The infamous 92-93 Team

[Aluminny69]

It seems that the 92-93 team holds all the negative records: last team to lose two in a row, last team to not make the sweet 16, lost 11 games. So. what gives? Was there anyone hurt on this team? What happened between a successful 90-91 team and this team? This was before my time.

Maybe some people want to forget about that team, but inquiring minds would like to know, from someone who was around back then.

 

[VAUConnFan]

They were young and developing.

 

[Icebear]

The team was still emerging.

 

[VAUConnFan]

A year later, they were a very good team, a #1 seed that lost in the Elite 8 to the eventual national champions. The following year was historic.

 

[UcMiami]

They had the worst post player in America on that team and she was in her sophomore slump to boot! Double whammy!
Also as Meghan was quick to point out - she had just graduated so what would you expect.

 

[Vowelguy]

1991 team was led by all seniors and juniors
1993 they were rebuilding with Lobo as a soph and Rizz and Jamelle as frosh
Also, Miami had joined the conference and they were a power

 

[Aluminny69]

1991 team was led by all seniors and juniors
1993 they were rebuilding with Lobo as a soph and Rizz and Jamelle as frosh
Also, Miami had joined the conference and they were a power

Thanks, that makes sense. It's a shame they have to be the recipients of negative trivia questions, but it does make their accomplishments all that more astonishing. From mediocre to Undefeated Champions!! Wow...

 

[alexrgct]

The loss of Kerry Bascom to graduation was immeasurable. The pieces for 1994-95 were there: Lobo, Rizzotti, Elliot, and Webber, but they were underclassmen as has been mentioned. And of course, Kara Wolters and Nykesha Sales hadn't arrived yet. A great team was lying dormant, but it was there.

 

[Blakeon18]

BTW: the broadcast last night had them losing to Vandy during the NCAA tournament that year...last team not to make the sweet sixteen.
I would be willing to make a very large [and very figurative] wager with the TV crew
that it was not Vandy who beat them but Louisville. I was at that game and I am almost positive Jamelle and Jen were on that team as frosh. The score was close....in the 70's.

Meghan: what do I get if I win?

In point of fact during Rebecca's first two years...she was a soph on that 1993 team....they were pretty good but not national class. I would guess their records those two years were something like 18-11. As noted above....when Kara Wolters and Carla Berube came on board the next year they took it to the next level.
I saw them lose to eventual champ North Carolina at the RAC. They were simply nowhere near the Tarheels in athleticism....that significantly changed the following year [35-0] when Nykesha came on board.

 

[UConnDan97]

It's hard for me to believe that the 92-93 team could be considered "infamous" by anyone. To be fair, I'm not sure if the title of the thread was made in jest or not. The 92-93 team was a team that went 18-11 and made it to the tournament. Back then, there was nothing "infamous" about that, as it was viewed as being a solid season. Back then, I didn't need to get into a lottery to see a women's game as a student (93-94 = freshman year for me).

It's tough for some to view the history of the women's program through the fog of so many 30+ win seasons and so many national championships, but years like 92-93 (and 93-94) were critical in building up the fanbase. Obviously, the fanbase grew exponentially in 1995! But years like 92-93 should be viewed by all as positive-growth years for the greatest team in the history of women's basketball...

 

[huskybill]

BTW: the broadcast last night had them losing to Vandy during the NCAA tournament that year...last team not to make the sweet sixteen.
I would be willing to make a very large [and very figurative] wager with the TV crew
that it was not Vandy who beat them but Louisville. I was at that game and I am almost positive Jamelle and Jen were on that team as frosh. The score was close....in the 70's.

Meghan: what do I get if I win?

In point of fact during Rebecca's first two years...she was a soph on that 1993 team....they were pretty good but not national class. I would guess their records those two years were something like 18-11. As noted above....when Kara Wolters and Carla Berube came on board the next year they took it to the next level.
I saw them lose to eventual champ North Carolina at the RAC. They were simply nowhere near the Tarheels in athleticism....that significantly changed the following year [35-0] when Nykesha came on board.

You are correct. I was also at the Louisville game. I believe it was on St. Patrick's day. Louisville had an Irish sounding (name) player as the star of their team and some wag said that UConn could never beat them on St. Patrick's day. I was also at the Rac in '94 when Tonya Sampson? from NC punched Jen in the stomach, a dirty play not seen by the refs.

This I'm not sure of but I believe that Kathy Ferrier and Tonya Boone were also on the '93 team.

The Huskies were not a very good team that year.

 

[huskybill]

It's hard for me to believe that the 92-93 team could be considered "infamous" by anyone. To be fair, I'm not sure if the title of the thread was made in jest or not. The 92-93 team was a team that went 18-11 and made it to the tournament. Back then, there was nothing "infamous" about that, as it was viewed as being a solid season. Back then, I didn't need to get into a lottery to see a women's game as a student (93-94 = freshman year for me).

It's tough for some to view the history of the women's program through the fog of so many 30+ win seasons and so many national championships, but years like 92-93 (and 93-94) were critical in building up the fanbase. Obviously, the fanbase grew exponentially in 1995! But years like 92-93 should be viewed by all as positive-growth years for the greatest team in the history of women's basketball...

Even Geno was surprised when UConn made the NCAAs that year.

 

[UConnDan97]

Even Geno was surprised when UConn made the NCAAs that year.

