RockyMTblue2
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Do you remember earlier this year watching a snippet of video with Geno in a practice huddle up asking his team over and over with some heat: "Do you know how badly these other teams want to be you?" That is what came to mind as I happened upon the following Louisville SBNation article written ahead of last weekend's game. It's an excellent article and offers a perspective about what winning against UConn could mean that sounds pretty spot on. I like the title too.
Louisville women shoot to slay the Connecticut giant Monday night
"For a variety of reasons, “seemingly insuperable forces” aren’t as easy to find in the world of major American sports as they used to be. With one notable exception: The Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball program.
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The reality, however, is that beating Connecticut at any point in a season produces a ripple effect that changes the stature and national perception of a program in a way that closely resembles winning a national title or making a Final Four.
We’re talking about a sport whose primary discussion topic for the better part of the past decade has been whether or not Connecticut’s mere existence helps or hurts it. With that truism still firmly in place, it’s understandable that before March Madness rolls around, women’s basketball only makes a major splash in the sports world when the Huskies shatter some type of ridiculous record, or when they lose.
Let’s put it this way: The group of people who could tell you that the Connecticut women didn’t win last year’s national title is larger than the group who could tell you the name of the team that actually won. The group that mistakenly believes UConn did, in fact, win last year’s title probably outnumbers the other two combined. That isn’t an attempt to justify ignorance, it’s merely an acknowledgement of the way things are."
Louisville women shoot to slay the Connecticut giant Monday night
Louisville women shoot to slay the Connecticut giant Monday night
"For a variety of reasons, “seemingly insuperable forces” aren’t as easy to find in the world of major American sports as they used to be. With one notable exception: The Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball program.
***************************
The reality, however, is that beating Connecticut at any point in a season produces a ripple effect that changes the stature and national perception of a program in a way that closely resembles winning a national title or making a Final Four.
We’re talking about a sport whose primary discussion topic for the better part of the past decade has been whether or not Connecticut’s mere existence helps or hurts it. With that truism still firmly in place, it’s understandable that before March Madness rolls around, women’s basketball only makes a major splash in the sports world when the Huskies shatter some type of ridiculous record, or when they lose.
Let’s put it this way: The group of people who could tell you that the Connecticut women didn’t win last year’s national title is larger than the group who could tell you the name of the team that actually won. The group that mistakenly believes UConn did, in fact, win last year’s title probably outnumbers the other two combined. That isn’t an attempt to justify ignorance, it’s merely an acknowledgement of the way things are."
Louisville women shoot to slay the Connecticut giant Monday night