Top 5 historic wins

[HuskyNan]

I appreciate that CBS Sports is spending time talking about women’s hoops and UConn but there are more significant games than some listed in the article below and one, the 2016 championship, misses the historic point. I would have a different list, except for #1. While CBS Sports posts important wins, my list is for historic dates

Ranking Geno Auriemma's five most important wins at UConn: Historic 1,216th career victory sits fifth

The 11-time national champion is on the precipice of becoming NCAA Division I's all-time winningest coach

www.cbssports.com

1. 4/2/95 vs Tennessee. David defeats Goliath, jump starts rivalry that grew the game. Any arguments with this choice?
2. 11/4/16 vs Florida State. UConn wins its 111th consecutive game. This is an astonishing record that, IMO, will never be broken
3. 4/5/16 vs Syracuse. This championship game gave the Huskies their fourth consecutive chamipionship. Only Tennessee and UConn had as many as three. The graduating class of Stewie, Moriah, and Morgan had an NCAA record 151 wins (and 5 losses) in their college careers and Stewie had a record 4 NCAA Tourney MOPs
4. 12/30/10 vs Stanford. Stanford ended the other UConn undefeated run, a 90 game stretch that included two undefeated national championships. I’m pretty sure this record is safe, too
5. 2/8/23 vs Marquette. This game, a loss, marked the end of a nearly 30 year run in which the Huskies had not lost consecutive games. 30 years!

There are others as well, these are just the ones that immediately popped into my head. What’s your list of historic UConn games?

 

[BBallF]

1. Definitely agree with 4/2/95 as #1.
2. Definitely agree as to 11/4/16.
3) 04/06/04- Diana's threepeat.
4) Definitely agree as to 04/05/16.
5) 01/16/95- the most important game in the history of womens college basketball.

 

[Vowelguy]

• The 2003 NC game -- the remarkable end to a season absolutely no one expected.
• (also the OT win over Tenn and SF win over Tex that season).
• I'd add the 2000 NC whipping of Tenn. When you've won only 1, there's doubts about if you can do it again. Doing so in emphatic fashion over the Vols established that the Huskies were for real.
• 2024 regional final over USC. given the injury devastation that year, a truly incredible return to the F4

 

[Centerstream]

1. 2/8/23 vs Marquette. This game, a loss, marked the end of a nearly 30 year run in which the Huskies had not lost consecutive games. 30 years!

There are others as well, these are just the ones that immediately popped into my head. What’s your list of historic UConn games?

You truly, IMO, are a fantastic Husky fan, HuskyNan. I haven't followed UConn WBB nearly as long as most BYers, so I am not going to offer a list. But it takes a special type of fan to include a loss in their top 5 historic UConn games even though I understand your reasoning.

 

[Gus Mahler]

• The 2003 NC game -- the remarkable end to a season absolutely no one expected.
• (also the OT win over Tenn and SF win over Tex that season).
• I'd add the 2000 NC whipping of Tenn. When you've won only 1, there's doubts about if you can do it again. Doing so in emphatic fashion over the Vols established that the Huskies were for real.
• 2024 regional final over USC. given the injury devastation that year, a truly incredible return to the F4

I agree with bullet #3. I think UConn became UConn with the win over TN in the 2000 NC game. The four in a row story is the bomb, but the 2000 NC was the first of four out of five, a nifty feat in its own right. And what if Shea and Svet hadn't gotten hurt?

 

[Puppy Love]

I don’t if it was ‘historic’, but the blizzard game is near the top of my list of UConn memories. When 15,000 people, all of whom should have had the sense to stay home (myself included), come out in a raging snowstorm for a basketball game, it’s pretty special.

 

[Next 12]

My picks. ( 1 ) 1995 their first N,C. win over Tennessee 70-64. Their first biggest win. ( 2 0 2000 their second N.C. win over Tennessee. 76- 52. That cemented their place in Women's BB. ( 3 ) 2013 They beat Notre Dame 93-60 in the final 4 after losing to Notre Dame 3 times in regular season . Then beat Louisville 79-58 for N.C. ( 4 ) 2014 they beat Notre Dame again 79-58 in N.C. game. ( 5 ) 2024 they beat North Carolina 69-58 For Geno and Chris' 1216th win of their careers. A record that will grow over the n ext five years and will be unbeatable for ever. . GO HUSKIES!!!!!

 

[ThisJustIn]

Personal favorites:

• Vs DePaul w/Maya's rundown block to save a game that was lost.
• Two w/in the Drive for 55: That butt ugly win over Seton Hall at SH and the OT win over Tennessee. I was on the end-line for Diana's at-the-half three.
• The semis v. Texas. They were down and, somehow, fought back.
• The 2003/2004 championship games. 1st was totally overachieving. 2nd was ridiculous will-power.