Does anything about Geno saying or feeling something like that surprise you? C'mon! The bottom line is that the expectations for both the team and for Geno were not the same back then as they are today, and looking at 92-93 in the same way that someone would look at today's team isn't fair to either team. We had won 20+ games, what, maybe three seasons prior to that in our entire history? Let's get some perspective here...

 

[huskybill]

Does anything about Geno saying or feeling something like that surprise you? C'mon! The bottom line is that the expectations for both the team and for Geno were not the same back then as they are today, and looking at 92-93 in the same way that someone would look at today's team isn't fair to either team. We had won 20+ games, what, maybe three seasons prior to that in our entire history? Let's get some perspective here...

I said that "Even Geno was surprised when UConn made the NCAAs that year." He said that both publicly and privately. 92-93 was the first year I went to all the home games and I even made some of the away games. I loved that team. (of course, it had Pammy.) I had no great expectations for that team. I don't know too many who did. But I don't think the way the season turned out that it was a NCAA caliber team. I'm certainly not calling the team "infamous."

 

[UConnDan97]

I did some searching through a UConn women's BBall prospectus, and from 1974 to the arrival of Geno Auriemma in 1985-86, we had only won more than 9 games in a season ONCE! That's including the years that we had Cathy Bochain and Leigh Curl (both who pre-date my fanfare). We had won 20+ games four times under Geno prior to the 92-93 season, where we won 18. Again, it's hard to look at that with today's glasses, but it wasn't anywhere near "infamous"...

 

[UConnDan97]

I said that "Even Geno was surprised when UConn made the NCAAs that year." He said that both publicly and privately. 92-93 was the first year I went to all the home games and I even made some of the away games. I loved that team. (of course, it had Pammy.) I had no great expectations for that team. I don't know too many who did. But I don't think the way the season turned out that it was a NCAA caliber team. I'm certainly not calling the team "infamous."

I agree with this post (and I did understand what you meant about Geno). Geno says and feels things like that. He can be brutally honest, and he can use words to motivate for future years. But I agree with you; that team was far from "infamous"...

 

[Icebear]

I believe the term "infamous" was applied only because so many of the team records like two consecutive losses, consecutive, sweet 16 appearances, etc. seem to have begun from that season. Nothing more. Not a knock on the team or any players simply seem to be a convenient demarkation point for when the UCONN era began.

 

[Aluminny69]

I believe the term "infamous" was applied only because so many of the team records like two consecutive losses, consecutive, sweet 16 appearances, etc. seem to have begun from that season. Nothing more. Not a knock on the team or any players simply seem to be a convenient demarkation point for when the UCONN era began.

Thanks, IceBear. You are correct. I was just about to make the exact same clarification. Overall, this thread has been an interesting discussion for me. That is what I was hoping for.

ETA: The seed for this thread was planted when I pointed out in another thread that Tenn had lost four of their last eight games. When I asked when was the last time this had happened to UConn, someone pointed out the end of the 92-93 season. Then, on the broadcast last night, it was pointed out that this was the last UConn team to NOT make the sweet sixteen. A remarkable record.

 

[UConnDan97]

I believe the term "infamous" was applied only because so many of the team records like two consecutive losses, consecutive, sweet 16 appearances, etc. seem to have begun from that season. Nothing more. Not a knock on the team or any players simply seem to be a convenient demarkation point for when the UCONN era began.

If I was going to set up a line of demarcation for when the UConn era began, I would still include the Bascom years. This would be due to a fact that I had mentioned earlier whereby UConn had only 1 double-digit wins season until the Bascom years, and we hadn't been to the NCAA tourney before she was at UConn. We went three times (I think) while she was here, and we won 17, 24, 25, and 27 games in those years respectively...

 

[Icebear]

If I was going to set up a line of demarcation for when the UConn era began, I would still include the Bascom years. This would be due to a fact that I had mentioned earlier whereby UConn had only 1 double-digit wins season until the Bascom years, and we hadn't been to the NCAA tourney before she was at UConn. We went three times (I think) while she was here, and we won 17, 24, 25, and 27 games in those years respectively...

That's a fine one, too, but they are indeed all arbitrary and given the number of "last times" associated with 92-93 it marks the end of the old pretty well.

 

[pinotbear]

I'm just tickled that we're trying to figure out something that took place at least 20 years ago. Stop and think about that: did the "UConn era" begin with the Bascom years, or as "recently" as the 93-94 team? Every other school in the country doesn't - can't, really - "get" this. "Did we become the 800-lb gorilla 20 years ago, or, was it longer?". Tough problem to have to solve!

 

[Icebear]

21 seasons without back to back losses. That is a long time.

 

[alexrgct]

21 seasons without back to back losses. That is a long time.

. Or without winning at least 25 games. Or without making the Sweet 16. Or without finishing in at least the top 10 of the final polls. Yep, Geno has conferred more than two decades of good times.

 

[UConnDan97]

I'm always going to be a little more inclusive of the Bascom years, probably because I was wowed early in my college career by a giant framed poster of Bascom that hung in the Sugar Shack, where I used to fill up on coffee and donuts (much to the chagrin of my waistline)...

 

[alexrgct]

The girl from Epping, NH with the ailing mother and a desire to stay close to home was one of the best things to happen to UConn's program. She left with Big East titles. A Final Four bid, and in 2006, hers in the first name listed on the Huskies of Honor wall...for damn good reason.