The UConn Huskies women’s basketball team won their 100th-straight game, but where does that rank among the most impressive streaks in sports history?
Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks, 66-55, on Monday night. With that, they continued making their record winning streak more insurmountable. The victory over South Carolina pushed the streak to an unheard of 100 games, and of course notched the Huskies another double-digit victory in the streak.
There’s no question that UConn women’s hoops are an absolute dynasty at this point. Boasting two winning streaks of over 90 games in the past decade and now having one reach the triple-digits is phenomenal work — especially in a league where parity has supposedly increased in recent years. However, just how impressive is the streak in the scope of sports history? Specifically, where does UConn’s 100-game winning streak rank among the greatest sports streaks ever?
Between the individuals and teams that have occupied the world of sports for over a century, greatness has come in many shapes, as have the streaks. Thus, it’s no easy task to stack them up against one another. Yet, we’ve done so here to try and put 100 wins in a row into perspective.
There are plenty of other streaks that deserve consideration. Byron Nelson winning 11-straight PGA Tour events, Martina Navratilova winning 74 consecutive matches, Wayne Gretzky scoring in 51 consecutive games and even the Mount Union Purple Raiders winning 112-straight games in Division III all deserve their moment. However, they fall short of the top-10 streaks of all-time.
Here are the X most impressive sports streaks of all-time, starting with the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.
10. Los Angeles Lakers 33-Game Winning Streak (1971-72)
We begin with a record that might never be touched again for a number of reasons. We’ve seen the Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors come close in recent years with 27- and 24-game winning streaks in a single regular season, respectively. However, they both ultimately fell short in even reaching the 30-game mark, much less of matching the streak put forth by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers as they reeled off 33 consecutive victories.
Going down the roster of the 1971-72 Lakers, it’s not hard to see how they were able to reach such an incredible mark in terms of winning streaks. It basically reads like a rundown of Hall-of-Famers with the likes of Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Happy Hairston, Gail Goodrich and Wilt Chamberlain. Yes, the fact that all of those guys played on the same team is wild enough, but they looked the part with what they accomplished.
The 71-72 Lakers went two full months without suffering a loss. Though the level of competition may not be what it is in today’s NBA, it was a bit more competitive than in the heyday of the Bill Russell Boston Celtics. They posted a perfect November and December and, in any professional league of any sport that’s impressive, but especially in a game such as basketball.
9. Richard Petty’s 10-Race Winning Streak (1967)
Those unfamiliar with stock car racing might not look at winning 10 races in a row as anything impressive. In fact, there’s a good chance that those unfamiliar with it aren’t so because they don’t even consider it a sport. Putting that aside, though, winning any kind of multiple races in a row is a noteworthy feat for a driver. So when Richard Petty crossed the finished line first in 10 consecutive races in 1967, it was a streak that’ll never be touched again.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of Petty’s winning streak is the simple fact that parity has always been paramount when it comes to racing. For the most part, all of the crews and engineers that are used to build these cars and their engines are working on a level playing field. Yes, there might be a leg up here and there, but it’s always slight, to say the least. What’s more, there are always external factors at play in a sport where a blown tire can cost you a race and ultimately be out of the driver and crew’s control.
With that being said, the only difference really comes down to a driver’s ability behind the wheel. That’s where the great ones set themselves apart from the rest of the field. Clearly Petty is one of the greatest NASCAR drivers in history, but even that doesn’t make winning 10-straight races seem entirely possible. Yet he did it, which is why he’s so revered in the racing world and why his streak cracks the top 10.
8. Detroit Red Wings 25-Straight Playoff Berths and Counting (1991-Present)
Many of the streaks that make the cut here involve wins, championships, and so on. However, what the Detroit Red Wings have accomplished over the past three decades stands out in that regard. Though they have just four Stanley Cup Championships over their run, that they’ve made the playoffs for 25-straight years is 100 percent deserving of being among the most impressive sports streaks of all-time.
It’s not the longest postseason streak in NHL history, but considering it’s taken place during the most competitive era with salary cap ramifications makes it the most impressive. While Detroit has enjoyed a postseason berth for 2.5 decades and counting at this point, last missing the playoffs in 1990, the closest streak of this kind behind them is the Pittsburgh Penguins who are in the midst of 10 consecutive playoff appearances. That means they have 15-straight appearances left to go before they catch the streak that Detroit is currently still enjoying.
