Thoughts on UConn's 14 consecutive Final Fours

[Longtime fan]

Many years ago, perhaps during the Diana Taurasi era or before, UConn made it to three consecutive Final Fours. How mind-boggling was that, we thought. There was even a T-shirt that I bought that read:

UConn Women's Basketball
Final Four
Back to Back to Back

What an accomplishment!

And now we have 14 straight, and the reaction seems to be "Yes, that's very nice." Apparently not T-shirt worthy.

I think that train will soon leave the track. Women's BB is getting so much better. We all saw what it took for NC State to beat ND; and what it took for UCONN to beat NC State. Outstanding teams...just in our regional bracket...included NC State, Oklahoma, Indiana, UCONN, Notre Dame and Princeton. Each year, there are more recruits who rate 4 and 5 stars. So getting to the final four is tougher now than it once was ( when UCONN had far more top players than most other programs ). Maintaining this accomplishment is mind -boggling. You have to recruit; you have to train and develop; you have to coach; and you have to get lucky. And this has not been a year of good luck for UCONN. Quite the contrary. So it is amazing that we are here. Let's enjoy the week.

 

[cohenzone]

When you realize, win or lose, that we are darn lucky fans who get to see our team so often through the last possible weekend of the season, it’s amazing. Throw in the UConn men several times and UConn fans have been pretty spoiled. Sometimes being spoiled isn’t so bad.

 

[cohenzone]

I think that train will soon leave the track. Women's BB is getting so much better. We all saw what it took for NC State to beat ND; and what it took for UCONN to beat NC State. Outstanding teams...just in our regional bracket...included NC State, Oklahoma, Indiana, UCONN, Notre Dame and Princeton. Each year, there are more recruits who rate 4 and 5 stars. So getting to the final four is tougher now than it once was ( when UCONN had far more top players than most other programs ). Maintaining this accomplishment is mind -boggling. You have to recruit; you have to train and develop; you have to coach; and you have to get lucky. And this has not been a year of good luck for UCONN. Quite the contrary. So it is amazing that we are here. Let's enjoy the week.

I agree. And I think that though younger players might not appreciate it, I have no doubt that the success of UConn and the media attention it has drawn is why so many good, athletic females are playing hoops as young kids, with a nod to our Tennessee rivalry for getting the train rolling. The talent pool gets deeper every year.

 

[DefenseBB]

I agree. And I think that though younger players might not appreciate it, I have no doubt that the success of UConn and the media attention it has drawn is why so many good, athletic females are playing hoops as young kids, with a nod to our Tennessee rivalry for getting the train rolling. The talent pool gets deeper every year.

Well, maybe. The rivalry stopped in 2007, which is 15 years ago so any young kids 17 or younger would not remember the rivalry. The fact is the talent pool is deeper than ever and it is significantly harder to achieve the Final Four than when Tennessee last did in 2008. Heck, Tennessee just appeared in their 1st Sweet 16 since 2016 (when we won our last Title).

Streaks certainly have to have some flukiness and some luck as I am not so sure we would have made the 2020 Final Four before the Tournament was cancelled. Baylor, Oregon and SC were all significantly better than us. Maryland, Louisville, Stanford and NC State were all in the Top 8 as well.

That said, it is truly a remarkable string of consistency.

 

[cohenzone]

Well, maybe. The rivalry stopped in 2007, which is 15 years ago so any young kids 17 or younger would not remember the rivalry. The fact is the talent pool is deeper than ever and it is significantly harder to achieve the Final Four than when Tennessee last did in 2008. Heck, Tennessee just appeared in their 1st Sweet 16 since 2016 (when we won our last Title).

Streaks certainly have to have some flukiness and some luck as I am not so sure we would have made the 2020 Final Four before the Tournament was cancelled. Baylor, Oregon and SC were all significantly better than us. Maryland, Louisville, Stanford and NC State were all in the Top 8 as well.

That said, it is truly a remarkable string of consistency.

Not my point. The rivalry plus media coverage ever since has had an impact beginning from then on on athletic young girls playing hoops whether they know or not what has made the sport improve.

 

[Viet Vet]

Idk if it's been mentioned but the 11- 0 streak in championships is not too shabby, so many UConn wbb streaks tht will be incredibly hard to break.

THAT is a much bigger deal.

 

[JonathanXIV]

14 consecutive final fours is truly a great, possibly unbreakable record. However, imo the most impressive record is UConn not losing consecutive games since 1993! Actually, on second thought, those two records may be tied.

Unbreakable? To break UConn simply needs to make the Final Four next year. Now, if you're talking about another school breaking it, well....

 

[JonathanXIV]

When you realize, win or lose, that we are darn lucky fans who get to see our team so often through the last possible weekend of the season, it’s amazing. Throw in the UConn men several times and UConn fans have been pretty spoiled. Sometimes being spoiled isn’t so bad.

Spoiled? Does anyone remember UConn basketball before the 90's? Ouch.

 

[cohenzone]

Spoiled? Does anyone remember UConn basketball before the 90's? Ouch.

Um, you must let go of the distant past. Should I still fret about what Burr Carlson did to Fred Shabel’s program. I remember the late 60’s quite well. We are definitely spoiled by almost 30 years of excellence let alone so many FF in a row.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Um, you must let go of the distant past. Should I still fret about what Burr Carlson did to Fred Shabel’s program. I remember the late 60’s quite well. We are definitely spoiled by almost 30 years of excellence let alone so many FF in a row.

I remember bringing a girl to a UConn game in the Fieldhouse. She laughed at how bad we were. And she went to George Washington, hardly a basketball powerhouse. The idea od UConn being the basketball capital of the world wasn’t even a dream at that point.

 

[cohenzone]

I remember bringing a girl to a UConn game in the Fieldhouse. She laughed at how bad we were. And she went to George Washington, hardly a basketball powerhouse. The idea od UConn being the basketball capital of the world wasn’t even a dream at that point.

I was at UConn during the Toby Kimball-Wes Bialosuknia era. Team was very good. No women's hoops. heck, women had curfews. As I said, being spoiled is not so bad. Geno‘s bad years are almost everyone else’s good year.

 

[CTGirl15]

The 14 straight is so hard to wrap my mind around; that was Maya Moore's freshman year. It feels like the team has gone through 5 different lifetimes since then, but they have still made it to the final weekend each season.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The 14 straight is so hard to wrap my mind around; that was Maya Moore's freshman year. It feels like the team has gone through 5 different lifetimes since then, but they have still made it to the final weekend each season.

One of Maya's many accomplishments was to get us back to the Final Four.

Maya played in all 154 game of her career and went 150-4: a national semi-final loss to Stanford as a freshman and another to Notre Dame as a senior; a loss to Rutgers in which Maya made 2 consecutive threes very late and needed one more touch to tie the game; and a regular season loss at Stanford in which the whole team and Geno were sick and Chiney should have been called for multiple holding calls on Maya.

 

[Dogstar]

It says whn we make it..we take it

 

[VA Huskie]

When you realize, win or lose, that we are darn lucky fans who get to see our team so often through the last possible weekend of the season, it’s amazing. Throw in the UConn men several times and UConn fans have been pretty spoiled. Sometimes being spoiled isn’t so bad.

Amen, amen I say to you. We are extremely fortunate. I say that to my wife frequently. As a sports fan you can’t ask for more!

 

[Glenn]

During the past 14 years, our Elite 8 game has generally not proven to be competitive until recently. I was surprised that we typically won those games handily, given the common refrain about how hard they are.

	team	seed	margin
2008​	Rutgers	2​	10​
2009​	Arizona St.	6​	19​
2010​	Florida	3​	40​
2011​	Duke	2​	35​
2012​	Kentucky	2​	15​
2013​	Kentucky	2​	30​
2014​	Texas A&M	3​	15​
2015​	Dayton	7​	21​
2016​	Texas	2​	21​
2017​	Oregon	10​	38​
2018​	South Carolina	2​	29​
2019​	Louisville	1​	7​
2020​	none
2021​	Baylor	2​	2​
2022​	NC State	1​	4​

 

[uconnfan68]

During the past 14 years, our Elite 8 game has generally not proven to be competitive until recently. I was surprised that we typically won those games handily, given the common refrain about how hard they are.

	team	seed	margin
2008​	Rutgers	2​	10​
2009​	Arizona St.	6​	19​
2010​	Florida	3​	40​
2011​	Duke	2​	35​
2012​	Kentucky	2​	15​
2013​	Kentucky	2​	30​
2014​	Texas A&M	3​	15​
2015​	Dayton	7​	21​
2016​	Texas	2​	21​
2017​	Oregon	10​	38​
2018​	South Carolina	2​	29​
2019​	Louisville	1​	7​
2020​	none
2021​	Baylor	2​	2​
2022​	NC State	1​	4​

I miss those routs. Too much agita.

 

[UConnCat]

and a regular season loss at Stanford in which the whole team and Geno were sick and Chiney should have been called for multiple holding calls on Maya.

Chiney played like she thought it was a rugby match which makes Tara’s comments before the elite 8 game against Texas deeply ironic. Geno said afterwards that the team needed helmets for that game.

 

[Beemer]

14 straight Final Fours is a standard of consistent excellence that may never be equaled by any team in any NCAA sport.

Wrap your head around that, if you can.

 

[hoopsfan22]

14 straight Final Fours is a standard of consistent excellence that may never be equaled by any team in any NCAA sport.

Wrap your head around that, if you can.

As posted earlier in the thread, UNC women's soccer and Syracuse men's lacrosse went to 22 consecutive final fours.

 

[Beemer]

As posted earlier in the thread, UNC women's soccer and Syracuse men's lacrosse went to 22 consecutive final fours.

I was not aware of that since I started at the end of the thread. Thanks!

 

[DefenseBB]

The real interesting aspect is our team is really very much bifurcated between Seniors and underclassman-4 Seniors (ONO, CW, EW and Dorka) and our underclassman core of Paige, Azzi, Aaliyah, Nika and Caroline. The future bolds well even with so many of the other teams keeping 5th year players.

 

[pacific 44]

A record that will be tough to beat if i am correct, is that the Uconn guys are 4-0 in ncaa finals and the gals are 11-0 which when combined is 15-0 in the finals. When will that record be broken? After this year,16-0 sounds good.