Blogs > Elm City to Eagleville

A blog on UConn women's basketball.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

UConn rolls past Tulsa for win No. 92 in a row

Katie Lou Samuelson moved into select company, Napheesa Collier doubled her pleasure once against and Gabby Williams flirted with a triple-double as UConn topped Tulsa 98-58 to extend the NCAA basketball record for consecutive wins to 92.

Samuelson had a career-high 34 points and coming off a 28-point game against SMU, she posted the most points in back to back games since Breanna Stewart scored 29 against Temple and 37 against Cincinnati in 2014. I did some checking and the most points I could find in back to back games was 68 by Tiffany Hayes against Syracuse and South Florida in 2012 and Kerry Bascom had 65combined points in 1991 in the Big East final and UConn's first NCAA tournament game.

Collier had 21 points and 13 rebounds while Williams finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Williams and Saniya Chong combined for 15 assists and no turnovers.

It was UConn's 33rd straight road victory, one shy of the NCAA Division I women's basketball record set by UConn from 2001-04 during their Big East days. It was also the 68th straight American Athletic Conference victory matching the program's record for consecutive conference wins (including postseason tournaments).

Tulsa attempted more 3-pointers (34) than shots inside the 3-point line (32) and made 13 of them.

NO CHANGES TO NCAA TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The NCAA announced that the format for the Division I women's basketball will remain the same meaning that the top 16 seeds will host the first and second rounds.

Here's the release from NCAA

The Division I Women’s Basketball Championship will stick with its current format.

After reviewing survey results from NCAA member schools, in which almost 80 percent of Division I conferences felt the tournament should not change its format, the Division I Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee on Tuesday decided it will instead focus on ways to enhance the championship.

The two main questions the committee asked all 32 Division I conferences: Whether there was an appetite to move the Women’s Final Four back a week, so it would be separated from the men’s Final Four, and whether the tournament should have 32 teams host first-round games on campus sites followed by four eight-team super regionals.

In each case, the membership overwhelmingly indicated the current format is the best option for the championship. Survey results showed conferences prefer the focus to be on the student-athlete and team experience, attendance and fan appreciation, broadcasting and competitive equity.

“The committee felt the championship format survey was a positive step, with the membership feedback showing a large majority favor maintaining the current format and improving the championship,” Jean Lenti Ponsetto, chair of the Division I Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee and director of athletics at DePaul University, said after the committee’s meeting at the NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. “People feel the championship is in a terrific place. The next step for this committee will be to take this championship in its current format and look for ways to enhance it going forward.”

ESPN and ESPN2 will broadcast all 63 games of the tournament this spring for the 15th consecutive year. It will also mark the 22nd year that ESPN will broadcast the championship game. The Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee plans to continue working closely with ESPN and the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Committee to find ways to improve the championship’s in-venue attendance and television ratings.

In an effort to place an increased focus on a weekend celebration, the 2017 Women’s Final Four will be played with a Friday-Sunday format for the first time in 14 years. Since 2004, the Women’s Final Four semifinals have been held on Sunday night with the championship game played on Tuesday night.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Joe said...

For the Final Four, the Friday - Sunday format is far superior to Sunday - Tuesday, that's for sure!

I suppose logistically it is not practical, but it would be pretty amazing to have both men's and women's Final Four at same venue over four days!

8:27 AM 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home