Bruins Nation, a UCLA Bruins community

John Wooden was an unbelievably successful man coaching any kind of team. He’s probably one of the most unique men I’ve ever been around in my life. I’ve never been around someone that I have as much respect for as John Wooden. He is the salt of the earth, the brightest man I’ve ever been around in terms of knowledge of everything. His memory is just remarkable and I think over the years as a lot of people have who have interacted with him, I have such tremendous respect for him that I can’t even tell you.

New Haven Register’s Dave Solomon says it would be folly to compare Auriemma’s streak with that of John Wooden, the UCLA coach whose Bruins team won a record 88 straight games in the 1970s. "We’re talking women’s basketball, a game that continues to struggle for identity nationally, and Auriemma is under no illusion that the record streak of UConn at 71 — or 78 at the end of the season, or at 89 straight, 11 games into 2010-11, has remotely the same impact as when the Wizard of Westwood was building his legend," Solomon writes. "He’s plenty proud, with every right to be, because it helps shine the light on women’s basketball. But you can’t compare what UConn is doing to what UCLA did with Bill Walton, Henry Bibby and Jamaal Wilkes in the early 70s … because it’s incomparable."