Rhetorical Analysis Of 111 Wins And Counting

Winning is fun, however it must get boring if all your team does is destroy your opponent. This is the University of Connecticut (also known as UConn) women’s basketball team with a win streak of 111 games that was heartbreakingly ended in the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA tournament with a 66-64 loss to Mississippi State. Jan Diehm, the author of “111 Wins and Counting,” writes about this streak and claims that the UConn women’s basketball team is one of the best college teams to ever compete, in the newspaper The Guardian. Diehm believes that this success is due to the skill of each player on the team and their ability to execute the coach’s plan. She supports this claim through her use of statistics, quotes and logic. The audience is persuaded

Diehm builds this credibility by not only giving out facts, but also by explaining the significance of these facts. These facts show that Diehm knows what she is talking about, this because Diehm uses quotes from the coach and other coaches in the team’s division to explain the team’s issues and successes from a non-views side. Using quotes from the coach shows the audience that Diehm is not just an avid viewer, but active in all that this basketball team does. Diehm also shows her expertise by describing facts rather than just stating them. When describing the point distribution across the 111-game streak, Diehm explains the significance of the “core four” players and what it means that they each have scored over a thousand points in the past 111 games. Diehm’s involvement in the sport is also shown when Diehm writes on a quote than another sports analysist says, that “UConn is killing the women’s game.” Diehm defends this with a quote from the coach, showing how involved she is with this

To defend UConn’s team Diehm brings up viewer statistics. She shows that the women’s basketball team has not ruined college basketball, but made it better because this year more people are watching basketball than the years previous. Diehm is also passionate about previous players as she talks about the UConn athletes being the highest picks in last season. Her passion is also shown when comparing Breanna Stewart to the previous UConn legends. Diehm is a big fan of Stewart because she talks about how she tops UConn’s charts in statistics for the last 111 games. Diehm’s passion is most obviously described in how she boosts the team’s accomplishments throughout her piece. She brings up the coach’s 11 NCAA championship titles, the ten consecutive Final Four appearances and the outstanding number of Coach of the Year awards the Head Coach had