Twenty Two Years Ago | The Boneyard
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Twenty Two Years Ago

The day, the game, the coaches, the players, the hype, THE rivalry.

The memory.
 
To this day, TN fans of a certain age look with great disdain on UConn and its fans. Happened to me just a couple of weeks ago. Back in the day, which they remember as if it were yesterday, TN was the top dog, got all the best players and won title after title. Then the world changed.
 
Tennessee had non-consecutive NCs (or one in a row) in 1987, 1989, and 1991. After 1995, the LVs managed two in a row in 2007 and 2008 and a three-peat 1996-98. UConn has equalled that plus managed a four-peat 2013-16. But 1995 was a year for UConn to stake its claim, whereas 2000 was the year the baton was fully passed, in my view.
 
OldAlum said:
On MLK Day UConn and Tennessee played The Game! :)
It has been a long and wonderful ride since then!
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That's when Connecticut's credibility as a major player in women's basketball began. What a memorable day and the Huskies grabbed the gold. Had they not met in the regular season, maybe that championship game would have gone another way. That's when they KNEW they COULD!
 
HopJim said:
You must be young. Tenn was UConn before UConn was UConn. Great program before Geno became Geno.
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They weren't as dominant as UConn has become but they had such an unfair advantage. They basically started with wonderful facilities and getting the best players from Day 1. UConn had been playing for years and for years had only one winning season until Geno and Chris arrived. They had few top level recruits for the first ten seasons and then 22 years ago, came that game and that season and then it became far easier to get top talent. UConn never had Tennessee's advantages but they did have GENO and that's made all the difference.
 
alexrgct said:
Tennessee had non-consecutive NCs (or one in a row) in 1987, 1989, and 1991. After 1995, the LVs managed two in a row in 2007 and 2008 and a three-peat 1996-98. UConn has equalled that plus managed a four-peat 2013-16. But 1995 was a year for UConn to stake its claim, whereas 2000 was the year the baton was fully passed, in my view.
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Absolutely! If it had been Geno (instead of Pat) starting way back when at Tennessee, he'd be approaching 1500 wins by now. The championship banners would be drapped all over the Tennessee campus. Thankfully we got him and Chris and they've built a one of a kind dynasty in Storrs.
 
HopJim said:
You must be young. Tenn was UConn before UConn was UConn. Great program before Geno became Geno.
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Geno was always Geno, doing more with less. He didn't have anywhere near the talent Pat Summit had until maybe the 2000 or 2001 season and yet he started beating her head to head from their first meeting. Pat started her career far earlier and was the only show in town (with few exceptions) until Geno finally started getting a couple of quality recruits in the early 90's. A totally uneven playing field starting their coaching careers with every advantage being for Pat Summit.
 
There's been plenty of bad blood since that time, of course, but I still extend a nod of respect for Tennessee at the peak of its prestige scheduling that game with the young upstart UConn. The increased publicity of it probably helped UConn a lot.

In turn, the eventual rivalry probably helped too - helped to build WCBB from a mostly regional product to something more national.
 
I forgot that the TN assistants were Mickie DeMoss and Carolyn Peck.
 
I watched that game live (I'm sure many of us did) and it was a thing of beauty. Two great teams. UT doesn't get a lot of love here for understandable reasons, but that moved women's basketball to a new level. The rivalry was classic and gave national attention to a mostly local sport to that point. Time flies.
 
MSSportsGuy said:
I watched that game live (I'm sure many of us did) and it was a thing of beauty. Two great teams. UT doesn't get a lot of love here for understandable reasons, but that moved women's basketball to a new level. The rivalry was classic and gave national attention to a mostly local sport to that point. Time flies.
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I'm die-hard UCONN, and I found the Maya Moore-prompted incident most unfortunate, but I believe that we need to remember:

The 1995 MLK game was an important game, as MSSportsGuy said, making it more than a regional rivalry (although to me Notre Dame/UCLA football is a real national rivalry based upon distance, longevity and intensity) Kudos and gratitude to Pat Summit for agreeing to play that game for the good of Women's Basketball.

While we like to claim 4-0 in national championships vs. TENN, they did win national semifinals vs. UCONN in 1996 and 1997, including a solid win over an undefeated 1997 Kara Wolters-led Husky team, making the tournament head-to head 5-2 Huskies, I believe, in the tournament. UCONN/Notre Dame is 3-3. Did anyone else win more than one?

Unlike several other programs who shall remain nameless who dropped UCONN after repeated whuppings or while foreseeing the same on the road ahead, Pat stopped the H2H series while Tennessee was still "on top" as a program, having won the most recent 3 games vs. UCONN and in the midst of winning her last two NCs.
 
Your comment is well taken. The Moore situation was handled poorly by UT but that doesn't change their history and success. Pat agreed to let that game happen and the sport is far better off for the contributions of she and Geno.
 

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