How hard is it for a Division I college basketball team to win 17 straight games? You have to overcome aches and pains, not to mention coughs and colds, that cause adults to call in sick at work. You have to handle conference opponents who know you well and non-conference opponents you know little about beyond the scouting report.

You have to survive the vagaries of classes, weather, travel, personal issues and men blowing whistles – or not – for reasons you don’t like but can’t change. And, if you start your streak early in the season, you have to grind out those victories while celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s and transitioning from fall to spring semester.

It’s a lot to ask. Few find that many answers.

So how hard is it for a Division I college basketball team to win 17 straight games? There are 351 DI teams at play this season. Only one of them has won 17 games in a row and has a chance to get to 18.

It’s the Samford Bulldogs. The 17-2 overall, 6-0 and in first place in the Southern Conference Samford Bulldogs. Put some respect on their name because Bucky McMillan and company are not just doing things no team in school history has done before. They’re doing things few Division I basketball programs in this state have managed to do.

No offense to the 1929-30 Alabama team that went 20-0 or the 1958-59 Auburn team that started 19-0 – stretching the program’s win streak to 30 over two seasons – but let’s use the 1972-73 season as a starting point for historical comparison for two reasons. That’s the first year Samford competed as a Division I program. It’s also the year before Alabama made history with the first all-black starting lineup in the SEC, which meant integration in this sport in this state was well underway.