Mohegan — The concepts of success and character, much as we’d like to think otherwise, are mutually exclusive. You can be great at something and still act like a schmoe.

And this is among the greatest myths perpetuated through society — and, sadly, the media — that success and character go together like the stars and stripes. Joe Successful Athlete goes on a profanity-laced tirade because of his “uncompromising quest for perfection.” Joe Not So Successful Athlete issues the same four-letter words and he has “maturity problems.”

This is particularly noticeable when we meet athletes and other public figures who are genuine and decent as human beings, as well. The story just doesn’t have the same zest because the whole success-and-character narrative is beaten into submission on the undeserving.

But there we were, Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena, staring at two young women for whom decency, comedy and humanity are habit, all while playing basketball at the highest levels. And so maybe it’s not such a coincidence that they both share the same number in the uniform history of the Connecticut Sun.

Lindsay Whalen: the first to wear No. 13.

Chiney Ogwumike: the current purveyor of 13.

So much for 13 being unlucky. Au contraire.

The Sun honored their old 13 with a pregame tribute before Friday’s game. Whalen, who recently accepted the job as the University of Minnesota’s new women’s basketball coach, announced her retirement from the WNBA last week. Whalen, who led the Sun to the finals twice, has quarterbacked her home state Minnesota Lynx to four WNBA titles.

A crowd of more than 7,000 gave Whalen a standing ovation, not even knowing that the Sun have a night planned next year in her honor.

Ogwumike, meanwhile, didn’t play Friday because of knee soreness. She said after the game she’s not worried and should be fine for the playoffs, if not Sunday’s biggie with Los Angeles. Ogwumike cheered on her teammates Friday night from the bench, wearing the same 50,000-watt smile that’s a permanent part of her presentation.

There are probably better ways to write this, but maybe the best way to describe the current and former 13s: They just get it. They don’t merely treat people by the golden rule, but they have this enviable flair for making you feel better in their presence.

Whalen is deeply missed here, that puckish sense of humor belying the innocent demeanor.

Favorite Lindsay story: During one offseason, she decided to play a joke on Bill Tavares, the Sun’s media relations director and close friend. Whalen was home in Minnesota at the time.

Whalen: “Hey, Bill. Lindsay. I'm here at the train station in New Haven for the press conference today. Anyone here to pick me up yet?”

Tavares: “Press conference?”

Whalen: “Now's not the day to mess with me, Bill. I just took a train from New York after a four-hour flight from Minnesota.”

Tavares yammered and stammered, barking to anyone in the Sun offices who'd listen. Picture the panicked soul, about to speed to New Haven, running like a tardy commuter chasing the local 7:07. Untucked shirt tail flapping, one arm in his coat ...

“Hey! Who told Lindsay we had a press conference?” he howled.

That's when he heard the giggling on the other end of the phone.

Whalen also got Tavares one other night, convincing him that a Fox 61 news truck was camped outside her apartment and that the TV reporter knocking on her door was “freaking me out.” Tavares was standing in his kitchen when he saw Whalen's number on the caller ID at 10:30 p.m. He digested Whalen's tale and began yelling, about to call the guy's producer, before figuring out this was Funny Girl at her best.

“That's her,” former teammate and friend Jess Brungo said. “She likes to carry these things on as long as she can to make people suffer.”

And now all these years later, Sun fans who have seen her flourish as a two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time WNBA champion, have still left the light on for her. Many of the fans Friday night aren’t fortunate enough to know Whalen well. But they should know their outpouring was showered on someone most deserving.

Sun fans should also know what a gem they have in Ogwumike, the current 13, who is the whole package. More energy than Eversource, forever cheerful, always earnest. There is nobody to carry on the tradition of 13 here better than Ogwumike, who is always sunny and 75 degrees with light and variable winds.

Chiney story: Shenzhen, China, for the World University Games. USA Women's Basketball boards a shuttle bus to go shopping. They share the bus with the Italian men's soccer team.

“Our group was next. I was a seat or two behind the last Italian guy,” Caroline Williams, the generally awesome director of communications for USA Basketball was saying. "Chiney gets on and with a huge smile on her face, starts walking down the bus aisle telling each one of the Italians, 'ciao, bella!' and waving hello. They of course are giggling about it and I bust out laughing.

“When Chiney got to me, I asked her if she knew what she was saying," Williams said. "She thought it was just a nice greeting like hello or something. I laughed and told her it means 'hello, beautiful.' She laughed hysterically, as did I and a few of the Italians who overheard me, and just kept on going to her seat.

“But that's just Chiney. She made friends with half the village. Or maybe more. If she had time to meet everyone, she would have made friends with the entire village. She's everybody's favorite person to interview. She is so genuine. You can't put into words how much she cares. During the player walk to go to dinner, players give high fives. Chiney gives hugs.”

One day soon, the No. 13 will hang in the rafters of America’s Most Beloved Arena.

How lucky we’ve been.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro