STORRS, Conn. -- As faux $100 bills adorned with Coach Geno Auriemma's face rained down on the sellout crowd at Connecticut after the team's 100th consecutive victory Monday, the Hall of Fame coach waxed poetic about the Huskies' past and present.
But it's the future that he's most interested in.
With 100 consecutive victories in the books, Auriemma and his top-ranked Huskies can turn their attention to the more important streak -- a fifth consecutive national championship and 12th overall.
"Tonight they carried the torch across the finish line to 100, so to speak, they took the last baton and crossed the finish line," Auriemma said after the 66-55 victory over South Carolina. "If we win the national championship, it is all theirs start to finish. I want to focus on trying to do that instead of worrying about all this other stuff. Don't get me wrong, it is a lot of fun, everybody gets a kick out of it, our players, our former players, the fans, so I think that is great."
UConn's past was out in full force Monday night. Sitting a few rows behind the Huskies bench was UConn women's basketball royalty with former greats Sue Bird, Tina Charles, Morgan Tuck and Breanna Stewart watching the milestone victory.
They paved the way for the current success, with Tuck and Stewart being a big part of the first 75 victories of the current streak.
"We're extremely conscious," guard Kia Nurse said of the team's history. "We understand that everything that we have here, all the opportunities we have and the benefits that we have about being this program strictly come from what they've done to build it into what it is today. I think even in practices, when you're dead tired, you can see the banners on the wall with their names and understand that they went through it and they pushed through it and they got this to what it is."
Auriemma's main priority all along is to have this team cut down the nets in Dallas in early April. He built this year's schedule to test his team, expecting them to fail before solving a challenge. He figured the team would take some lumps early before coming together to make another March run.
The funny thing is, the Huskies haven't failed yet, winning their first 25 games against the nation's best. Look down the current Top 25 and UConn's already beaten No. 2 Maryland, No. 4s Baylor and Florida State, No. 6 South Carolina, No. 7 Notre Dame and No. 8 Texas.
"I'm probably the most surprised person in the country," Auriemma said. "I set the schedule up so that [the streak continuing] wouldn't happen, and it has happened. I'm flabbergasted to a certain extent."
If that streak continues, the Huskies will enter the NCAAs with 107 consecutive victories. That shouldn't be too hard because the Huskies haven't lost an American Athletic Conference game, going 75-0 since joining the league a few years back.
Six victories in the NCAAs would get UConn a 12th national championship. Then talk will turn to how long can the Huskies keep the run going?
UConn returns six of its seven rotation players and adds transfers Azura Stevens and Batouly Camara. Throw in the nation's top recruiting class and the Huskies could break Wayland Baptist's record of 131 consecutive victories set from 1953-58. Then what? 150 consecutive? 200 in a row?
Those numbers may seem crazy, but it's tough to bet against these Huskies right now.
Top 25 dominance
A list of teams top-ranked Connecticut has defeated this year that are currently ranked in The Associated Press top 25: RESULTS (WITH CURRENT RANKING)
No. 1 UConn 78, No. 4 Florida State 78-76
No. 1 UConn 72, No. 4 Baylor 61
No. 1 UConn 91, No. 17 DePaul 46
No. 1 UConn 72, No. 8 Texas 54
No. 1 UConn 72, No. 7 Notre Dame 61
No. 1 UConn 75, No. 24 Kansas State 58
No. 1 UConn 82, No. 12 Ohio State 63
No. 1 UConn 87, No. 2 Maryland 81
No. 1 UConn 102, No. 22 So. Florida 37
No. 1 UConn 66, No. 6 So. Carolina 55
NOTE UConn plays South Florida again on Feb. 27
Sports on 02/15/2017