Parallels to 1997

[diggerfoot]

In 1997 injuries, including to their PG, derailed the regular season for Tennessee and they lost something like ten games. However, they got everyone back, particularly the PG, for the tournament and became champions.

We went into that tournament as the favorite but then sustained our own injury to Ralph, the freshman phenom, in the first round. As Auriemma later confessed, neither he nor the team handled that injury well in the immediate aftermath. They were able to beat lesser teams, but not the rejuvenated and healed ten-loss team from Tennessee.

The hangover by coach and team to the loss of Bueckers resembled their funk after the loss of Ralph. Now that they seem to have moved beyond the funk, can they also get an injured point guard back just in time to win the tournament? Only time will tell.

Auriemma's comments after GT and after UCLA seem to be contradictory. On the one hand he doesn't like the way the team looks without Bueckers in the line up. On the other hand he is looking forward to developing more players. He also stated he was looking forward to a longer rotation before the season began, but was reticent in following through.

We know that the pursuit of perfection is more important than the pursuit of wins to Auriemma. I interpret his comments as a coach who knows he ought to be going deeper into his bench, but the look of greater imperfection stops him, sort of like an addiction. Injuries have made him go "cold turkey" and he now is grateful for the opportunity to do what he intended, but the abhorrence to things not looking good and addiction to perfection prevented him from doing.

Here's to hoping we emulate certain things about the 1997 season.

 

[hoophuskee]

1--- IMO it's not a "funk" when you lose important cogs. Same thing happened to men when Ricky Moore got hurt. They were never the same. No reason for us to ignore History. One player in basketball is enormous.

2-- UCONN right now has three other players hurt besides the best player in WCBB hurt. That's much more than Tenn ever lost that year. The other three players are very, very, very important players. too Now how long will it take them to get into a groove?

3-- This situation UCONN is in is not just a one-player plug-in. Cohesion will be much harder than one player plug-in.

 

[UcMiami]

I was thinking about that TN team in relation to ours - they were given a 3 seed, perhaps surprisingly since they were a ten loss team, 5th in their conference, and lost in the semi-finals of the SEC tournament.

I am not sure I see 10 losses for Uconn, but it is a different basketball world 25 years later. TN dropped all the way to #11 before ending the season at #10 in the last AP poll before the tournament. Don't think I see a team getting ranked that high with 10 losses in 2022

 

[Cuango]

In 1997 injuries, including to their PG, derailed the regular season for Tennessee and they lost something like ten games. However, they got everyone back, particularly the PG, for the tournament and became champions.

We went into that tournament as the favorite but then sustained our own injury to Ralph, the freshman phenom, in the first round. As Auriemma later confessed, neither he nor the team handled that injury well in the immediate aftermath. They were able to beat lesser teams, but not the rejuvenated and healed ten-loss team from Tennessee.

The hangover by coach and team to the loss of Bueckers resembled their funk after the loss of Ralph. Now that they seem to have moved beyond the funk, can they also get an injured point guard back just in time to win the tournament? Only time will tell.

Auriemma's comments after GT and after UCLA seem to be contradictory. On the one hand he doesn't like the way the team looks without Bueckers in the line up. On the other hand he is looking forward to developing more players. He also stated he was looking forward to a longer rotation before the season began, but was reticent in following through.

We know that the pursuit of perfection is more important than the pursuit of wins to Auriemma. I interpret his comments as a coach who knows he ought to be going deeper into his bench, but the look of greater imperfection stops him, sort of like an addiction. Injuries have made him go "cold turkey" and he now is grateful for the opportunity to do what he intended, but the abhorrence to things not looking good and addiction to perfection prevented him from doing.

Here's to hoping we emulate certain things about the 1997 season.

Great post!

 

[FridaFriend]

If you are comparing this year's UCONN team to the 1996=97 Tennessee team, Kellie Jolly (now the Tennessee coach) was the point guard who had an ACL injury before the season began, but came back to finish the season and tear up UCONN in the regional final. She replaced Laurie Milligan, who had been the point guard, but suffered an injury near the end of the season.

A big difference between that Tennessee team and UCONN today was that Chamique Holdsclaw was a sophomore on that team and Chamique was one of the best players ever.

 

[diggerfoot]

1--- IMO it's not a "funk" when you lose important cogs. Same thing happened to men when Ricky Moore got hurt. They were never the same. No reason for us to ignore History. One player in basketball is enormous.

2-- UCONN right now has three other players hurt besides the best player in WCBB hurt. That's much more than Tenn ever lost that year. The other three players are very, very, very important players. too Now how long will it take them to get into a groove?

3-- This situation UCONN is in is not just a one-player plug-in. Cohesion will be much harder than one player plug-in.

? Perhaps I am misinterpreting you. I’m reporting on Auriemma himself viewing the 1997 response as an emotional collapse over what happened to Ralph. Whether it happened or not (it did), or whether it was justified or not is beside the point, that was how Auriemma viewed their response.

But perhaps your three points are just adding further weight to my conjecture? It is hard to tell.

 

[diggerfoot]

If you are comparing this year's UCONN team to the 1996=97 Tennessee team, Kellie Jolly (now the Tennessee coach) was the point guard who had an ACL injury before the season began, but came back to finish the season and tear up UCONN in the regional final. She replaced Laurie Milligan, who had been the point guard, but suffered an injury near the end of the season.

A big difference between that Tennessee team and UCONN today was that Chamique Holdsclaw was a sophomore on that team and Chamique was one of the best players ever.

Considering that Bueckers is both the injured PG AND one of the best players ever gives more hope to the parallel if it holds (injured PG returning in time for the tournament), not less.

Not only did Tennessee “tear up” UConn in the elite eight, every other tournament team UConn played after Ralph’s injury performed much better than they should have against us as well, lending support to the view that the team had gone into an emotional collapse that greatly helped Tennessee to “tear up.”

Bueckers may not return, which ends the parallel there. However, our play against UCLA provides some evidence of a similar emotional collapse against GT as what occurred in 1997, so that part of the parallel still holds.

 

[BRS24]

In 1997 injuries, including to their PG, derailed the regular season for Tennessee and they lost something like ten games. However, they got everyone back, particularly the PG, for the tournament and became champions.

We went into that tournament as the favorite but then sustained our own injury to Ralph, the freshman phenom, in the first round. As Auriemma later confessed, neither he nor the team handled that injury well in the immediate aftermath. They were able to beat lesser teams, but not the rejuvenated and healed ten-loss team from Tennessee.

If memory serves, Shea's injury was the first major one that the program had experienced, and I think it was a shock to both coaches and players. Easy from the outside to say, oh then just do this and that, however when you are just one game into a potential 6 game tourney at the end of the season, and a significant contributor gets hurt, there's no time to prep or completely overhaul what you've been doing for the last 5+ months. Geno has admitted that they, ie, the coaches, did not handle this well, and not sure any of us in that situation would have done better.

 

[TCC Kid]

If you are comparing this year's UCONN team to the 1996=97 Tennessee team, Kellie Jolly (now the Tennessee coach) was the point guard who had an ACL injury before the season began, but came back to finish the season and tear up UCONN in the regional final. She replaced Laurie Milligan, who had been the point guard, but suffered an injury near the end of the season.

A big difference between that Tennessee team and UCONN today was that Chamique Holdsclaw was a sophomore on that team and Chamique was one of the best players ever.

If memory isn't faulty, Kellie Jolli did something just prior to the NC game and Pat publicly had not so good words for Kellie. She sat out the NC, supposedly injured. At that time I believed Jolly's injury wasn't an injury. It was a great win , in Philly, for Geno and one of my favorite Uconn teams, ever.

 

[GoUconn7961]

Didn't we have one season were we lost 4 games and the won a National Championship?
All things are possible.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

If memory isn't faulty, Kellie Jolli did something just prior to the NC game and Pat publicly had not so good words for Kellie. She sat out the NC, supposedly injured. At that time I believed Jolly's injury wasn't an injury. It was a great win , in Philly, for Geno and one of my favorite Uconn teams, ever.

Are you thinking of Kristen Ace Clement in 2000? Jolly never didn't play in the NC game when her team was there (96, 97, 98). The 2000 FF was in Philly.

