Streaks are inherently interesting. Streaks are a type of anomaly in which something outside the ordinary occurs in that the same event happens over and over and over again. Many teams dream of a long winning streak. But today, we are going to talk about a different type of streak. A losing streak. A really, really long losing streak. This is the story of greatest losing streak in college basketball.
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A Little Bit of History
In order to set the scene, we need to take a deep dive into a little history of Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). The conference was created in 1915 in Southern California between five different teams. Cal Tech, Occidental College, Pomona College, University of the Redlands, and Whittier College. This conference would be where our drama would unfold.
The conference has a very unique history. UCLA was member of the conference for seven years from 1920 to 1927. San Diego State was also a member for a period of time (1926-1937), but it was called the San Diego State Teachers College back then. Pomona-Pitzer College had Gregg Popovich as their head coach for seven years. Yes, the same one coaching in the NBA today. But we're talking about division three men's basketball. So, the conference has some prestige to it. Most of prestige eventually left though.
Streaking
Our story begins in 1996. That is the last time Cal Tech beat a division three basketball team. At this point in time it had been eleven years since they had beaten anybody in their conference, last beating La Verne College in 1985. The Cal Tech Beavers were not just bad, they were terrible. But given the school's heavy focus on academics and the poultry athletic budget, Cal Tech has never had expectations of competing for division three titles.
Unfortunately data is very hard to come by in division three basketball. So, we will fast forward to the 2006-2007 season. Cal Tech had not won a division three game in over ten years. The losing streak at this point is 197 games. They lose their first game of the season to the University of Dubuque by 41 points. Such deficits are common in games with the Beavers. Their 200th straight loss to a division three team comes to Chapman College. They lose by forty. In their 203rd loss, they play UC Santa Cruz to a close game only losing by 12 points. Unfortunately, not a win.
As we get into January, the streak stands at 207 games and there is only one game left in the non-conference. Remember that Cal Tech has not won a game since 1996, but they have not won a conference game since 1985. With one last chance before the brutal conference schedule, Cal Tech wins their first game in eleven years. They blowout Bard College, 81-52. Thus, ending a streak that took over a decade to build. Cal Tech's winning streak ended at one. They lost their next game to Occidental College by 63 points, 103-40.
Four years later, however, Cal Tech would get its revenge beating Occidental College 46-45. This ended a 310 game losing streak within the conference dating back to 1985. That streak might never be matched. What has happened to the Beavers since? A renaissance period. For the past two years, Cal Tech has not been the worst team in its conference. This past season was a good one for the Beavers, where they finished 7-18 overall, with a 6-10 record within their conference. A far cry from the 0-25 seasons they would regularly experience. Thus ends the legend of the worst basketball team, where winning a single game truly meant everything.
For those interested, the documentary Quantum Hoops covers the 2005-06 season of the Cal Tech Beavers and talks about the streak in more detail.