On Tuesday night, the Connecticut women's basketball team defeated Stanford, 53-47, to capture the 2010 Women's National Championship.

That makes 2 consecutive undefeated seasons for the UConn women, whose 39-0 record in 2009 was matched by the same number this season. The Huskies' last loss came to the same Stanford team that they beat on Tuesday night, when they lost to the Cardinal in the 2008 Final Four.

Since that game, UConn has won 78 straight games, setting the record for consecutive wins in the women's game. And the Huskies' dominant run puts them just 10 wins short of the UCLA men's 88-game winning streak from 1971-1973.

The coach of that UCLA team was the legendary John Wooden, who might be known as the greatest basketball coach in history, at any level. Coach Wooden's record seemed unbreakable, and it certainly will never be eclipsed in the men's game.

But the Connecticut women's basketball team is eerily close to passing UCLA's record, and will just need an 11-0 start to their 2011 season to break the record.

Obviously, the men's college game is an entirely separate entity from the women's game. But when it comes to the top records in the game, the two sports go hand in hand. Pat Summitt has the record for most wins as a college coach, and she's the head coach for the Tennessee women's team. When Summitt passed Bob Knight for the most wins as a coach, it was a big deal. A lot was made about the record, and the same thing would happen in the case of a UConn winning streak surpassing 88 games.

I'm not here to compare the significance of these records to the men's records. They are separate in one sense, and similar in another. The importance here is that these records are very meaningful and historical, and we are very close to seeing a major team record broken.

So the question is, will UConn be able to start their 2011 season 11-0 to pass UCLA's record? The 2011 schedule will not be announced for several months, so there's way to analyze the upcoming games.

But all we know is that UConn has won 78 straight, 77 of which came by double digits. Also, junior star player and Player of the Year Maya Moore is coming back for another season. The Huskies' other star, Tina Charles, is graduating and will be missed for sure. But UConn might be able to get it done with Moore returning. She is by far the most talented player in the women's game, and she will certainly be motivated to get her team to break the record.

Geno Auriemma has, for years, been considered a top coach in all of college sports. But he's never really been discussed as a coaching legend. It might be time to start the talk, as Geno's girls are within 10 wins of the untouchable UCLA record.

Any time you can pass legendary coach John Wooden in any statistic, you're doing great things. It will be a tremendous accomplishment for Geno Auriemma and the UConn women's program if they can put together 11 more wins. Think they can get it done? It will be the top storyline of the 2011 women's college basketball season.