak of being in just atrocious movies though).
Before I begin with my main point, let me assert that I am not one of those people who think that the college basketball regular season is totally meaningless (anybody who watched either one of those Syracuse-Duke games this year can tell you that there are some really great games that happen during a college basketball season). While I believe the college basketball season still matters, many people would agree that it has been devalued a little bit by the expansion of the tournament field to 68 teams, as the difficulty of reaching the postseason has drastically decreased for big budget institutions. Meanwhile, for as much as people have condemned the BCS like it is the Arizona religious freedom bill, the value of the college football season cannot be argued, as it provides fans with the most exciting regular season in all of sports, and that's not even close! Each and every week teams are playing with National Championship implicatoins because one loss can take you out of the National Championship picture (just ask Michigan State).
However, people that solely judge a program's success in college basketball based on their performance in the Big Dance, and do not even care about the team's play in the regular season, are making a little bit of a negligent assessment. I know way too many fans that have been calling for Josh Pastner's job because some of Memphis's postseason failures over the past three years (the Tigers have only had one tournament win since Pastner took over, despite the fact that they are 106-34 over the span).
Much like Josh Pastner, John Thompson, Mark Few, and even Bo Ryan to a certain extent, Bill Self has had some bad postseason losses over the years at Kansas. In 2005, as a three seed, Kansas was stunned by Patriot League foe Bucknell in the first round of the tournament in a shocking loss, and the following year, this time as a 4 seed, the Jayhawks fell to Missouri Valley's Bradley University, once again in their opening game. Then came Kansas's loss to 9th seeded Northern Iowa in the second round in 2010 and finally their defeat to 11th seeded VCU in the Elite Eight the following year, both of which came in tournaments where Kansas was a number one seed and one of the major favorites for to win a National Championship. Obviously, sports are all about winning, and if a coach's team continues to struggle in the postseason, then there are going to be some real reasons for concern. However, Self won a National Title in 2008 and got to the NCAA Championship Game two years later in 2010 (Steve Fisher, Billy Donovan, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, and Coach K are the only active coaches with more title appearances than Self).
The debate over the job that Self has done with some of his very talented teams in the postseason can be deliberated until you are red in the face, like the kid from Insidious. However, much like how many people look at college basketball through the vacuum of how teams perform in the postseason, which I don't necessarily entirely agree with, lets look at Kansas's amazing Big 12 championship winning run through the prism of their accomplishments solely in the regular season. When viewing Kansas's streak from this standpoint, and not letting everything else cloud your mind, it is rather conspicuous to see just how impressive their run has been, as it shows an incredible amount of consistency (the last time Kansas didn't win a Big 12 title, our world had the privilege of not knowing Justin Bieber) .
Kansas's streak of 10 Big 12 regular season championships in a row is almost unprecedented in the great history of college hoops. It is tied for the third longest streak of consecutive conference titles, only behind UCLA's 13 straight conference titles from 1967 to 1979, Gonzaga's 11 West Coast Conference championships in a row from 2001 to 2011, and tied with Connecticut's 10 straight conference titles from 1951 to 1960 and UNLV's 10 consecutive Big West championships from 1983 to 1992.
However, I would say that Kansas's run is more impressive than the other schools that have had at least 10 conference titles in a row other than UCLA. While it is obviously very hard to finish at the top of any conference year after year, some of the other teams in this conversation did so in much easier leagues. Gonzaga only really had to compete with Saint Mary's out West and although the Gaels did have the beast that was Omar Samhan in 2010, the Zags have not really faced any real competition for the WCC crown. The same goes for UNLV, who played in the very weak Big West conference, a league that only had one team make the tournament four of the ten years UNLV won the conference. Similarly, not only did UConn have their conference dominance in a league called the Yankee Conference, (the only worse conference idea was naming the Big 10 divisions Leaders and Legends) but their biggest competition was also Rhode Island in a very weak six team league. However, Kansas has won 10 consecutive conference titles in the very competitive Big 12, one of the powerhouse leagues in college basketball with top tier programs like Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., and Kansas State (although playing Colorado each year was nice for Kansas before they left for the Pac-12).
In modern day college basketball, no team has come anywhere close to matching the prolific success that Self has had with the Jayhawks in the Big 12, as Kansas is 138-25 over the past ten years in conference games. Coming into this season, Harvard from the Ivy League, Bucknell in the Patriot League, Long Beach St. from the Big West, and Belmont, in the Atlantic Sun first and later moving to the Ohio Valley Conference, are the programs with the longest current conference championship streak at just three in a row, and none of them are in college basketball's major leagues.
Even some of college hoops most dominate teams have never had the same conference supremacy as Kansas has had over the past 10 years with Self. Coach K, who has the most Division I wins, has won 12 ACC Championships, but his longest run of conference titles is 5 in a row from 1997 to 2001. Tom Izzo, whose 6 Final Fours in 12 years have only been matched by John Wooden and Coach K, has won 7 Big Ten regular season titles at Michigan St., but his longest streak of conference championships is 4, which happened from 1998 to 2001. Jim Boehim, who has had the most wins at one school in Division I history, has won 9 Big East Championships, but he has never won more than 2 consecutive conference championships. Billy Donovan, who is one of just seven coaches to lead a team to back-to-back National Championships, has won 7 SEC regular season titles at Florida, but his longest streak of conference championships is 3, which occurred from 2000 to 2002. Finally, Rick Pitino, who is the only coach to take three different programs to the Final Four, has won 7 conference championships in 22 years at Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville, but has never had more than a back-to-back regular season crown.
