A little something to tide us over before the next game... | The Boneyard

A little something to tide us over before the next game...

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sarals24 said:


UConn - Georgia, 2001 season opener. #1 vs #3. This is detailed in the book about that season, I've never seen it. Man, that team was good. Georgia was no slouch with the Miller twins either.
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By my lights, that was the most balanced, skilled UConn team I've ever seen. No dominant center, but a load of strong forwards who could do everything in the paint. Cash, Williams, Jones, Abrosimova-- all 6'2", the first three very comfortable in both the high and low post, demons getting positions and looking for one another. Bird, the consummate floor general, Ralph the dynamo, and Taurasi (Taurasi!) off the bench! The movement, cuts, and passing were a joy to behold. And don't get me started on their quickness and weak-side support on defense.

Now, with Collier, Boykin, and Samuelson next year-- added to Stewart and Tuck (and Butler)-- could we have a similar machine of interchangeable parts, with Williams as a Shea-like dynamo? Geno worked that 2001-2002 team in platoons; can he create something like that again? Even if it's at a less elevated level, it is something to look forward to. I'm betting that he is coaching and putting this year's team's parts together to make next year's group ready to happen.

Not at all to suggest that we overlook what's happening now, this year, and we have, starting with DePaul, a very interesting two weeks to end the year.

BTW, I met that entire team at a corporate meet-and-greet at the beginning of the season. That whole 6'2" crew, especially in heels, was very intimidating.
 
Thanks. This was, I believe, the first Hiskies game I ever saw in person. And Cash, Jones and Williams inspired the never to be forgotten line (from a frustrated and bewildered opponent); "There's three of them!" Also never to be forgotten was Sue flying down the middle of the court, pony tail streaming out behind, on the break, with a Husky on her left and another on her right. Those were the days, my friend!
 
That was fun.
That team with five future Olympians plus Ralph, Williams, Shuey, Battle, Conlon - just an amazing collection of talent. To think they got to the final four after losing two senior starters to injury and another player (Battle) only five games in! 2002 was an amazing team but the team that started the 2000-1 season was amazing.
 
UcMiami said:
That was fun.
That team with five future Olympians plus Ralph, Williams, Shuey, Battle, Conlon - just an amazing collection of talent. To think they got to the final four after losing two senior starters to injury and another player (Battle) only five games in! 2002 was an amazing team but the team that started the 2000-1 season was amazing.
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Kelly was never an Olympian but she did play for Team USA in 2000 in the Williams Jones Cup in Tapiei, Taiwan... How's that for a nugget?!!!
 
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Favorite team, and probably favorite game. What they did in that first half to the #3 team in the nation was unforgettable.
 
You know, Geno has gotten better since those early 2000 years at keeping his teams focused and prepared. He has always been pretty good at that, but all those years there would come a stretch when things got a little ragged usually in January, and they would play some real stinkers - they usually won anyway, but the basketball was stale. Not saying that the teams recently haven't had some ups and downs, but the downs haven't been as low.
 
The other thing interesting about that game was Valley was great in her first game at Uconn - I think she was the second freshman off the bench behind Diana and she scored I believe ten points (outscoring DT.) That might have been one of her best games.
 
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan...that Diana Taurasi ain't gonna amount to nuttin'...
 
To date Geno has maintained that the greatest team he's ever coached and the greatest team in WCBB was the 2000-2001 team that lost Svet & Shea to injuries and lost to ND in FF Semi's! He also said HE cost the team the Championship by going nuts in the locker room at 1/2 time of that ND game up by 15 after Ratay hit a 3 at the buzzer to drop lead from 18 to 15 points! He asked Sue Bird on SNY Geno show if she and the team forgave him now, and she said yes they should have won anyway even though they were shocked & upset! They were better than ND!
 
An amazing team. Can anyone post the game we lost to ND before Svet was injured? I'd be interested to see how we lost it.
 
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I hadn't seen this game. They play with such speed and precision!
 
semper said:
I hadn't seen this game. They play with such speed and precision!
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Speed and precision, yes, but the POWER and depth is unbelievable! Tamika, Asjha, Shea, Diana... even Swin, Svet and Shuey all very powerful women. More like a pro squad. Best WCBB team ever assembled, I think.
 
ballhawk said:
An amazing team. Can anyone post the game we lost to ND before Svet was injured? I'd be interested to see how we lost it.
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No Shea, no Sveta, UConn up 16 in the first half... DT had helped carry the team after those injuries, but had an awful shooting game and ND came back for a 15 point win. I remember DT in tears on the bench with Geno in front of her, apparently consoling her.

