So, here’s the question of the day: Will any team in any sport ever win 100 consecutive home games again?
This assumes Nova Southeastern’s men’s basketball team does it Tuesday night. And coach Jim Crutchfield hasn’t assumed his way to winning two Division II titles in the past three years, being ranked No. 1 again this season and not losing on their Davie campus in five seasons.
“Rollins is a tough matchup for us,’’ Crutchfield said of Tuesday’s opponent in the Sunshine State Conference tournament. “Last week, they went ahead with two minutes to go. We made a couple shots and beat them at the buzzer.”
That’s the thing about a great sports streak. It has rare moments. A few years ago, Crutchfield walked to midcourt to shake hands with his counterpart, sure his team had lost on a last-seconds play. But a Virginia Union player had stepped out of bounds. Four-tenths of a second remained. Nova scored to win.
“It’s hard to believe we haven’t lost at some point,’’ Crutchfield said.
Crutchfield, 69, is a rare treasure if you’re a sports aficionado. He works from a home office with Division II’s limited resources. He has two rules: No complaining and no swearing. NBA minds like the Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and Boston’s Brad Stevens have talked with him at length.
The strength of his up-tempo system — The System, it’s become called — isn’t just evidenced by Nova’s top ranking and Division II-leading 102.2 points per game average. The fifth- and sixth-ranked teams, Gannon and West Liberty, are coached by a former player and assistant using The System.
“If you force more turnovers and get more rebounds than your opponent, you’ll take more shots,’’ Crutchfield says in explaining The System.
Back to the original question: Can any team win 100 consecutive home games again? Crutchfield doesn’t make the streak a topic with his players, though he recently did ask if anyone knew who had the longest home streak in sports.
One player had looked it up. Kentucky’s basketball team won 129 consecutive home games from 1943 to 1955.
“Seventy years ago,’’ Crutchfield said to his players. “Anyone know the second-longest home streak?”
No one did. John Wooden’s UCLA team won 99 straight from 1971 to 1974.
“Fifty years ago,’’ Crutchfield said.
There have been other notable streaks. The University of Miami football team won 58 straight home games from 1985 to 1994. Clemson came the closest to that, winning 40 straight at home before losing in 2022.
There are great, individual streaks that go over the century mark. Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander currently has scored at least 20 points for 123 consecutive games, closing in on Wilt Chamberlain’s record 126 consecutive games with at least 20 points.
But that’s one great player. The Sharks’ streak involves something larger. Crutchfield isn’t much a fan of records or streaks, to the point he didn’t care when some tried to make a big deal of NSU breaking scoring marks or leading the country in various stats.
“What I like about this streak is involves so many people,’’ Crutchfield said. “It involves coaches over these years. It involves 40 to 50 players. So many people have been a part of it in a way that means something.”
Veteran guard Dallas Graziani of Pembroke Pines and Ross Reeves, the leading scorer, direct this team. Jaxon Nap, at 6-foot-7, provides the only size on the team. Others have learned roles or tweaked talents to fit into The System.
Winning has meant a 25% increase in attendance in each of the past three years. Floor seats were sold out for season tickets. That still means an average of less than 1,000 fans at home games this year.
Maybe you see the throwback purity of Division II with its smaller spotlight. But Crutchfield just wants to do what he’s accomplished since arriving at Nova Southeastern: win.
NSU basketball had only one 20-win season in its 34 years when Crutchfield arrived in 2017. He won 17 games that first year and has won no fewer than 23 since.
The Sharks can move to 25-1 on Tuesday. They also can do what only one other team has done in college basketball — and that was 70 years ago. Crutchfield has his thoughts on whether anyone will get to 100 consecutive home wins again.
“A lot of records will be broken in today’s world,’’ he said, “but this one looks unbreakable to me.”
