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WBB: TARA PASSES THE SUMMITT - 81alum - 02-10-2020

I thought I would start a thread to track the race between Tara and Geno to tie and surpass Pat Summitt's career win total.  I do this knowing full well that Tara herself really doesn't care.  But we fans are allowed to care!

Summitt lifetime wins:  1098

Tara through the 2018-19 season: 1067

Geno Auriemma through the 2018-19 season:  1062
________________________________________________

Tara's wins this season:  21
Tara's total wins so far: 1088
Number of wins to tie Pat: 10
Number of games guaranteed to play this season:* 8

Geno's wins this season: 20
Geno's total wins so far: 1082
Number of wins to tie Pat: 16
Number of games guaranteed to play this season:* 8

*counting one game in the league tournament and one game in the NCAAs
A strong conclusion to the regular season (5 more wins), a couple of wins in the league tournament (2 more wins) and a run to the elite 8 (3 more wins) would tie Pat.  Obviously, winning the Pac 12 tournament, or winning out the regular season, or making it all the way to the final 4 would surpass that record.

Geno will probably collect 9 wins stomping on the creampuffs in his league and winning his league tournament.  But even if UConn went on to win a national championship he would be one victory short of Pat this year.

If Tara doesn't quite make it this year then it sets up a very interesting preseason next year.  I wonder if we might schedule a special opponent--like putting Tennessee early on the schedule--to let her try to tie Pat while playing Tennessee. 

Or what if Tara and Geno both wind up 1 victory short at the end of this season?  Didn't we play UConn as our first game of the preseason a few years back?

I just can't see Tara getting the record against an Eastern Washington or a Northern Colorado.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - crackpot - 02-10-2020

I don't think we'll play Tennessee next season.

I could easily see Geno and Tara leap-frogging one another until one retires. Does UConn leave the AAC after this season? If so, he has that advantage (not to mention a long history of making sure they play more home than away games...).

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - Viking_Guy - 02-10-2020

The Big East might be slightly better than the AAC.  They at least would have to face Depaul twice a season, and there are two others, Creighton and Marquette, inside the RPI top 50.

Here's the key fact about their six years in the AAC:
"The Huskies have not lost in 102 regular-season conference games and 18 conference tournament games during their six years in the American."

VG

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - 81alum - 02-10-2020

(02-10-2020, 09:59 PM)Viking_Guy Wrote:  The Big East might be slightly better than the AAC.  They at least would have to face Depaul twice a season, and there are two others, Creighton and Marquette, inside the RPI top 50.



Here's the key fact about their six years in the AAC:

"The Huskies have not lost in 102 regular-season conference games and 18 conference tournament games during their six years in the American."



VG
That is ridiculous.  20 wins a year for free.  I wonder how many of those 120+ games were won by more than 20 points.

Maybe Stanford should join the Big Sky Conference so we can keep up with UConn.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - WBB fan - 02-10-2020

As far as I'm concerned, if Geno gets there first, it's with an asterisk. Had Tara not taken off the 1995-96 season to coach the US Olympic team, she would already be there, given that that team won 29 games that season, losing only in the final 4 in the semis.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - 76lsjumb - 02-11-2020

While I dislike Geno as much as the next guy, complaining about the strength of their conference [with the implicit suggestion that his success really comes from that] strikes me as a little sour grapes.  After all, it isn't like, over the years, UConn has breezed through a creampuff schedule only to get demolished by the really good teams in postseason.  Winning 11 national championships necessarily means you've probably gotten to play [and have almost certainly won] more games than every other school in those seasons, at least a few of which were against elite teams.

Also, it isn't like the Pac-10/12 has always been a top to bottom powerhouse conference over the past thirty years, either.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - akiddoc - 02-11-2020

Tara does not have a contract to coach at Stanford next year. She may retire.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - BobK - 02-11-2020

I really really doubt she will retire.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - 2006alum - 02-11-2020

Totally agree about the asterisk for Tara losing the 1995-96 season wins. But I don't agree that Geno's AAC wins count less than all of Tara's PAC-10 wins in those lean years - Tara had 5 perfect PAC-10 seasons and didn't get a championship in any of them. Geno had 9 perfect seasons in the Big East and won championships 6 of them, and has had 6 perfect seasons in the AAC and won 3 of them. That record suggests that even if his conference was easy in some years, his team still cut down the last nets of the season and beat all comers.

Ultimately, I don't think anyone will remember who passed the record first. For posterity's sake, what will matter is who ends with the most wins. And retirement will play the larger role in that than anything else. I also don't see Tara going anywhere in the next few years - the next few seasons are her best opportunity to win a championship since she had two Ogwumike sisters on the floor a decade ago.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - BostonCard - 02-11-2020

I don't believe there should be an asterisk.  Tara could have said no.  I suspect she's glad she didn't and wouldn't trade it to be the career wins leader.