If it were available, I don't think I could watch it.
 
psconn said:
No Shea, no Sveta, UConn up 16 in the first half... DT had helped carry the team after those injuries, but had an awful shooting game and ND came back for a 15 point win. I remember DT in tears on the bench with Geno in front of her, apparently consoling her.

If it were available, I don't think I could watch it.
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I think they meant the game at ND, not the FF.
 
A great game. A shame Ashley Valley's feet betrayed her. A very smart guard. And Svet - sorta forgot about her "I am mad at everybody" look in game. Nurse's slashing ability reminds me very much of Sveta. I believe it was Sveta who said to Geno: "You didn't bring me 5000 miles to pass!"
 
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That team broke the 100 mark an awesome 6 times no sweat, or maybe with Sveta. As in the GA game where they scored 99, there were a few more where they could probably have pushed over 100 if they had gone full out to the end. The GA game actually came in the State Farm Tip-off Classic six days before UConn's last exhibition game of the season against the Ukraine team.

Why did UConn suffer its first loss to ND and biggest margin of defeat at 16 in about 8 years? Part of the problem was that Riley and Siemon had been injured in their previous game against VTech, and they pulled some Willis Reed imitations by playing phenomenally before a fanatic crowd at the Joyce Center even in their hobbled and broken-handed states. Ivey danced through the Husky press and Riley passed quickly to open players as soon as she was double-teamed, so basically ND befuddled the UConn strategy as it would do again in the Semi game's 2nd half. Sveta and Sue played overall strong games, but Shea and Swin combined for only 5 points.

UConn won by 29 over Old Dominion in the next game.
 
psconn said:
No Shea, no Sveta, UConn up 16 in the first half... DT had helped carry the team after those injuries, but had an awful shooting game and ND came back for a 15 point win. I remember DT in tears on the bench with Geno in front of her, apparently consoling her.

If it were available, I don't think I could watch it.
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Yes, the first post was referring to the January 2001 game, but I totally understand and agree with your position regarding the 2001 national semis. Fortunately for Diana, she blossomed into something even greater than what would have been expected from a #1 national recruit. In the ensuing three seasons, she got to experience a record of 107-5, an 18-0 record in the NCAA tournament, three NCs, a 70-game winning streak, three seasons with first-team AA recognition, and two NPOY award-winning season.

Oh, that and possibly the best shot in WCBB history. I guess her three-point shooting improved from the 2001 national semis. :)



Which she did again at the professional level!

 
RockyMTblue2 said:
A great game. A shame Ashley Valley's feet betrayed her. A very smart guard. And Svet - sorta forgot about her "I am mad at everybody" look in game. Nurse's slashing ability reminds me very much of Sveta. I believe it was Sveta who said to Geno: "You didn't bring me 5000 miles to pass!"
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Uh, Rocky, like you are like correct except you, uh, have like the wrong Valley girl. You are thinking of Morgan, with the plantar fascitis. Ashley was the one with the floor burns and who was always about a half-step ahead of herself.

My favorite Sveta quote was something to the effect that when Geno started chewing her out about something, she would just pretend that she could not understand English.
 
elzorrogris said:
Uh, Rocky, like you are like correct except you, uh, have like the wrong Valley girl. You are thinking of Morgan, with the plantar fascitis. Ashley was the one with the floor burns and who was always about a half-step ahead of herself.

My favorite Sveta quote was something to the effect that when Geno started chewing her out about something, she would just pretend that she could not understand English.
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Pretty sure that's also what she said during her first two years when a teammate was calling for the ball and Sveta thought she had a halfway open shot. By her junior year her English had improved quite a bit and she learned the line about giving is as good as receiving.
 
On DT's past 1/2 court basket vs TN, that's one of the many reasons that Geno has called DT "the greatest winner in WBB history!" Everywhere she's gone from Middle School to HS to UCONN to World teams to Olympic teams to foreign ball to WNBA, she's won multiple Championships along the way!
 
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I don't know if this is true or where I heard it, but does anyone remember hearing that Muffett coached the entire 2000-2001 season with half her practice being focused on beating their next opponent and the other half focused on her strategy against UCONN?
 
If you are talking about the first half ending basket, it was actually about 3/4 court as I remember, but the game-tying streak-preserving basket with three or four ticks on the game clock was just damned near half court, and rushed at that. As I remember. She had no time to sight it in, just a quick look at the basket and chucked it up. Swish.
 
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