One of the most impressive parts about Kansas's Big 12 regular season titles streak is that they have done it with so many different players, as the Jayhawks have had to sometimes face yearly changes in their personnel on the floor, and their assistant coaches on the sidelines. In the Jayhawks 10 consecutive conference championships, they have had a different player lead their team in overall scoring 8 times (Wayne Simien in 2005, Brandon Rush in 2006, Darrell Arthur in 2008, Sherron Collins in 2009, Marcus Morris in 2011, Thomas Robinson in 2012, Ben McLeMore in 2013, and Andrew Wiggins this year). While the early Jayhawk teams had role players like Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright, those players quickly morphed into glue guys like Cole Aldrich, Tyshawn Taylor, Markieff Morris, Jeff Withey, and Trevis Releford.
Another amazing feat that the Jayhawks have had over their title winning stretch in the Big 12 is that in the day of one-and-done players, the program has been able to retool each year, often times having a bench player step into the lineup after someone departed to the NBA, and playing just as well as the previous starter. Self has certainly had some prominent one year college stars like Xavier Henry in 2010 and Ben McLemore (red-shirt freshman) last year, but many of his main contributors have stayed in school and become star players after sitting on the bench and learning how to improve in the fast-paced nature of college hoops (you would think this would happen everywhere in college basketball, where a starter leaves, and a bench guy replaces him and steps up to fill the void, but it really doesn't. Often times, if you aren't a star your freshman or sophomore year, or don't show flashes of talent, the team forgets about you). Sherron Collins played fairly well behind Mario Chalmers in Kansas's 2007 and 2008 teams, and then was a second team All-American in 2009 and a first team All-American in 2010 when he was handed the keys to the offense. Jeff Withey played behind future first round pick Cole Aldrich and didn't see a lot of court time in 2010, but by the end of his career, his resume included a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2012 and a Co-National Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. Despite averaging 20 points and 17 rebounds per 40 minutes, Thomas Robinson only played 15 minutes per game for Kansas in 2011 because the team was led by the Morris brothers (so many brother combinations in sports right now: Lopez brothers, Bryan brothers, Sedin brothers, Pouncy brothers, McCourty brothers). However, after improving his mid-range game and getting much stronger, Robinson was the Big 12 Player of the Year and a first team All-American in 2012.
The scary thing about Kansas is that their future looks as bright as Rihanna's forehead (my best analogy ever), as they could actually be better next year than they are this year. Andrew Wiggins is going to leave for the draft after this season although I think that Jabari Parker and Julius Randle are more ready to play in the NBA given their rookie seasons (hopefully he doesn't follow in the footsteps of fellow Canadian Anthony Bennett, whose 4 points per game and 21.6 three point percentage puts him dangerously close to being the worst #1 overall pick since Josh Smith, Michael Olowokandi, or Kwame Brown). While I think Joel Embiid could greatly improve by staying in school and working on his very raw offense game (remember that he has only been playing organized basketball for 3 years), my instincts tells me he will leave school, just because it is so hard to turn down being a lock for a top 3 pick in the NBA draft. Even in the worse case scenario, where both Wiggins and Embiid depart for the pros, the Jayhawks are likely going to return a back-court of Naadir Tharpe and Wayne Selden Jr., along with Perry Ellis down low. Self is also adding two top-11, five-star recruits, according to ESPN, with power forward Cliff Alexander and small forward Kelly Oubre, who should make Kansas a real National title threat. A starting lineup of Tharpe, Selden, Oubre, Ellis, and Alexander (and possibly Embiid if he pulls a Marcus Smart, minus the fan pushing) could make the Jayhawks the pre-season #1 in college basketball next year and begin their push towards challenging the longest streak of conference or divisional championships in sports: the Braves 14 straight NL divisional titles from 1991 to 2005. However, the Braves streak is not as impressive as Kansas's run since they won 11 of those championships in a five team NL East, which is actually four teams since the Mets were part of the division!
To wrap up this 5,535 word monster, I don't think that the impact of the Jayhawk faithful can be underestimated when it comes to looking at Kansas's unparalleled Big 12 dominance. Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, the KU fanbase, has been the fortress for Kansas's supremacy for years, and opponents that have enter Allen Fieldhouse have become more poised with clouded thoughts, uncertainty, and doubt than Othello in the Shakespearean tragedy. Since the Jayhawks streak began in 2005, their record on James Naismith Court is an astonishing 77-5 in Big 12 Conference games, and they have one game left to play at home this season against Texas Tech. Fanaticism is not only present in Cuba with the following of Castro, but it is also evident in college basketball gyms throughout the country, especially at Kansas.
This brings me to a story about my brother, Rory. One day in Florida he was getting out of an elevator when he saw somebody wearing an Alabama shirt (unfortunately for him, it wasn't Katherine Webb). As the man was getting into the elevator, Rory said to him, "roll tide," and he got a very emphatic "roll tide" right back. He told me it was one of the happiest moments of his life. It is the small things that make sports fans happy. Of course we would want a nice porsche or a big time job, but what we really want more than anything is for Dion Waiters and Kyrie Irving to get along, or for the Raiders to finally get a quarterback, or for Ricky Rubio to stop shooting like he is Victor Oladipo or even, gasp, Josh Smith. As ESPN so perfectly coined, "It's Not Crazy, It's Sports."
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