University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball coach Wes Moore watched UConn win its record-tying 88th straight basketball game on Sunday afternoon with more than passing interest.
"We were in Cancun with UConn a couple of years ago," said Moore in the moments after the Huskies routed No. 11 Ohio State 81-50. "They're so unselfish.
"Just the way Geno [Auriemma's] teams share the ball. And everybody can handle it. If any one thing separates them from almost everybody else, it's that."
The UConn women are now but 40 minutes away from separating themselves from every major college program in history - men's or women's.
As long as they do the expected on Tuesday night and defeat visiting Florida State, the top-ranked Huskies will pass John Wooden's UCLA men's program for the longest winning streak ever.
Reasonable men and women can persuasively argue for either streak's superiority. Followers of Wooden will point to the fact that most teams play at least five to seven more games a season today, which means one pool of players could win more consecutive games before moving on.
To further support that argument, freshmen were ineligible during most of the Bruins' 88 straight wins between 1971 and 1974, which meant there were no instant fixes. And there's the age-old belief that the men's game is deeper, though Wooden's run of 10 NCAA titles in 12 seasons -- a feat never accomplished on the women's side - might strain that belief, at least as it pertained to UCLA
In defense of UConn, the Bruins never played more than four games to win an NCAA title. And as for the fairly valid argument that power programs such as Tennessee Lady Vols or UConn have been allowed to play far too many early-round NCAA tourney games on their home floor, UCLA saw more than its share of regionals in LA, a tremendous advantage for a program that needed none.
One other point: Of its 88 straight wins, UConn has won all but two by double-figures.
So when it comes to comparing which streak is more impressive, it might be best to follow Moore's perception that, "They're two different sports. Both streaks are unbelievable, but they're different accomplishments."
To his credit, Auriemma has never attempted to compare his accomplishments with those of the late Wizard of Westwood, who passed away this past summer.
Speaking of the streak on Sunday, he said, "The number's the number. I don't know if that changes me a whole lot right now. I'm going to go to a good restaurant tonight. I'm going to have a good bottle of wine. I would have done that either way."
For the good of the game, Moore wishes Auriemma and Tennessee Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt would renew their regular-season rivalry, which was once the highlight of any women's season befoe the UT coach declined to continue the series a few years ago.
Rumors have long circulated that Summitt was upset over the methods Auriemma used to recruit current UConn star Maya Moore, and it would be difficult to fault the Lady Vols legend if she axed the pairing on those grounds.
Even UTC's Moore admitted, "I know Pat has to do what she believes is best for her program."
But with none of those 88 UConn wins coming against Summitt, Moore also wishes the two could settle their differences enough to square off again during the regular season.
"In our sport there's a real gap between the upper echelon and everybody else," he said. "Women's basketball misses that rivalry."
And without that rivalry, it's tough to see this current UConn streak ending anytime short of the 2011 women's Final Four.