Love and Justice by Maya Moore Irons

Author:Maya Moore Irons [Irons, Johnathan; Irons, Maya Moore; Thrasher, Travis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2022-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Along with the streak stress arrived the never-ending headlines and reminders of what we might accomplish in the media. “The legendary 88-game streak of John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins still looms,” wrote the Wall Street Journal in a November 2010 article ominously titled “The Team That Forgot How to Lose.” No pressure. Each game extended the streak, bringing us closer to eighty-eight wins, just eight shy, just seven shy, and on and on and on. Coach A helped us deal with the pressure and the expectation as he navigated the media during the streak.

“The number is just a number,” he said back in my junior year. “People bring it up. It’s probably bigger to everybody else but us.”

As our dominant 2009–2010 year came to a close, our coach explained what the streak felt like. “The problem is while you’re in it, while you’re doing it, all you’re thinking about is the next one. I wish I could put it into perspective, but I can’t.” Then after we won another championship, John Wooden’s record came up once again. “I don’t think about eighty-eight,” Coach Auriemma responded. “I’m not looking at it as a goal. If we’re fortunate and it ever happens, I’ll be astounded again like I am right now.”

Another set of numbers began to be discussed with me during my senior year: breaking UConn’s all-time scoring record, a record Tina Charles had set last year. For me, this wasn’t even on my radar. I was more concerned about figuring out how to get our five freshmen to be effective communicators on defense every day in practice. I was always thinking about what we needed to do as a team, what I had to do for our team to win.

The streak and the records and all of that—we didn’t have enough room in our heads to think about that. Our coaches emphasized this all the time, and our team believed in this way of thinking. We couldn’t change our mindset as our streak record got closer and closer. We didn’t want to let the potential of breaking records distract us. All of us just had to discipline ourselves to stay focused, to limit the contact we had with all the outside noise. The UConn program had taught me that ever since I entered the program, so it was easy to just stay focused on the little things every day. If we did this, then if we looked up at the end of the season, we should be where we wanted to be.

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