What’s more, this is a streak that is also untouched in any of the major North American pro leagues. No team in the NBA, NFL or NBA can boast anything that rivals what the Red Wings have been able to do in terms of making the postseason. And again, these trips haven’t all been fruitless as they hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008. So while 4-for-25 isn’t the most efficient mark, that they’ve had a chance for 25 years in a row and counting is remarkable in its own right.
7. Brett Favre’s 297-Straight Games Started
Listing out the records owned by Brett Favre throughout his 20-year NFL career might take all day, frankly. There aren’t many marks that he didn’t set throughout his run with the Green Bay Packers and then his waning years with the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings. However, all of the passing touchdowns, yards, and completion records pale in comparison to his record for the most consecutive starts in NFL history.
Between the three teams that he played for from 1992-2010, Favre lined up under center in 297-straight regular season games. If you factor in the playoffs, he started 321 consecutive contests at quarterback. For a position that’s known for taking a beating from pass rushers, especially in the 90s when the rules were less friendly to the position, that’s simply unbelievable that he’d be able to take the field that many times in a row.
What’s more, it’s not as if Favre was simply walking out there at 100 percent for all 297 of his starts. He played through many ailments and did so even at the end of his career when he was hardly a young man in terms of NFL players anymore. While Cal Ripken Jr.’s Iron Man streak receives more accolades and is obviously a ridiculously higher number of consecutive games played, the fact that Favre was able to do it in a violent sport like football almost makes it more impressive — almost.
6. Arsenal’s 49-Match Unbeaten Steak in League Play (2003-04)
In top-flight English football (soccer, for the Americans), the level of parity is always quite high. For instance, the 2016-17 Premier League is seemingly locked up by Chelsea with several months left in the season and they are just eight points clear of second place in the table. No matter the talent disparity, any club can win a match on a given day. That’s what makes the run that Arsenal went on from 2003-04 so inconceivable.
Called The Invincibles for their title-winning 2003-04 campaign in top-flight football where they went unbeaten throughout the 38-match campaign, their streak actually spanned a bit longer than that. Starting on May 7, 2003 with a 6-1 rout of Southampton, Arsenal wouldn’t lose a match again in the Premiership until October 2004 when they fell 2-0 to Manchester United. Led by Thierry Henry and the likes of Jens Lehmann and Kolo Toure, the Gunners were simply untouchable over this run.
In their unbeaten run, Arsenal registered 36 wins to just 13 draws. More impressive than that, though, is how emphatically they were able to do so. Along the way, the Gunners put 112 in the net while conceding a meager 35 goals. For those keeping track at home, that’s an unreal goal differential of +77, which is enough to make you fall in the floor in shock. Arsenal set the English top-flight record for the longest unbeaten streak with their 49-game span and it’s a record unlikely to ever even be sniffed again, especially when teams like Leicester City are coming out of nowhere to win the Premier League.
5. UConn Huskies Win 100-Straight and Counting (2014-Present)
Call it recency bias or call it simply crazy, but what the UConn women accomplished by hitting the century mark on Monday night belongs among the five greatest sports streaks of all-time. Simply seeing 100-0 is startling in its own right from a perspective of impressiveness. However, it’s not just the number of wins, but how they accomplished the feat with such dominance that makes it so great.
Put simply, no one really has come all that close to ending the run for the Huskies and GenoAuriemmaa. Of their 100 wins in the streak, only two have come by single digits. That translates to 98 percent of their victories coming by double-digits, including the 100th over South Carolina, the sixth-ranked team in women’s college basketball. Again, that speaks to another level of impressiveness when it comes to the streak as 28 of the 100 wins came against opponents ranked in the top 25.
Though the parity of women’s college basketball has certainly improved, that’s obviously the biggest detraction from UConn’s streak. However, the old adage goes that any team can beat another in a sport like basketball one time out of 100. Except that adage apparently doesn’t apply to Auriema’s Huskies. In 100 chances, the rest of women’s college basketball always fell short. That’s enough to earn a top-five spot.
4. Boston Celtics 8 Consecutive NBA Championships (1959-66)
Yes, I’m fully aware that the Boston Celtics with Bill Russell played in a time where the NBA was far from what the league has become. There were exponentially fewer teams in the league as a whole, the ABA merger had yet to occur, and the level of overall competition simply wasn’t at a high level. These are all valid arguments that deserve consideration in this conversation.
But even then, winning eight-straight championships in any capacity is something that shouldn’t be possible, yet the Celtics made it so.
After winning the title in the 1956-57 season, the Celtics fell to the Hawks the following year, despite Russell having an MVP season to his credit. However, they wouldn’t know what losing a playoff series felt like for eight years after that. Boston went on a tear the likes of which we will never see again in the NBA.
