Slate Article: The UConn Women’s Basketball Dynasty Is Over

[Tenspro2002]

It's an interesting question, which "post-[superstar]" era will the next few years be like?

We won't be clear #1, or maybe #1 at all, but will we be a Top 4 lock, expected to get to the Final Four, and a legitimate contender (like in 2011-2013)? Or will we be in that next tier, #5-10, with periods of ugly basketball, and needing to play above our abilities to get there (like 2005-07)?

While we've hit on many of our top recruiting targets, we're definitely lacking that solid next level of player that provides solid minutes in big games. Some of those have been lost to transfer, but it's still a concern. Can we continue to get by with only a 6-7 man rotation? Can some of those 8th-10th men step up and prove themselves reliable?

Will we land that next star, or do we even need one?

Regardless, the idea that Geno would rather retire or move on than face this challenge is ridiculous and insulting, and shows zero insight into his mindset as a competitor.

 

[HopJim]

One of the best written articles about UConn Women's Basketball in many years. "Its been a privilege to watch UConn play" certainly not negative. Compares next year's team to many other good, Top 10, UConn teams. Writer doesn't say Gino will retire-just speculates "If." Find it hard to see any negatives in the lengthy story.

 

[UcMiami]

I just posted a review of the players on that 2005 team - their record was 25-8 and lost in the sweet sixteen as a three seed to a #2 seed Stanford by 17.
If Tuck comes back she provides the leadership to take them further, if she doesn't I think it might well be a struggle to do better - the record may be better because that team lost three games in conference play in the old big east and the AAC is just not that good, but next year's OOC is going to be brutal and if the team doesn't find leadership on the court quickly it could easily have a tough start to the year. It sure is not going to be a cake walk!!!

 

[Fairfield Fan]

The UConn Women’s Basketball Dynasty Is Over

One of the best analyses I've read. He's mostly spot on, as the Brits say. Wonder who told him that Megan Walker is going to ND. Hmmm....

But for those of us who have followed UConn basketball for a long time, we are fully aware of how very special this era has been. Our team has struggled in the past. Yes, Maya was not able to win the championship twice. But, hey, Coach Geno has won 10 (soon to be 11?) championships in just 31 years. And that is tremendous.

What the writer fails to point out is that there have been lots of teams with transformational players that have failed to win championships. How many times has Baylor failed to make the Final Four? Failed to win championships, but had great players? And ND just bombed in this tournament, even with great players. But Coach Geno has taken his teams to the Final Four for nine straight years. And with all the great players other teams have had, none has managed to win 23 straight in the NCAA's. And look at win streaks: Four of the five longest set by Connecticut.

Clearly, it's not just having one great player lead Connecticut to the promised land. There is a coaching genius there to point out!

 

[Charliebball]

Am among those who thought that this was very well done and very much on target -- BUT, I had a BIG problem with his slipping in the smelly red herring (in my view) about Coach riding off into the sunset. That kind of stuff is just fodder for other desperate coaches to quote to recruits and it detracts from both the piece and the author.....outa bounds off him!

(Did like the challenge he put our there for Coach.)

Agreed..........most of the article seems well thought out but if the author has been doing his research on the team, I would like to see where he got his information on the coach retiring before next season...........Geno doesn't seem like the kind of coach that would leave his team without announcing it well beforehand as many of the other great college basketball coaches have done before him.

 

[huskyd]

"Ah cain't think about it t'day. Ah'll think about it t'morrah."

"T'morrah IS another day."

 

[CL82]

3Please define a "down year" next year for UConn?? Is that only getting to the final 4, or a 38 and 1, or 25 and 10.
Next years team has a whole lot more talent than the team (after DT) spoken about in the article. If you don't think a healthy Katie Lou, Collier, Gabby, Dangerfield, Nurse, Butler, et al, will do more than their fair share of NCAA damage--think again. I respect your opinion and even the Article was some what fair but it appears you too are speaking apples and ball bearing (no banana's) ND, USC, Baylor, Tx, Md, maybe Duke,Tn will be good, as usual but Uconn isn't devoid of talent--and the X factor (if you don't know what that is ask Mrs Aurimema (sp))

It is only getting to the final 4. I didn't create the ridiculous expectations surrounding this program. I just live by them.

"Only a final four?...we suck."

 

[bags27]

Geno doesn't seem like the kind of coach that would leave his team without announcing it well beforehand .

I agree.

But the end is a lot closer than the beginning: it's why he uncharacteristically started crying at the presser the other day. Turning 62 is very weird: you become Social Security eligible, and even if you don't plan to collect yet (and Geno certainly doesn't need to!), you realize you're demographically in the retirement pool. Once you get over the 2nd SS age of 66, you begin to reconcile with it (what choice do you have?). But it takes adjusting to confront one's own mortality, and some people do funny and impulsive things.

 

[Charliebball]

I don't watch much Women's basketball (really only when UConn is playing a top 10 team), but these types of columns are somewhat aggravating and should be to any sports fan, let alone a UConn women's basketball fan.




OH NO!! UConn might lose 4 games next year but still reach the Final 4!! Auriemma should retire. He doesn't want to take on THAT challenge!!

Equally baffling is the notion that, especially at age 62, Auriemma should go coach men's basketball. Despite the similar sounding name, they are two different games and the players have vastly different personalities and attitudes. Having Geno Auriemma coaching Mens Basketball is loosely akin to asking Jürgen Klinsmann to call plays for Tom Brady.

Actually I remember Geno saying on the Michael Kay Show on the Yes Network that he would leave UConn in a second if he was offered even an assistant coaching job in the NBA.....he was laughing when he said it but I believe he meant it!!!

 

[tomcat]

I don't watch much Women's basketball (really only when UConn is playing a top 10 team), but these types of columns are somewhat aggravating and should be to any sports fan, let alone a UConn women's basketball fan.




OH NO!! UConn might lose 4 games next year but still reach the Final 4!! Auriemma should retire. He doesn't want to take on THAT challenge!!

Equally baffling is the notion that, especially at age 62, Auriemma should go coach men's basketball. Despite the similar sounding name, they are two different games and the players have vastly different personalities and attitudes. Having Geno Auriemma coaching Mens Basketball is loosely akin to asking Jürgen Klinsmann to call plays for Tom Brady.

I think you missed the point, which was not that Geno might want to not have to coach a team without superstars and -- heaven forfend -- lose a game or three. It was that Geno might want to go out on the highest note possible. I completely disagree with this premise, which is nothing more than the writer's theory, but it ius not at all the same as fearing a loss, which was not the writer's point.

All that said, it was a well-written opinion piece with soime facts to back up the opinion. There have been many worse and a few better.

 

[Topdawg]

Well written article. Some speculation here and there to create tension and pause. Worth a read.

 

[j66kicker]

I don't see Geno retiring while he still has a contract. I think when he retires it'll be after his contract is up. (not necessarily the current contract, but who knows?)

Hope the writer is wrong about Walker too.

I think he will always get a long-term extension for recruiting purposes. Which means he will eventually retire while under contract.

 

[pacific 44]

The 2018 class will reinstate the dynasty.The 2017 class will be very good and the 2018 class will be one of the best in Uconn history.Uconn might be one with a few equals for a couple of years (and still eke out a championship or two)but they will separate themselves from the pack again by 2019.This will soon become evident.

 

[winlots]

The 2018 class will reinstate the dynasty.The 2017 class will be very good and the 2018 class will be one of the best in Uconn history.Uconn might be one with a few equals for a couple of years (and still eke out a championship or two)but they will separate themselves from the pack again by 2019.This will soon become evident.

PAC: Yo! Likely you weren't aware of this, but you became my new best friend (eat your fickle heart out Myers) a few days ago on another thread. So, c'mon, just between the two of us, whadaya know about this 2018 situation that a lot of us don't know. C'mon, Man.....tell it!!!

 

[CPD016]

• By virtue of the fact that Geno is the coach at UCONN he is "Clothed in immense power". No one willingly gives that up. Ergo - He stays

 

[Geno-ista]

I thought that other than the "coaching men" comment, it was one of the best articles I've read in a long time. I think next year wee're easily a 3-6 loss team. A lot of close games. Not whining , just stating what I see and think.

 

[pacific 44]

I only know of one 90% sure commit that will be a huge difference maker but Geno has about a 50% or better chance with a fairly large contingent of the 2018 class.The head football coach of Alabama has his choice of 5 star recruits at every position and after 31 years Geno is just about there.Remember,Geno is at a point where he interviews the recruit's family,the recruit's attitude,adaptability from h.s.star to team basketball participant,and many other factors that most coaches have to overlook because of the level of talent the recruit may have.Recruits at Uconn have to pass a number of criteria to be considered.Almost no other coach has this luxury.Geno also knows that he can't bring in 15 superstars and make everyone happy,so with that in mind watch what great contributors (on many levels) that Bent and Irwin are over their 4 years here.When people write (from an unthinkable orifice )that Uconn's demise is imminent just remember that we have two kids coming to Uconn in 2017 that will be shooting threes at 40%or better in their careers.One or two big kids along with the clear and future Danger and that alone is final 4 material.NOW lets put a couple of superstars that you will hear about soon and they will put the nasty in dynasty.But wait there's more.We have a game to play first and if most of you are like me the pressure of fanhood will be greatly lessened for a year or two if the games are somewhat more competitive if we can just get the 4 and 11.If Uconn doesn't win next year we can look back and be thankful that we had it so good for so long and watch the powers that be go out and start a new dynasty.

 

[iri10]

Interesting article, though I'm not sure about "If there’s one thing Auriemma hasn’t done, it’s win a title without a transcendent player."

It rather depends on how you define "transcendent," no? I would argue that the 1995 team had no transcendent players, but maybe my definition of the word is a bit more strict than the author's. Put another way, if Lobo is transcendent, then I suspect the vast majority of tournament-winning teams had a transcendent player...and most of the ones who didn't probably won in a year in which there weren't many transcendent players.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Really good read and there is no question that the next year(s) are going to be very different in WCBB.
For 3+ years we have had a team with three first team AA quality players and sometimes four, with very good supporting cast as well.
2013 Stewart was not an AA her freshman year but she was better than just a first team AA in her freshman NCAA run to go with Dolson and KML (and Faris and Hartley
2014 Stewart, Dolson, Hartley (and KML and Moriah)
2015 Stewart, KML, Moriah (and Tuck and Nurse and Stokes)
2016 Stewart, Moriah, Tuck (and Nurse and Samuelson, and Williams and Collier)

In most of the last three of those years and in the first year NCAA we had the NPOY quality player not just first team AA quality. And we also had finalists or winners of Lieberman and DPOY players. That combined with great coaching and great team work is the definition of a dominant team.

To look at next year and not recognize a huge shift in the team make-up would be blindness. Is there a lot of talent on the team, certainly. Can Gabby, Lou, and Napheesa become AAs, can Danger become a Lieberman or Staley winner, can Butler become a Hamblin or Dolson, can Irwin and Bent become special, can Chong or Ekmark blossom like Maria did when Sue left, yes to all those questions, but ...
The team returning next year most closely resembles the team that came back in 2005 or 2011 than any team since that year - if Tuck does return, then it more closely resembles the team that returned in 2003 or in 2010. In either case, it does not resemble the team that returned at the start of this season or the ones that returned in the prior two years.

On Edit: The operative word in the last paragraph is 'can' - all of those things can happen - in the previous years most of those qualities were already known quantities.

And just a reminder - before this current stretch, there were only two years in NCAA history that had three first team AAs on a single team - 2002 Uconn, and late 1990s TN. That is a huge collection of talent on a single team that is very rare.

Well written as always. By the way, I think Rebecca Lobo was an outstanding basketball player but I don't think she was transcendent unless you are referring to how her skill and her personality helped encourage some skilled young women basketball players to consider attending UConn. If whoever wrote the article didn't consider KML to be transcendent, then I don't consider Lobo to be either. She was just the best player on that first national championship team though in truth, maybe Nykesha Sales ended up as a more talented player for the Huskies. That's JMHO!

 

[nd2tty]

Interesting article, though I'm not sure about "If there’s one thing Auriemma hasn’t done, it’s win a title without a transcendent player."

It rather depends on how you define "transcendent," no? I would argue that the 1995 team had no transcendent players, but maybe my definition of the word is a bit more strict than the author's. Put another way, if Lobo is transcendent, then I suspect the vast majority of tournament-winning teams had a transcendent player...and most of the ones who didn't probably won in a year in which there weren't many transcendent players.

Hmm, not sure, I think Lobo was transcendent, especially in 1995. But, like you point out, depends on how you define "transcendent", versus, say, "generational", which gets misused as well of course.

A quick look suggests it happens about about 2/3 of the time, i.e. the national champion has a transcendent player, whether it be Stewart, Griner, Moore, Parker, Taurasi, Swoopes, Miller, or Holdsclaw. I would add Pam Kelly, Teresa Weatherspoon, and Lobo to that list, for their time.

Interesting to think about the second part of your question: winning without the transcendent player when there is one that year. I'd have to take more time to look at 1982-2000, but a quick look at the last 3 times a team won without a transcendent player - 2011, 2006, and 2005 - shows that there was a transcendent player each time: Moore in 2011, and Augustus in 2006 and 2005. I'd argue it happened in 2001 as well, with Stiles, though you could argue if Ruth Riley was transcendent, as well as whether it's fair to consider SW Missouri State at all for national championship purposes.

 

[Deadrody]

I didn't read it and I won't. Why would anyone in their right mind go to Slate for a sports opinion on anyone or anything.

Heh. That strategy does not apply to only sports opinion. Slate is no more than an amateur weblog indistinguishable from the average internet troll.

 

[Deadrody]

The team that returned in 2005 had Ann Strother and Barb Turner as juniors and starters on NC winning teams and Willnett Crockett an integral part of two NCs, a senior center (5th year) in J. Moore who had three NC rings and was a starter on two NC teams, Ashley Battle a fifth year senior with 3 rings and a defensive dynamo in the Faris mold, Nicole Wolff a third year sophomore who started as a freshman before her first injury, and well regarded recruits in Mel Thomas, Ketia Swanier, and Charde Houston and Rashidat Sadiq a Olympic team member(Nigeria?) and JuCo transfer. That is both a lot of experience and a lot of talent - and they had lost only the incomparable DT and Maria Conlon a consummate college PG. Compare that team on paper to the team returning next year which will have lost both the incomparable Stewart and the best PG perhaps in program history and perhaps Tuck the emotional leader of the current team and perhaps the third draft pick in the WNBA draft and it is very similar.
Do Chong and Williams and Nurse and Ekmark and Butler and Collier and Samuelson become better leaders and have more success than the 2004-2005 team - I sure hope so, but on paper are they better than that team ... in our hopes sure, in reality we will see. And on paper that 2005 team had a lot more experience.

Well, let's be fair. Once Diana was gone, It was clear that the talent around her those last 2 years was not as great as she made it look. I think that is the point that was being made, and frankly, I agree. They were "good", but it remains to be seen if the same effect will befall this group next year. I tend to doubt it. Kia Nurse, alone, has proven outside of UConn that she is exceptionally talented.

 

[SportsPageMike]

Good article, the dynasty may not be over but it would be slowed if Tuck decides to go to the WNBA. Am not sold on Chong, Butler and Ekmark so my concerns are bench play. I'm sure that some of you may agree and others will not. The starters more than likely without Tuck would be Nurse, Danger, Collier, KLS and Gab. Love that starting five. They will compete and be very good. Hopefully, I am wrong about bench players.

 

[pinotbear]

Knew it. You are the devil!

What does that make meyers?

 

[UcMiami]

Hmm, not sure, I think Lobo was transcendent, especially in 1995. But, like you point out, depends on how you define "transcendent", versus, say, "generational", which gets misused as well of course.

