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Biggest rivals

HuskyNan

HuskyNan

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I started a thread on the men’s board with a tweet that says Marquette is a rival of the men’s team (this year, apparently, but I don’t understand how rivalries would just come and go). Anywho, fans started making list of teams they perceived to be the guys’ biggest rivals. So, let’s see what teams you perceive to be the women’s team’s rivals.
 
With all due respect to the NBE, the top rivals for WBB are all OOC teams: SC, ND and perhaps Stanford whenever Tara agrees to play the Huskies. LSU is certainly poised to become a rival, but that too would involve an actual game between the Tigers and the Huskies.

As for longtime rival TN, the LV’s have fallen out of the top tier of WBB, and with no matchups on the horizon, it’s difficult to consider TN as a top UConn rival anymore.
 
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Tennessee during the Diana era, ND during the Maya era, ND & South Carolina during the Stewie era, I guess it‘d be South Carolina now, but Dawn hasn’t made it much of a rivalry with Geno like Pat & Muffet has.
 
Jeff Waltz is my second favorite bahind Carla Berube to coach the team, when Geno & Chris retired
 
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From France said:
Rivalry doesn't mean animosisty

You Can be rivals with respect, that's what happenned with STANFORD and Tara VDV
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Agreed. Animosity for sure raises the stakes, though. Especially when the team you’re rooting for wins. ;)
 
With UCONN WBB it seems like their rival is whoever is the best newcomer to the game. It was Tennessee until they lost it, then they had ND for a while but they also dropped off for a while and now you have SC who might be but if they drop off they will be like the others to be replaced by the next great teams. It seems like UCONN has rivals when great players show up on campus for the opponent and ends when the competition falls below UCONN standards.

What makes UCONN special is they have stood the test of time and look to be stocked for the foreseeable future.
 
On any given day,in any given game the team that gives UCONN a test for superiority is a rival. UCONN is the hallmark that all teams are rated by and the Elite teams have had their day in the sun,BUT , UCONN is UCONN and UCONN's superiority will win the game. UCONN has a winning record against all the best teams they play. GENO is the mastermind that no other team has and that's MY opinion. Geno will the coach of the year this year. GO HUSKIES!!!!
 
There's some established rivals like ND, Scar, Stanford & Tenn.
Then there's the rivalries based on the popularity of other teams that have some star players that receive extra media attention & hype.
LSU fits into that category & there's even a history where UConn once lost to LSU in an Elite 8 match up in 2007.
In 2008 UConn beat them by 5 in a game played at LSU resulting in a 4-1 all time record betweeen the schools.

uconnhuskies.com

No. 1/1 Womens Basketball Earns 74-69 win at No. 6/6 LSU - University of Connecticut Athletics

BATON ROUGE, La. (Feb. 25, 2008) – Freshman Maya Moore (Lawrenceville, Ga.) scored 29 points as the top-ranked University of Connecticut women's ba...
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com
 
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No one. Rivalries are measured over time. All the teams mentioned have had a cup of coffee of success before fading away. UConn has no rivals. Zero, zilch, nada, none.
 
To be a legitimate rival the teams have to play each other every year, with both teams good enough to win. I believe South Carolina is that team for UConn, not just because of the success of SC on the court, but the success and notoriety of their coach, Dawn Staley. Like Geno, she can be controversial. In college basketball, the coach is the star, and the back and forth between them makes for great theater, something the fans of not only the participating schools, but WBB fans around the country seem to enjoy. Notre Dame was a true rival with Muffet at the helm, but it isn't the same with Nielle Ivey. LSU with Kim Mulkey would be a good one, but there is no way she would agree to play UConn every year unless UConn drops to the D2 level. So, South Carolina is it, and don't be surprised if they make it to the F4 again, if not this year, then next. Both Geno and Dawn seem to relish the competition between the two, so as long as they play, this can be the best rivalry in WBB going forward.
 
From France said:
Rivalry doesn't mean animosisty

You Can be rivals with respect, that's what happenned with STANFORD and Tara VDV
Expand ...
But it often does. How much do the fans of UNC like Duke and vice versa. Some of the biggest rivalries in the world involve soccer, where actual deaths occur. I'd say that's pretty heated and filled with animosity.