Ace was said to have injured her ankle in practice. Pat was pretty tight lipped about the whole thing so I think there was more to the story but she definitely looked injured limping around the sidelines while the LVs were crushed.

 

[veryolddog]

Before her injury, Paige was the Team. The others were by-standers who watched the game while Paige did all of the work with her wonderful skill. Now, the by-standers have realized that they have to play the game with their above average skills and do it as a Team.

 

[Beemer]

Before her injury, Paige was the Team. The others were by-standers who watched the game while Paige did all of the work with her wonderful skill. Now, the by-standers have realized that they have to play the game with their above average skills and do it as a Team.

This ^ It is the one silver lining in a bad situation- the team has to learn how to win without Paige. They made a good start on doing that vs UCLA.

 

[TCC Kid]

Are you thinking of Kristen Ace Clement in 2000? Jolly never didn't play in the NC game when her team was there (96, 97, 98). The 2000 FF was in Philly.

Ace was said to have injured her ankle in practice. Pat was pretty tight lipped about the whole thing so I think there was more to the story but she definitely looked injured limping around the sidelines while the LVs were crushed.

You are exactly correct it was ACE. I can still see her on the sidelines and the UConn kids diving on to the floor after the win. Thank you for the MEMORY help.

 

[BRS24]

Are you thinking of Kristen Ace Clement in 2000? Jolly never didn't play in the NC game when her team was there (96, 97, 98). The 2000 FF was in Philly.

Ace was said to have injured her ankle in practice. Pat was pretty tight lipped about the whole thing so I think there was more to the story but she definitely looked injured limping around the sidelines while the LVs were crushed.

I think she also committed an error by stepping into the lane after the ref gave an opponent the ball to shoot free throws. Pat was livid. Not sure she saw playing time after that gaffe.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Any team that loses a player the caliber of Paige Bueckers is going to experience a letdown. This current team is much more dependent upon Paige than the 1997 team was upon Ms Ralph. That 1997 team still had Sales, Wolters, Williams, and Berube. My recollection of that 1997 Elite 8 game was that UConn did not play poorly, Wolters was slightly below average, and, as often happens when UConn loses, an opposing superstar imposes her will for which UConn has no answer. As it turned out, UConn lost to the eventual national champion who, at the time, was the defending national champion. No shame there.

 

[Linart]

If you are comparing this year's UCONN team to the 1996=97 Tennessee team, Kellie Jolly (now the Tennessee coach) was the point guard who had an ACL injury before the season began, but came back to finish the season and tear up UCONN in the regional final. She replaced Laurie Milligan, who had been the point guard, but suffered an injury near the end of the season.

A big difference between that Tennessee team and UCONN today was that Chamique Holdsclaw was a sophomore on that team and Chamique was one of the best players ever.

Did you mean Tennesse at the end of their season compared to UConn today? We have a pretty good sophomore too.

 

[FridaFriend]

I thought that the comparison suggested in the thread was between the present UCONN team and the 1996-97 Tennessee team. Both teams lost their starting point guard at the beginning of the season. In UCONN's case that player is also the best player on the team. For Tennessee, the best player was Chamique Holdsclaw.
The team had difficulty adjusting to the loss of Kellie Jolly going 29-10.

If the comparison is between the UCONN teams of 2021-22 and 1996-97, the latter was undefeated going into the NCAA tournament and Shea Ralph was injured in their first round game. So that comparison is a stretch.

 

[PJCLaw]

Didn't we have one season were we lost 4 games and the won a National Championship?
All things are possible.

Yes, Stewie's Freshman year UConn was 35-4.

 

[diggerfoot]

I thought that the comparison suggested in the thread was between the present UCONN team and the 1996-97 Tennessee team. Both teams lost their starting point guard at the beginning of the season. In UCONN's case that player is also the best player on the team. For Tennessee, the best player was Chamique Holdsclaw.
The team had difficulty adjusting to the loss of Kellie Jolly going 29-10.

If the comparison is between the UCONN teams of 2021-22 and 1996-97, the latter was undefeated going into the NCAA tournament and Shea Ralph was injured in their first round game. So that comparison is a stretch.

There were two parallels I intended to convey.

