Hardest games we won in route to a Championship

[ASweet3781]

1. 2003 vs Texas in the Final 4

We we're down 9 pts late and looked dead in the water. Diana bruised and battered. We looked beaten. Than Diana and Willnett Crockett just carried us to a win. I still can't believe we won this game.

2. 1995 Final vs Tennessee

Took our first 2nd half lead on Rizzoti's coast to coast lay up with under 2 minutes left. Uphill battle all game due to foul trouble. TN had a very good team that year.

3. 1995 Regional Final vs Virginia

1995 almost never was. We raced out to a big lead at Gampel vs UVA. Than they went on a ridiculous run and we were down 7 at the half I believe. I was in disbelief and it did not look good. But we ended up pulling it out by 4. Gampel was a mad house.

4. 2002 Final vs Oklahoma

They made it difficult for us and never gave up. The game officially ended with 1:30 to go and Diana's basket and foul out of Stacey Dales.

5. 2010 Final vs Stanford

Stanford was very good and just physically took us out of that first half. We played flawless in the 2nd half and they still hit some circus shots to force us to make free throws.

 

[UcMiami]

Good list and agree with #1. I might put 2010 up as #2 just because the first half was SOOOOO dreadful.

 

[Sargassoc]

I absolutely agree with the Texas and Oklahoma games. They were tough, though we out-toughed our opponents. Wasn't the Oklahoma game also where Maria Conlon calmly made those late-game free throws? Once I saw her, I knew we were going to be OK.

I didn't know what to expect in 1995, but I remember Geno telling the team-- during the half-- just to do what they were doing and good things would happen.

As for the 2010 Stanford game, who can say? After a few minutes, I refused to watch all of the first half and some of the second half.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I was at 4 and 5. I think 5 was much tougher. In 4, we developed a nice lead, but Oklahoma hit some shots (threes, I believe) to close the gap to 6. Though we had lost the momentum, we still had the lead.

In 5, we were record-setting bad until Maya went into a phone booth and put on her tights and cape. We trailed for about half that game, maybe 25+ minutes.

I agree re the Texas game. We were down about 9 and struggling, then made a huge spurt at the end to advance.

 

[VAMike23]

Good list and agree with #1. I might put 2010 up as #2 just because the first half was SOOOOO dreadful.

Personally, I regard that first 20 mins as "The Half that Shall Not Be Named"

:-x

That was the worst feeling....I could barely bring myself to watch the beginning of the 2nd. Glad I did tho

 

[Vowelguy]

I'd definitely put #5 ahead of #4. Did we even ever trail against Ok?

 

[Vowelguy]

In fact I'd put thus years ND game over the OK game.

 

[Suebird10fan]

What about semi-final v Minnesota (Whalen and McCarville) in 2004? Final was 67-58. I don't remember any of the details--just the feeling at the end that it was more of a battle than I expected.

As I scanned the seasons I realized that the list of close games in NC seasons is not long. Once you get past the top seven or eight games it gets really hard to find a game that was in serious doubt in the second half.

 

[alexrgct]

I thought the 2003 final against Tennessee was not as close as the final margin suggests and the 2004 final was a little closer than the final margin suggests.

The Texas win was definitely the toughest.

The 2002 final was a weird game and illustrative of how good Uconn's starting five was that year. Uconn had one of the all time great backcourts in WCBB history that season, but it was Swin, Asjha, and Tamika who did most of the heavy lifting that game. Overall, OU didn't back down or quit, but UConn was generally in control from about midway through the first half on.

In four of uconn's championship runs (2000, 2002, 2009, 2013), no game was decided by single digits. And that is yet another marker of how great a coach Geno is and the caliber of teams he's produced. Even Pat, who won eight in her own right, only had two such runs in the tourney (1987 and 1989- as dominant as her 1998 team was, they had a tough regional finals game against UNC). Another shocking stat: in Tennessee's 1991 run, ALL FIVE GAMES were decided by single digits (MOVs were 8, 7, 4, 8, and 3 in OT). Was this interpreted as a sign of parity in WCBB that was sure to be around the corner any minute now?

 

[ThisJustIn]

I still get nervous watching the Texas/UConn game. LOVE that game. If I had to pick one game to show any "wonder what this wbball thing is about" person, that would be the game.

Re: Minny/UConn -- how very accurate Geno was on the CPTV championship DVD, something about "there were a few minutes there where it was like the Keystone Cops." I remember that sequence in the arena... and you could just feel waves of momentum building, until it finally broke in UConn's favor.

 

[alexrgct]

There were three seasons (2001, 2004, and 2010, and now 2014) where Uconn returned most of the players who won a championship the previous season. The 2004 team was the one where I was least confident Uconn would repeat. The 2003 team just seemed to have had such a charmed run throughout the entire season, loss to Nova in the BET notwithstanding, that I wasn't sure if a repeat was going to happen. The Texas game in particular was a big reason why I thought that.

