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- May 25, 2014
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The rivalry with Tennessee was in its 6th year and each team had won 5 games. During the 2000 season each had beaten the other on its home court. Watching replays of those games is like watching physical, almost angry basketball, the likes of which only seemed to occur when these two teams collided.
But this was the game that finally showed separation between the two programs; when UConn's superior cohesion, movement, and passing stood in stark contrast to Tennessee's reliance on sheer physicality and desperate determination. When the game ended, the beauty and superiority of Connecticut's style of play was an established fact. Over the next 7 seasons there were 11 more contests and in that period UConn won 7 of the first 8 by an average of 10 ppg. The Vols, due to the dominance of Candace Parker, won the last 3 encounters, but only by 5 ppg.
By April of 2000 I had been living in Vermont for 18 years and had only watched the Huskies on TV or listened to waivering night broadcasts on WTIC. I was at work on the evening of April 1st when my brother called from Connecticut. Because it was April Fool's Day and my brother is a blankety-blank Yankee fan, I was on instant scam alert when he suggested I hustle south from Vermont and that next day we'd drive to Philly for the NC game. But it turned out that he'd scored two tickets because he knew a guy who knew a guy...who knew the CT governor !
Long story short...my first ever UConn WCBB game in person was the 2000 NC. Right behind Sue's parents, Shea's mom, and in the same row as Marciella Auriemma. And yes, we smiled confidently when we watched her sprinkle holy water on the players as they entered through the adjacent tunnel.
In the second half we watched UConn run yet another back door play. This time Tennessee blocked the cutter. Dead play ? Course not. At the exact moment the Husky with the ball was in the process of being stopped, two other Huskies started a second back door cut. The original cutter made a pin-point pass. Perfection. I remember turning to my brother and saying : "You've never seen that before." He just replied "Huh ?" I forgave him. After all, even though he's a blankety-blank Yankee fan, he is my brother...and he got us great tickets.
But this was the game that finally showed separation between the two programs; when UConn's superior cohesion, movement, and passing stood in stark contrast to Tennessee's reliance on sheer physicality and desperate determination. When the game ended, the beauty and superiority of Connecticut's style of play was an established fact. Over the next 7 seasons there were 11 more contests and in that period UConn won 7 of the first 8 by an average of 10 ppg. The Vols, due to the dominance of Candace Parker, won the last 3 encounters, but only by 5 ppg.
By April of 2000 I had been living in Vermont for 18 years and had only watched the Huskies on TV or listened to waivering night broadcasts on WTIC. I was at work on the evening of April 1st when my brother called from Connecticut. Because it was April Fool's Day and my brother is a blankety-blank Yankee fan, I was on instant scam alert when he suggested I hustle south from Vermont and that next day we'd drive to Philly for the NC game. But it turned out that he'd scored two tickets because he knew a guy who knew a guy...who knew the CT governor !
Long story short...my first ever UConn WCBB game in person was the 2000 NC. Right behind Sue's parents, Shea's mom, and in the same row as Marciella Auriemma. And yes, we smiled confidently when we watched her sprinkle holy water on the players as they entered through the adjacent tunnel.
In the second half we watched UConn run yet another back door play. This time Tennessee blocked the cutter. Dead play ? Course not. At the exact moment the Husky with the ball was in the process of being stopped, two other Huskies started a second back door cut. The original cutter made a pin-point pass. Perfection. I remember turning to my brother and saying : "You've never seen that before." He just replied "Huh ?" I forgave him. After all, even though he's a blankety-blank Yankee fan, he is my brother...and he got us great tickets.