1. Tennessee in 97 lost a starting PG early, lost ten games during the regular season despite the best player in WCBB at the time playing for them, but still won a championship when the starting PG returned. Uconn in 21-22 has also lost its starting PG, also looks to underperform in regards to preseason expectations during the regular season. The hope is that history repeats itself with Bueckers returning in time to win a championship with a team that has learned to play well without her. Obviously, the parallel falls short if the same conclusion does not happen.

2. UConn in 97 lost a key player and the team did not handle the loss well emotionally, as reported by Auriemma and evidenced in their play. UConn in 21-22 did not handle the loss of Bueckers well in the GT game.

The relationship between the two parallels is only that they both involve the same years.

 

[boontonbomber]

In 1997 injuries, including to their PG, derailed the regular season for Tennessee and they lost something like ten games. However, they got everyone back, particularly the PG, for the tournament and became champions.

We went into that tournament as the favorite but then sustained our own injury to Ralph, the freshman phenom, in the first round. As Auriemma later confessed, neither he nor the team handled that injury well in the immediate aftermath. They were able to beat lesser teams, but not the rejuvenated and healed ten-loss team from Tennessee.

The hangover by coach and team to the loss of Bueckers resembled their funk after the loss of Ralph. Now that they seem to have moved beyond the funk, can they also get an injured point guard back just in time to win the tournament? Only time will tell.

Auriemma's comments after GT and after UCLA seem to be contradictory. On the one hand he doesn't like the way the team looks without Bueckers in the line up. On the other hand he is looking forward to developing more players. He also stated he was looking forward to a longer rotation before the season began, but was reticent in following through.

We know that the pursuit of perfection is more important than the pursuit of wins to Auriemma. I interpret his comments as a coach who knows he ought to be going deeper into his bench, but the look of greater imperfection stops him, sort of like an addiction. Injuries have made him go "cold turkey" and he now is grateful for the opportunity to do what he intended, but the abhorrence to things not looking good and addiction to perfection prevented him from doing.

Here's to hoping we emulate certain things about the 1997 season.

Very interesting comments re Geno's "addiction". Will he fall off the wagon when the injured players return? Wonder if he is really learning anything from this situation. Seems like he could have a nice 8-9 player rotation , but he's never done that, so probably won't, which I think would be too bad. Obviously not talking equal minutes, just getting 2-3 bench players meaningful minutes, and cutting down on the wear and tear of the starters.

 

[UcMiami]

Very interesting comments re Geno's "addiction". Will he fall off the wagon when the injured players return? Wonder if he is really learning anything from this situation. Seems like he could have a nice 8-9 player rotation , but he's never done that, so probably won't, which I think would be too bad. Obviously not talking equal minutes, just getting 2-3 bench players meaningful minutes, and cutting down on the wear and tear of the starters.

Check out the 2015-16 team - 9 players getting meaningful minutes because he had 9 players he could trust. He has done it when he has had the horses, he just doesn't have the horses most years. (And this is true for a lot of coaches as well - good coaches don't throw unprepared players onto the court and hope for the best.)

 

[MilfordHusky]

Didn't we have one season were we lost 4 games and the won a National Championship?
All things are possible.

If you have Diana or Stewie or Paige, yes!

 

[GoUconn7961]

If you have Diana or Stewie or Paige, yes!

I definitely get your point. But other teams win without stars - UConn can too.

 

[bballnut90]

I was thinking about that TN team in relation to ours - they were given a 3 seed, perhaps surprisingly since they were a ten loss team, 5th in their conference, and lost in the semi-finals of the SEC tournament.

I am not sure I see 10 losses for Uconn, but it is a different basketball world 25 years later. TN dropped all the way to #11 before ending the season at #10 in the last AP poll before the tournament. Don't think I see a team getting ranked that high with 10 losses in 2022

Worth noting, Tennessee in 1997 played an insane schedule that was probably the toughest schedule of all time. 29 of their 39 games were against NCAA tournament teams, and 15 of their 39 games were against teams that made the Final Four or were top 3 seeds. I could see UCONN losing potentially 5-7 games before the NCAA tournament, but 10 would surprise me. As long as the Huskies get a top 4 seed, they'll be in a favorable spot to get back to the Final Four, as they'd host the first 2 rounds and then host regionals in Bridgeport.