Geno Auriemma Comments on Criticism of UConn's Success

The UConn women’s basketball team hasn't lost a game since November 2014 and is three victories away from winning an unprecedented 11th national title under head coach Geno Auriemma.  

The Huskies have won 72 straight, and no team has even challenged them in that stretch. All of UConn’s wins on its current run have been by more than double figures.

The criticism of the Huskies’ supremacy has been so prevalent of late that Auriemma felt the need to spend time addressing it rather than the Texas Longhorns, UConn's Elite Eight opponent, per Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press.

Auriemma said that no one criticized former golf superstar Tiger Woods during his climb to fame, when he won 14 major tournaments from 1997-2008.

"When Tiger [Woods] was winning every major, nobody said he was bad for golf," Auriemma said, per ESPN.com. "Actually he did a lot for golf. He made everybody have to be a better golfer. And they did. And now there's a lot more great golfers because of Tiger.”

The Huskies' 98-38 win over Mississippi State in the Sweet 16 on Saturday was by such a wide margin that some are turned off from watching any more games, including the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy:

Piggybacking off his Woods comment, Auriemma said he believes this is only an issue because of the particular sport he’s coaching, per ESPN.com:

"

We don't appreciate people for how good they are and what a good job they do -- we always have to compare it to something. It’s only in women's basketball. It's the only sport where that happens. The only sport. Day in, day out, year in, year out, we're faced with those questions and those comparisons.

"

The Huskies are showing no signs of slowing down, and unless a challenging team can remove them from their perch, Auriemma will likely continue fielding such criticism—warranted or not.