For me, it's Tennessee, South Carolina and Notre Dame. Just because a team isn't going to beat you any time soon (Tennessee) doesn't mean they aren't a rival (to me). The fan bases, in general, dislike each other and some Tennessee fans, at least on message boards, still say very nasty and derogative things about Geno and UCONN. I think no matter what happens, in my lifetime, Tennessee will always be considered rival, no matter how far they (hopefully) fall.

It seems that the more the animosity between the fan bases, the more heated the rivalry. I guess its probably splitting hairs and semantics, but even if we don't play them much, I'd consider Tennessee much more of a rivalry than the 2nd best team in the Big East...
 
and one said:
All time: ND. In conference for awhile, so a lot of games and they beat us a lot. Rutgers always a scrappy game. Tennessee for obvious reasons.

Now: SC, Stanford, plus ND and Tennessee for old times sake.
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UConn vs ND is 39-14. Vs Rutgers is 34-6. Vs Tennessee is 16-9.
 
EricLA said:
But it often does. How much do the fans of UNC like Duke and vice versa. Some of the biggest rivalries in the world involve soccer, where actual deaths occur. I'd say that's pretty heated and filled with animosity.

For me, it's Tennessee, South Carolina and Notre Dame. Just because a team isn't going to beat you any time soon (Tennessee) doesn't mean they aren't a rival (to me). The fan bases, in general, dislike each other and some Tennessee fans, at least on message boards, still say very nasty and derogative things about Geno and UCONN. I think no matter what happens, in my lifetime, Tennessee will always be considered rival, no matter how far they (hopefully) fall.

It seems that the more the animosity between the fan bases, the more heated the rivalry. I guess its probably splitting hairs and semantics, but even if we don't play them much, I'd consider Tennessee much more of a rivalry than the 2nd best team in the Big East...
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We don’t have a hated rival in web except Mizzouri but that seems to be fading.We love playing y’all as the highlight of the season. No hate except maybe on the lunatic fringe that we all have.

We hate Clempsun almost exclusively in all sports - but their fans refuse to recognize wbb as a sports. After that in all sports it’s Tennessee and Georgia. Tennessee is almost a wbb rivals because of the arrogance they still exude over Pats legacy.

Not a natural rivalry but I could see a hated rivalry develop between SCar and LSU. They have a loud and brash fanbases while ours are soft spoken angels. :rolleyes: Add Kim and Dawns personalities and their could be fire. Their fans have been pretty insufferable considering we own scoreboard against them.

Anyway, we are proud to be considered a UConn rival and hope the annual series lasts forever. Too bad Kim lacks the guts to play y’all . ;) ( might as well start stirring the pot, now).

I would love to see a UCon v Scar 3 game baseball series in Myrtle Beach every early season before the SEC baseball season begins.
 
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sun said:
There's some established rivals like ND, Scar, Stanford & Tenn.
Then there's the rivalries based on the popularity of other teams that have some star players that receive extra media attention & hype.
LSU fits into that category & there's even a history where UConn once lost to LSU in an Elite 8 match up in 2007.
In 2008 UConn beat them by 5 in a game played at LSU resulting in a 4-1 all time record betweeen the schools.

uconnhuskies.com

No. 1/1 Womens Basketball Earns 74-69 win at No. 6/6 LSU - University of Connecticut Athletics

BATON ROUGE, La. (Feb. 25, 2008) – Freshman Maya Moore (Lawrenceville, Ga.) scored 29 points as the top-ranked University of Connecticut women's ba...
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com
Expand ...
I agree that it can go beyond a more traditional long history. This year everyone will be talking about Uconn and LSU quite a bit, and certainly those teams, players, and coaches will get a ton of media attention. That makes them big rivals this year even if a long history has not been established.

So with Kim as the coach I think LSU can be expected to be rivalry that grows for a number of years to join South Carolina, Notre Dame, Tennessee etc.. I think Stanford almost fit that definition but with their conference status I wouldn't be surprised if their program slipped quite a bit.
 
oldhusky said:
I agree that it can go beyond a more traditional long history. This year everyone will be talking about Uconn and LSU quite a bit, and certainly those teams, players, and coaches will get a ton of media attention. That makes them big rivals this year even if a long history has not been established.

So with Kim as the coach I think LSU can be expected to be rivalry that grows for a number of years to join South Carolina, Notre Dame, Tennessee etc.. I think Stanford almost fit that definition but with their conference status I wouldn't be surprised if their program slipped quite a bit.
Expand ...
They’ve gotta play you to be rivals.
 
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