Despite being in the same league as the great Wilt Chamberlain, Russell and the Celtics were wholly dominant for nearly a decade. They never won fewer than 50 games in a season with a low total of 52 coming in the 1958-59 season. Perhaps what makes it more impressive and eliminates some of the arguments about level of competition invalid is the Celtics weren’t just rolling over everyone in the postseason. Over the course of their eight consecutive NBA Championships, the Celtics only swept one series (the 1959 NBA Finals over the Lakers). They were taken to the brink many times and still managed to overcome and become champions. So take your arguments elsewhere; the Celtics deserve the No. 4 spot on this list.
3. UCLA’s 88-Game Winning Streak, 7-Straight Titles (1971-74; 1967-73)
Because they happened in the same era and under John Wooden, we’re combining the streaks of the UCLA Bruins into one, but that doesn’t mean they both aren’t impressive individually. As it started first, we’ll first examine the seven consecutive NCAA Championships that the Bruins captured from 1967-73. Yes, the Bruins won seven titles in a row, which is preposterous to consider in a sport with the parity of men’s college basketball.
Under Wooden, the Bruins were simply untouchable. After winning back-to-back championships in 1964 and 1965, UCLA had a down year in the 1965-66 season. However, that was simply the prelude to greatness. They went on to go undefeated in the next season en route to a national title. That set into motion one of the most ridiculous runs that anyone has ever seen in any sports. In their seven-year reign as national champions, the Bruins lost just five games. And that all culminated with the ridiculous 88-game winning streak.
Boasting the likes of the great Bill Walton, among others, the Bruins reached the peak of being untouchable starting in the 1970-71 season. On Jan. 23, 1971, the Bruins suffered a seven-point loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. From there, they wouldn’t lose again until Jan. 19, 1974, ironically to Notre Dame once again. Wooden’s UCLA team was simply better coached and more dominant than everyone they faced over that span and, even in a different era, winning 88 games is nearly impossible. That they were able to do so puts them with the all-time greatest teams in sports history.
2. Cal Ripken Jr.’s Iron Man Streak (1982-98)
If you go down the injury report of any professional sports team in the modern era, you’re going to laugh now and then at some of the ailments keeping players out of action. Perhaps the most hilarious instance comes from the NBA when San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich sat out Tim Duncan with the listed reason being “DNP – Old.” While factual, instances like that and the minor injuries that players sit out with make what Cal Ripken Jr. accomplished all the more astounding.
Obviously it’s at least slightly unfair to compare injuries in the 1980s and 90s to now given the advances in training and medical technology since then. Even still, it’s hard to fathom someone playing more than 2,500 consecutive games in a streak that spanned 16 MLB seasons. However, that’s what Ripken accomplished over the course of his Iron Man streak.
Lou Gehrig previously held the record for most consecutive games played for a streak that spanned 14 seasons and 2,130 games. However, Ripken absolutely shattered that mark somehow as his total finally rounded out at 2,632 games. Even if you’re one of those naysayers that doesn’t believe in the physical toll that baseball can take on your body, that kind of longevity, endurance and durability is incredible. It’s a record that surely won’t ever be broken and that truly stands singular in the attributes needed to achieve it.
1. Joe DiMaggio’s 56-Game Hitting Streak (1941)
One of the hottest topics in sports regardless of league has become the notion of comparison of eras. The general consensus from many, even greats like Joe Montana, has been that you simply can’t compare eras. However, there are certain feats and accomplishments that transcend that notion. One such instance of that is Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak with the New York Yankees in the 1941 MLB season.
Beginning on May 15 of that year, DiMaggio went a full two months of play without knowing what it was like to go hitless in a game. The streak ended on July 17, but that was well after he’d already surpassed the previous MLB record of 45, set by Willie Keeler with the Baltimore Orioles nearly 50 years prior in the 1896-97 seasons. What’s more, DiMaggio wasn’t just going 1-for-4 every day and just hitting singles that squirted through the infield. The Yankees legend hit .408 during the streak and also smacked 15 dingers along the way.
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As far as streaks go, none may be as unbreakable as Joe D’s hitting streak. Though it happened 76 years ago now, no player has really come all that close. The closest in that span came when Pete Rose hit safely in 44-straight games back in 1978, but that’s obviously still 12 shy of DiMaggio’s record. When you put up a record and a mark so untouchable, suffice it to say that your streak is deserving of the title of greatest of all-time.