'We did the improbable'

Even Huskies were surprised by back-to-back titles

By Kelli Anderson, Sports Illustrated

ATLANTA -- The processional up the ladder ground to a halt as soon as they caught sight of themselves on the big-screen TV. As the Georgia Dome net dangled forlonly from the rim Tuesday night, the Connecticut Huskies, each wearing a championship T-shirt and a dazzled grin, turned to watch highlights of the national championship game they had just won by beating Tennessee 71-68. Given the odds of them being here, you couldn't blame them for needing videotaped confirmation.

"It's strange, but this feels just like the title in '95," said Kathy Auriemma, the wife of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, as she watched the players transfixed by the screen. "Because just like then, you didn't know how things would turn out this year."

Besides Tennessee's recurring role as the vanquished national runner-up, this Connecticut championship really wasn't all that much like the one in '95 or 2000, or like last year's, when the heavily favored Huskies beat Oklahoma in the final after toppling Tennessee in the semis. This one had been won by, as their proud coach would put it, "the worst collection of Connecticut players to ever to show up at the Final Four."

"This one is special, it's unique," Auriemma said. "Because this group can always say, 'We did the improbable.'"

How unlikely was this back-to-back run for the Huskies? The program's outstanding 2002 senior class had departed Storrs en masse after going 39-0 and winning last year's title, leaving the team with just one experienced starter, a handful of reserve underclassmen, and a quartet of talented but callow freshmen. That the ballerina-bunned Diana Taurasi, probably the greatest player of her generation, was the one returning starter raised what would have been low expectations to modest. In the first week of practice, Auriemma was in a tricky spot. "What am I supposed to tell these guys? It's a rebuilding year at Connecticut … it's ok to lose?" says Auriemma. "If I do that, I'm being somewhat disresectful to them." What he told them instead was, "Listen, I know this isn't last year's team. But I don't give a damn, we're winning the national championship!" To admirably thick-skinned point guard Maria Conlon, the lone Connecticut native on the team, he said: "I know you're not Sue Bird. But you better play like her, dammit!"

Conlon, whom Auriemma complimented all Final Four weekend by saying "she's short, but slow," had other weighty duties. As one of three juniors on the team, she was expected to help relay to the freshmen the intricacies of the Connecticut basketball culture, on and off the court. "We had four new freshman and we were struggling to find an identity," says Conlon, who became the starting point guard when freshman Nicole Wolff was injured early in the season "Some days we looked horrible in practice, and I'm sure the coaches wanted to just quit. Other days we looked like the best team in the country. We had a lot of trouble with consistency."

Somehow, though, they won games, continuing the streak set by the 2002 squad. Powered by Taurasi's effortlessly fluid game and emerging leadership, they blew by Louisiana Tech's 55-game consecutive win streak and didn't stop until they met up with the Villanova Wildcats, who stopped their streak at 70 in the Big East tournament final. "When we lose it's almost like there's a dignitary being laid to rest at St. Patrick's Cathedral," says Auriemma. "You have to have a moment of silence. But losing is good for the soul. Losing that game was good for bringing everybody back to reality."

After the loss, Taurasi, who had carried the scoring and leadership load all season despite nursing chronic ankle and back injuries, wondered briefly if she was worthy of the player of the year accolades she was piling up. Then she decided to prove it. Through the first four NCAA Tournament games, she averaged 26 points. Against a terrific Texas team in the semifinals, she personally pulled the Huskies from the brink of elimination by scoring 11 of her 26 points in the last 8:55 of the game, including a three-pointer that put the Huskies in the lead for good with 2:05 to go. That win set up a familiar rematch with six-time champion and rival Tennessee, which hadn't beaten Connecticut in their last three meetings. After collecting four losses during the season, including a one-point overtime loss at Connecticut, the Lady Vols were playing the best basketball in the tournament. Though the Connecticut Post, which distributed a mock front page with the headline "Connecticut Wins!," about an hour and a half before tipoff, had other ideas, Tennessee seemed like a good bet to end its five-year title drought.

The Lady Vols outrebounded Connecticut by 18 -- good enough, in most universes, for a win. But that couldn't make up for the Huskies' 10 3-pointers and the suddenly hot hand of freshman Ann Strother, who responded to Conlon's urging that she "show the country why you are the best freshman in the nation tonight" by scoring 17 points. Conlon had 11 points and six assists against no turnovers. For her part, Taurasi had a spectacularly entertaining 28 points, the second-best final game tally in tournament history. When the buzzer sounded, she flung the ball deep into a section of Tennessee fans and pulled out her jersey so they could better read its UCONN logo. Then she picked up the Final Four MVP award to add to her growing prize collection -- which also includes the Kodak All-America laurel, the Wade Trophy, the AP Player of the Year award and the national championship trophy she didn't quite single-handedly win.

All together, it was an impressive collection of hardware for such a "lousy" collection of players.

Kelli Anderson is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated.

 

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