A quick look suggests it happens about about 2/3 of the time, i.e. the national champion has a transcendent player, whether it be Stewart, Griner, Moore, Parker, Taurasi, Swoopes, Miller, or Holdsclaw. I would add Pam Kelly, Teresa Weatherspoon, and Lobo to that list, for their time.

Interesting to think about the second part of your question: winning without the transcendent player when there is one that year. I'd have to take more time to look at 1982-2000, but a quick look at the last 3 times a team won without a transcendent player - 2011, 2006, and 2005 - shows that there was a transcendent player each time: Moore in 2011, and Augustus in 2006 and 2005. I'd argue it happened in 2001 as well, with Stiles, though you could argue if Ruth Riley was transcendent, as well as whether it's fair to consider SW Missouri State at all for national championship purposes.

Lobo was the first in a line of stretch four type players presaging Lauren Jackson, EDD, and Stewart. That she had to retired due to injury prevented her showcasing those skills in the pro ranks. That she started as a freshman on a team still putting together the pieces necessary to rise to the top and playing in obscurity meant that until her senior year no one in the broader society recognized what she was doing. Yeah, she was for a brief moment transcendent and that team in 1995 was pretty stacked with talent. 2000 is a year when I would say the program did not have a 'transcendent' player - Sue, Sveta, Shea and crew were/are fabulous players but in line with players who came before and after.

 

[bob neal]

The UConn Women’s Basketball Dynasty Is Over

This writer has NO IDEA of the great recruits lined up for 2017 plus Dangerfield next will be BETTER than Jefferson !! 2017 we have Lexi Gordon from Texas, Andrea Espinoza Hunter and probably the best PG in the USA for both 2017 & 2018. We will not miss a beat for the next 5-6 years !! I have been going to games at Storrs long before Geno when Sara Hamn, Wanda Flora and Jean Balthazzer ere coaching before Geno. That started in 1976. Gena came in 1985. He has done so WONDERFULLY AMAZING and has recruits lined up as far as the eye can see that are GREAT, never mind Meagan Walker. She may be headed to ND, who really knows. Not sure she knows yet. We missed out on so many players we recruited hard that were # 1 in HS , Diamond De shields, Brianna Turner, A'ja Wilson, Jewell Loyd, Serra Calhoun just to name a few and there are many more we missed on. SO WHAT> Relax Fans !!! There is more Greatness ahead although next year will be interesting. Bob Neal

 

[HuskyDogArt]

The UConn Women’s Basketball Dynasty Is Over

Slate magazine is wrong about politics, so it's wrong on basketball. Crappy, magazine...

 

[01Neaggrad02]

The UConn Women’s Basketball Dynasty Is Over

BS. UCONN will be fine and when we land great players we will win. We do not need all #1s.... South Carolina has a number 1 and no titles. Tennessee has a #1 and no titles lately.... ND has great players.... No recent titles. Geno will have them back

 

[01Neaggrad02]

The UConn Women’s Basketball Dynasty Is Over

The author should stick to the law because he knows nothing about Basketball

 

[Ozimoto]

Based on past history, I think Geno is looking forward to working with next year's team to bring out their best. They likely aren't the most talented bunch, but it they are coachable, (and I have no reason to think they aren't) it will be a blast to see what Geno, CD, and their staff can get out of them. He will have to become a game coach again! Age does matter (damn it) so it would not be a surprise if he doesn't have the same passion and energy he had 10 or 15 years ago.

In my opinion, Geno didn't have to do a lot of "in game" coaching and game management for at least the last two seasons. This group with the big three translated practices so well to games that for the most part they cruised. That won't be the case next year, at least at the beginning of the season during out of conference play because other teams will have the talent to challenge the Huskies. Also, other teams will be taking the floor believing the have a good shot to win. That, realistically, was not the case in recent seasons.

If Geno still has the fire to be a sideline coach and game manager, next year may be more "fun" for him even though the win loss record may well not be what we have grown accustomed to over the last four years. It's a long wait, but I am looking forward to see what sort of progress the kids have made before tip off next season.