HARTFORD, Conn. -- In the last two weeks, Leon Barmore rooted for Tennessee, Rutgers, Virginia Tech and Seton Hall. Now he's a big Georgetown fan.

The former Louisiana Tech coach is holding out hope that Connecticut (No. 2 ESPN/USA Today; No. 3 AP) will lose to the Hoyas (11-2) on Saturday. A loss would end the Huskies' winning streak at 54, leaving them tied with the 1980-82 Lady Techsters for the longest such streak in Division I women's basketball history.

Barmore said he doesn't want to lose the record, even to good friend and UConn coach Geno Auriemma.

"If Alonzo Mourning and Patrick Ewing play for Georgetown, I think they have a chance,'' Barmore joked in a telephone interview Thursday. "But I think Geno will get the streak, and I think that's a great accomplishment.''

The Huskies have had some close calls in their past four games, recording just one double-digit win, a 69-57 victory over Virginia Tech.

Connecticut edged archrival Tennessee 63-62 in overtime, beat Rutgers 67-62 and held off Seton Hall 53-48 on Wednesday night.

"Hey, it's 54 in a row, we're happy,'' UConn forward Diana Taurasi said. "No one said it was going to be easy.''

Louisiana Tech entered the record books during the transition from the AIWA to the NCAA. The team was 34-0 in 1980-81 in the AIWA and 35-1 the next year in the NCAA.

During the streak, Tech beat 23 top-20 teams , 15 top-10 teams and 10 top-five teams, Barmore said. Old Dominion stopped the streak with a 61-58 win in 1982. The Lady Techsters then won their next 16 games, including the first NCAA women's basketball final over Cheyney State.

"Without question, we were the best team over about a 2½ year stretch, and I think Geno, without a doubt had the best team last year,'' Barmore said. "I don't know who they've really played this year. The win against Tennessee was big, though.''

UConn has downplayed the streak, with players and coaches pointing out that Taurasi is the only returning starter from last year's undefeated national championship squad.

Auriemma likes to say that Taurasi has a 54-game winning streak -- the rest of the team has won 15.

"I'm just trying to get to the next game,'' Auriemma said recently. "I'm trying to get our guys to set a screen against the press, make a hard cut or get a defensive rebound. That streak is so far from my mind it's on another planet.''

Barmore doesn't believe that.

"They can downplay it. That's fine. But they should and will be proud when they break it because that is quite a feat,'' he said.

It's not the longest streak in basketball. UCLA holds the Division I men's record with an 88-game winning streak from 1971-74.

Barmore spent part of his day on Thursday delivering an autographed basketball and bobblehead doll to 81-year-old Edna Tarbutton, a coach whose high school team in Baskin, La., won 218 consecutive games from 1947-52.

"So when you say 218 wins, 54 or 55 don't sound like too much, does it?'' Barmore said.