Pat Summitt would have been 67 right now and maybe still coaching had she not been struck by early onset Alzheimer's disease (and certainly would have had many more wins).  She doesn't get an asterisk on her win total, even though she had no choice in the matter.

BC

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - 81alum - 02-11-2020

Here is an honest question: Geno coached our Olympic teams in 2012 and 2016, and seems not to have taken any time off of coaching his college team.  How did he do that, while Tara had to take a year off to focus exclusively on the Olympic team?

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - BobK - 02-11-2020

When Tara has spoken About the Olympics she has said she thought it best to devote all her energies to the task at hand

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - WBB fan - 02-11-2020

(02-11-2020, 07:11 PM)BobK Wrote:  When Tara has spoken About the Olympics she has said she thought it best to devote all her energies to the task at hand

It was also a different time and situation. Tara was given the task of reviving the US women's team success. Geno came in as coach of a women's team that had been dominant for years, and he had the luxury of selecting his team from many experienced professional basketball players. When Tara put her team together in 1995 for the 1996 Olympics, the WNBA did not exist.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - 81alum - 02-11-2020

(02-11-2020, 07:11 PM)BobK Wrote:  When Tara has spoken About the Olympics she has said she thought it best to devote all her energies to the task at hand
Well, then Tara deserves credit for putting her nation's team first, while Geno divided his attention.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - crackpot - 02-11-2020

(02-10-2020, 10:47 PM)JoanBoothe Wrote:  As far as I'm concerned, if Geno gets there first, it's with an asterisk. Had Tara not taken off the 1995-96 season to coach the US Olympic team, she would already be there, given that that team won 29 games that season, losing only in the final 4 in the semis.

...and we'll never know the (likely) affect it had on recruiting. Felt like we paid for that 95-96 season for several years.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - CompSci87 - 02-11-2020

Quote:Here is an honest question: Geno coached our Olympic teams in 2012 and 2016, and seems not to have taken any time off of coaching his college team.  How did he do that, while Tara had to take a year off to focus exclusively on the Olympic team?

I'll quote for convenience from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_VanDerveer#Olympics. The information matches what I remember from reading Tara's book "Shooting From the Outside":

Quote:... The national team finished third at the 1992 Olympics, and third again in the 1994 World Championship. ...

The USA Basketball organization, with input from VanDerveer, decided to depart from the usual strategy to form a team a few weeks before the event, which severely limited the practice time. Instead, they decided to form a full-time national team to stay together for a year, preparing to the 1996 Olympics. VanDerveer was chosen as head coach, but was expected to take a one-year sabbatical from her head coaching position at Stanford.
...
VanDerveer's Olympic team was considered one of the best ever assembled, and compiled a 60–0 record over the course of the year, culminating in a gold medal at the Olympics in Atlanta.

Obviously, coaching 60 national team games over a one-year period really did require Tara to take a year away from Stanford! The national team doesn't play anything like that schedule anymore, though as we know, this year they're playing a series of 8 games against college teams.

BTW, also, Tara didn't choose the team.  (I don't think Geno got to choose his team either, but I don't know exactly how things work at present.):

Quote:Prior to 1996, the head coach had much input into the team selection. While the USA Basketball organization selected the pool of potential players, the head coach chose the final team. That changed in 1996, when USA Basketball decided to take over the selection role. The initial selection was of 11 players, with plans to add a 12th player later, which would allow the organization to determine what was most needed. The lack of input led to some differences of opinions ...


RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - Spiny_Norman - 02-11-2020

One of my most treasured souvenirs is Tara's signature on my ticket from the women's basketball gold medal game in Atlanta. Fantastic experience.

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - Viking_Guy - 02-12-2020

That 12th player was Rebecca frickin’ Lobo, who USA Basketball insisted be on the team for marketing purposes, in place of much better pro players, namely Venus Lacy or Val Whiting, who were in the ABL at that point.

I remember the brobdingnagian kerfuffles when Tara didn’t play her as much as fans of a certain school insisted she deserved.

VG

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - BostonCard - 02-12-2020

As I recall, Tara was pretty blunt when asked why she didn't play Lobo more.

BC

RE: WBB: The Race to Pat - Baez87 - 02-12-2020

And she is still paying for it, given the lack of air time that Lobo gives to Stanford when she is providing color during halftime at women's college games. When she speaks of prominent women's teams, she rarely mentions Stanford.