Has Skylar Diggins-Smith been our greatest individual rival?

[01Neaggrad02]

Arike is close but Diggins seems to raise the blood pressure of many Uconn fans. The familiarity of the opponent helped drive a lot of the rivalry in a way that even UT hadn't done before.

I loved Diggins as a college player because she truly didn't back down against Uconn. I had nothing against the Huskies but found myself rooting for ND in a couple of the games because Uconn had been on a streak that at that time hadn't been done before She may not have always had great games against Uconn but you couldn't sleep on her.

What else made the games so special was the difference between the teams was so small. Both were at worst top 3 teams usually playing their A games.

SC and Stanford should be great rivals for the Huskies these next few years. ND and UT are both getting better but it will take some time.

TMFTOYH.

 

[PacoSwede]

A personal one for me was Natalie Novosel she would frustrate me more than Sky all the calls she drew lol

novosel is a good example of an opponent who i though was more trouble for uconn than diggins -- though diggins' defense caused problems.

feel the same about mcbride. they (and others? ratay?) seemed to pick it up vs. uconn. not so much with diggins ... sure, skylar was the better player for nd; she came up short v uconn though, and she likely would acknowledge that.

there are some other real 'uconn killers' ... courtney williams regularly was unstoppable, though USF always was not ... of course, angel had a similar career v. uconn with louisville ... ahhh, my memory's going to hell, or i could claim it's just getting too late -- but there was a great guard at rutgers who actually beat us. she played alongside D in phoenix and shame on me i can't call up her name.... i'd say she was tougher for the huskies than diggins

 

[hoophuskee]

The intensity of the Skylar (and to some degree K-Mac) battles with UConn were magnified by the frequency of how often they met, due to Big East scheduling.

In bold is exactly why for me imo Skylar is the number 1 over anyone else. The number of times with so much at stake - she was ND's team leader mostly, and as a result is number 1. I didn't take this thread for who is the greatest player -rather I took it for a rivalry. Riley, Parker, and Griner were one year they took it to UCONN and that was it.

As for mention of ND's Arike-- I never felt her as much of a "rival." Didn't witness much from her until her last 2 years in NCAA's but she was miserable vs UCONN during reg season's in her soph- sr years. And in her junior year it was Young that smoked UCONN morseo despite the last 2nd shot. And in sr year- again UCONN took down ND in reg season in which Arike had a miserable game - and while she played well in NCAA's vs UCONN- the game was UCONN get wiped out on the glass.

I just don't agree with putting her on any "UCONN rival" list. To me Kayla McBride was that "next" pain in the butt player over more than 1 year.

 

[snlMINAJ]

may have only been once or twice, but candice wiggins from stanford showed us up.

 

[Dillon77]

A personal one for me was Natalie Novosel she would frustrate me more than Sky all the calls she drew lol

Ms. Novosel got under the skins of many UConn (and Big East) fans during her stay in the Big East. We Irish fans loved her.

Her nickname, "Nasty" would seem right for a person who drew many charge calls on defense and a bunch while driving to the hoop on offense. Interestingly, she got the name for her mid- to long-range jump-shooting accuracy in high school. Once she got to ND, she was known for her drives from the corner.

The Husky who used to drive me nuts during regular-season ND-UConn games as Gabby Williams, who used to dominate the lane to a degree you thought she was the center. If anyone knew "when" to jump....

 

[JellyBean]

For me, I like to think that SDS was UConn's greatest individual rival. You guys have listed some really great players and those players should be there. But for, SDS was that rival that increased the intensity during the UConn/Notre Dame battle back in the day. Maybe it was that battle for Big East supremacy that increased the intensity. All I know is, it was the Triple Overtime game where SDS had 29/11 rebounds and Notre Dame had won something like six out of the last seven games against UConn. Sure that game was not her best but she went toe to toe and made shots when it mattered, made key plays when it mattered, and kept her teammates locked in. She was that spark plug for that team which made the UConn/Notre Dame rivalry that much more intense. So, for me, SDS was that greatest individual rival. She just made those games that much more impactful.

 

[BostonBay]

Lot of hate with Marina Mabrey & Arike...They stole 2 games from UConn (who had better talent) in the FF & won a Title. Diggins never won a Title so she doesnt bring back as bad as memories for me.

 

[HuskyNan]

I wasn't on the board when Holdsclaw played (not sure the BY was in existence) but I dont think she (or Catchings) was really hated or despised by anyone? She was a like Tennessee's Maya Moore in that she was pretty mild mannered player who just showed up and would dominate without any antics. Like Maya, I think most were in awe of her as a player without a lot of negative commentary. Semeka Randall is definitely the better choice from that era since she was heavily recruited by Geno but chose Tennessee, had a scuffle with Hansmeyer, threw the ball of Svet's head and her nickname of "Boo" Randall came from getting booed relentlessly by UCONN fans. She also hit a game winner vs UCONN and the rivalry was more even during her time (4-3 in Tennessee's favor, both teams won a title).

Arike is also right up there too. I'd say the top few are:
1. Diggins
2. Parker
3. Ogunbowale
4. Randall


For 5th, maybe Marina Mabrey or Cappie Pondexter. Mabrey talked trash and Cappie got into a tiff with Geno after a game which created some drama.

The Boneyard has been around since the mid/1980’s although not on this platform

 

[HuskyNan]

STOP calling players names. Read the rules.

Name calling is childish and embarrassing to see here - as a UConn fan