 

[fomalhaut]

5) 01/16/95- the most important game in the history of womens college basketball.

How can it be number 5, then?

 

[bballnut90]

Most significant to me would be:
1. 1995 title game vs Tennessee, this put UCONN on the map in a big way, was the first title
2. 2003 title game vs Tennessee, I think this game was UCONN's most underdog title after losing so much talent and it signaled that they were a serious threat to surpass Tennessee for most titles in women's basketball. It also was the standout game of Taurasi's career.
3. 2016 title game vs Syracuse, established a 4 peat which had never been done before. Stewart going 4/4 for MOP will likely never be matched and will never be beat. It's also the program's last championship win.
4. 1996 Final Four game vs Tennessee, it was an epic game that UCONN lost but it was the first time Tennessee proved they could finish win and this catapulted the rivalry to a different level. The UCONN-Tennessee rivalry defined women's basketball for more than a decade and took the sport to new heights.
5. 2017 Final Four game vs Mississippi State, one of the biggest upsets in NCAA history, on a buzzer beater no less. This game ended UCONN's death grip on the sport and paved way for a new age where competition was stronger and UCONN was no longer a lock to win it all.

 

[BBallF]

How can it be number 5, then?

Because it was a regular season game and only one win and eclipsed by so many more greater wins by the program. It was however on ESPN and gave a kind of visibility to the women's game never seen before and established a rivalry. Whether Pat Summit decided to play "for the good of the game " or not, it was a major moment, as was the UCLA- Houston men's game in the Astrodome.

 

[GoUconn7961]

The UConn women put the school on the map. I always wondered if that's why Calhoun was frosty w/Geno.

 

[Bald Husky]

Hate to disagree, but the game against Florida State on 11/4/16 was their opening game of the season, and not even close to #111. They ended the streak in April at the final 4 against Mississippi State. I was at Gampel when they recorded #100 against Baylor, the game after the FSU game. So the FSU game was win #99, not 111.

 

[HuskyNan]

The UConn women put the school on the map. I always wondered if that's why Calhoun was frosty w/Geno.

No, Geno and the women’s team fans were much, let’s say, brasher in those days. Some fans had bumper stickers that said “UConn - Where men are men and women are champions” (stolen and adapted from Texas). Geno was Geno, 30 years younger and spicier than the much more mellow guy we know today. Geno and JC’s personalities just disn’t mesh

 

[GoUconn7961]

No, Geno and the women’s team fans were much, let’s say, brasher in those days. Some fans had bumper stickers that said “UConn - Where men are men and women are champions” (stolen and adapted from Texas). Geno was Geno, 30 years younger and spicier than the much more mellow guy we know today. Geno and JC’s personalities just disn’t mesh

Dan Hurley said he'd be at the game tonight. I would bet some of the team will be there as well. Times have changed, in a good way.

 

[Jim]

I don’t if it was ‘historic’, but the blizzard game is near the top of my list of UConn memories. When 15,000 people, all of whom should have had the sense to stay home (myself included), come out in a raging snowstorm for a basketball game, it’s pretty special.

That was the game at which then #1 ranked recruit Ann Strother decide to go to UConn. She was on her official visit and with the snowstorm raging she expected maybe 100 fans to show up. When she saw the packed house in the middle of a blizzard, she knew UConn was something special and committed before going back to Colorado.

 

[Blakeon18]

The January 1995 game is #1. I was in the endzone seats...best crowd ever...such joy afterwards....nobody
wanted to leave. Loved it when Lobo fouled out with about 4 minutes to go....still a game....and she grabbed
Wolters and gave her a STERN talking to about finishing the game....we had no other height. World class reporter
Bob Ryan from the Boston Globe was there putting his stamp on the game's significance.

 

[HuskyNan]

Dan Hurley said he'd be at the game tonight. I would bet some of the team will be there as well. Times have changed, in a good way.

Dan Hurley is from Jersey. He gets Geno.

 

[CL82]

The UConn women put the school on the map. I always wondered if that's why Calhoun was frosty w/Geno.

Lol, not really. Connecticut men's basketball already had an established reputation as a regional power, well loved by the state and playing before packed areas. Heck, the 1995 national championship wasn't even our first. We had men's soccer national championships and the 1981 field hockey national championship, which was the first women's national championship awarded by the NCAA With the championship game actually taking place in Storrs.

That said, there's no doubt in my mind that the 1995 championship was transformative. The 1995 team was charismatic, with Lobo and Rizzotti, the charismatic faces for the team. The 1995 women's championship in the 1999 men's championship fueled the UConn 2000 building boom on campus which seem to empower a decision not to be a competent regional university, but rather a national University.

There are some who profess that athletics are merely a distraction from the academic mission of the university. I would suggest, instead, that they are a critical part of alumni and State engagement, without which UConn does not become the university it is today.