 

[Wally East]

#3 is the loudest I can remember Gampel being. It was so loud the ref standing right next to Virginia's Wendy Palmer couldn't hear her call time out.

I think it was the first time we saw the CD holding Geno back from the refs show.

 

[caravaggio]

Does anyone know where I can find/buy some of these games? I didn't start watching until 2008-2009. so I have not seen the "big moments" in UConn lore.

I was unfortunately out of the country during the ESPN Classic showings of some of the games (and forgot to DVR them).

#3 is the loudest I can remember Gampel being. It was so loud the ref standing right next to Virginia's Wendy Palmer couldn't hear her call time out.

I think it was the first time we saw the CD holding Geno back from the refs show.

 

[phil sampieri]

I still get nervous watching the Texas/UConn game. LOVE that game. If I had to pick one game to show any "wonder what this wbball thing is about" person, that would be the game.

Re: Minny/UConn -- how very accurate Geno was on the CPTV championship DVD, something about "there were a few minutes there where it was like the Keystone Cops." I remember that sequence in the arena... and you could just feel waves of momentum building, until it finally broke in UConn's favor.

I beieve in the Texas game during a timeout, Geno told the team they were not ready to win a gam,e like this. Diana not very politely told him to sit down and watch.

 

[MilfordHusky]

To Alex's point, our fabulous backcourt went 0-fer from the arc that game, after doing not so great against ND the prior year. In the finals, we had the clear edge in the frontcourt, as OU had about 4 really good guards. In the semifinals against UT, our advantage was clearly in the backcourt, though Asjha sliced and diced the LVs, drawing praise from PHS.

 

[Geno-ista]

1. 2003 vs Texas in the Final 4

We we're down 9 pts late and looked dead in the water. Diana bruised and battered. We looked beaten. Than Diana and Willnett Crockett just carried us to a win. I still can't believe we won this game.

2. 1995 Final vs Tennessee

Took our first 2nd half lead on Rizzoti's coast to coast lay up with under 2 minutes left. Uphill battle all game due to foul trouble. TN had a very good team that year.

3. 1995 Regional Final vs Virginia

1995 almost never was. We raced out to a big lead at Gampel vs UVA. Than they went on a ridiculous run and we were down 7 at the half I believe. I was in disbelief and it did not look good. But we ended up pulling it out by 4. Gampel was a mad house.

4. 2002 Final vs Oklahoma

They made it difficult for us and never gave up. The game officially ended with 1:30 to go and Diana's basket and foul out of Stacey Dales.

5. 2010 Final vs Stanford

Stanford was very good and just physically took us out of that first half. We played flawless in the 2nd half and they still hit some circus shots to force us to make free throws.

Your#1 pick the Texas game - Wilnet Crocket played huge against what I remember was a huge awesome front line! She looked like she was over matched. And if I remember correctly, she was just coming back from injury. Either way, Diana was Diana, but Wilnet was Tina Charles her jr/Sr yr that night- rebounding and defensive monster!!!!

 

[Sonny44]

In fact I'd put thus years ND game over the OK game.

Agree, we led by only 6 pts with six minutes to go before we broke it open.

 

[hoophuskee]

I like the OP's picks. I especially agree with 2002. DT had ot make a big play. OK had all the momentum. No way was I not worried with that. The ND game maybe could be 5 - but we really blew them out at the end.

 

[rocky rococo]

From that Texas game, the image I'll never forget is Willnet going to the floor hard to keep possession of the ball.

 

[Scotter]

The 2010 game was much harder than the 2002 game. The danger of losing the 2002 game was never as great as losing the 2010 game. UConn pretty much controlled the entire game.

 

[hoophuskee]

UConn as up by 16 with 2:40 left vs Stanford in 2010. The game was over. It was actually over before that. Probably with 5 minutes left UCONN was up by 15. It was too hard to score in that game. Problem with OK vs UCONN in 202 was the Oklahoma could score and we couldn't hit threes while they could.

 

[Teacherdeb]

I was at the 95 regional final- what a game! Almost as great as that first Tenn game at Gampel- still the best game I have ever seen)

 

[Geno-ista]

From that Texas game, the image I'll never forget is Willnet going to the floor hard to keep possession of the ball.

I don't remember that play unfortunately- but I remember the heart and rebounding and defense- overall effort!

 

[Geno-ista]

The 2010 game was much harder than the 2002 game. The danger of losing the 2002 game was never as great as losing the 2010 game. UConn pretty much controlled the entire game.

I not only thought we would win this yrs ND semi final big----even when the game was close, I never got the feeling ND would win. Their body language was not good almost from the beginning of the game. Doris Burke mentioned it mid 2nd half when it was really obvious. Diggins, Achonwa- seamed almost defeated in the first half. I just watched it again yesterday. Our defense and hustle and we just pushed the ball on offense and kind of ran them ragged!