Last night the Miami "Heats" won their 23rd game in a row. That is the second-longest streak in National Basketball Association history.

The University of Miami "Hurricane" finished the regular season ranked as the fifth best team in America and are one of four teams seeded second in the upcoming college basketball national championship tournament.

It was not always thus.

From 1988-2004 the "Heats" were the definition of mediocrity. Then they got Dwayne Wade. In 2006 they won the NBA championship, becoming unofficial world champions. Then they got LeBron James. Ditto 2012. Now, 23 in a row and one of the most glamorous, popular (and hated) teams in any sport.

The University of Miami didn't play basketball from 1971-1985. For lack of interest. Then they restarted the team. Little interest, mediocre; the highest they were ranked prior to this season was 8th. Then they hired Jim Larranaga as coach. Now they're fifth.

The number of people in the world whose favorite sports teams are the Miami "Heats" and the basketball "Hurricane" is pretty small. Miami has traditionally been a football city: the professional "Dolphin" have won two Super Bowls and were infinitely more popular than the pre-Wade "Heats," and the football "Hurricane" have won five college national championships. Now, almost incomprehensibly, Miami is a basketball city.