Best Uconn team to NOT win the title | The Boneyard

Best Uconn team to NOT win the title

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Being a relatively new Huskie fan I was wondering what team people feel was their best ever that didn't win the NC. I certainly have heard and read alot about the 2001 team but not much about the 97 team whose only loss on the year was in the elite 8 to the eventual champs Tenn. Was this team as good as the 01 team? Or was it the 11 team (Maya's senior season)? Or was it another?

If we use 95 as a starting point there are only 11 years to choose from and I was just curious what some of the veterans here think!
 
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As far as raw talent, the 2001 team was the deepest, most talented team I ever saw, until Abrosimova and Ralph went down.

Had EDD, Walker and McCormack not transfered, Maya's senior year would have been extremely talented as well and would have produced a title, in my opinion.
 

ocoandasoc

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Not sure they would have beaten the '97 or '01 team, but don't forget that the '91 team was as good as the other three teams in the Final Four that year. Their loss in the semis to Virginia was close until the end, and if Bascom hadn't been in some bogus foul trouble the outcome probably would have been different. Then Virginia took Tenn to overtime before losing in the final game.
 
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Before their injuries- 1997 and 2001.

But even healthy ND was a bad matchup for us in 2001 Riley was unstoppable one V one and than when you double teamed her Siemon was always there for a lay up or she would kick it out to Ratay and Ivey who it seemed never missed from 3 that year.

1999 also started out like gang busters (scoring over 100 points in several games) but the injury to Sue Bird and chemistry problems killed them.
 

alexrgct

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There were six UConn teams that made it as far as the national semis and lost: 1991, 1996, 2001, 2008, 2011, 2012. Of those six, you might define "best team" of this bunch as "team that came closest to winning the national championship despite falling a round early". The two that got away were 1996 and 2011. Meanwhile, 1991 was possible (lost to Virginia by six, who lost in OT to Tennessee in the NC game), and 2001 and 2008 were stretches because of injuries. Finally, 2012 never quite *felt* like a NC-caliber team to me, but that squad did almost steal a W in the national semis and came within five against Baylor (the would-have-been finals opponent) in Waco earlier that season.

So for sentimental reasons, I'm going with Maya in her senior season. Broke my heart to see her go out short of on top. I will always believe the Huskies would have handled Texas A&M had they made the 2011 NC game.
 

UcMiami

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Uconn had a 15 point lead on ND before half time in 2001. They went into the locker room having given up a three at the buzzer and Geno went absolutely ballistic during the half time. The team came out flat in the second half and collapsed, and Geno blames himself for that loss. Even with the injuries to two AA players that team still had more talent than any other team not to win a NC - two #1 draft picks, and 7 top 7 draft picks. 5 Olympians - one injured. The team was just loaded and played one bad half of basketball at the wrong time.
 
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Uconn had a 15 point lead on ND before half time in 2001. They went into the locker room having given up a three at the buzzer and Geno went absolutely ballistic during the half time. The team came out flat in the second half and collapsed, and Geno blames himself for that loss. Even with the injuries to two AA players that team still had more talent than any other team not to win a NC - two #1 draft picks, and 7 top 7 draft picks. 5 Olympians - one injured. The team was just loaded and played one bad half of basketball at the wrong time.


UcMiami- - - I agree 100%! The 2001 team was the greatest WCBB team of all time! There were several factors that stopped them short of the Championship, but Geno's 1/2 time tirade and Shea & Svet's injuries were the two main roadblocks! DT's 1-15 shooting night vs ND wouldn't have occurred if Shea & Svet were healthy! UCONN with a victory in 2001 would have won 5 in a row with 2000. 2001, then 2002, and Diana Taurasi driving CT to the 2003, and 2004 titles! There were 7 AA on the 2001 team, DT, Bird, Williams, Jones, Svet, Shea, & Cash! Geno always has said the 2001 team was the greatest ever, whether they won a title or not!
 

MilfordHusky

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Uconn had a 15 point lead on ND before half time in 2001. They went into the locker room having given up a three at the buzzer and Geno went absolutely ballistic during the half time. The team came out flat in the second half and collapsed, and Geno blames himself for that loss. Even with the injuries to two AA players that team still had more talent than any other team not to win a NC - two #1 draft picks, and 7 top 7 draft picks. 5 Olympians - one injured. The team was just loaded and played one bad half of basketball at the wrong time.
Possibly the worst half of the Geno era, especially given the talent. I forget the exact score, but it was pretty close to 52-25. Ugh!
 
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The 2001 team pre-injury was the most talented team ever assembled, I think, championship or not.. Diana, Kennitra Johnson, Tamika Williams, Asjha Jones, and didn't Ashley Battle get hurt that year too? So four WNBA players and an incredibly talented point guard off the bench. With the five S's starting. Sue, Shea, Svet, Swin, and Shuie. Five Olympians on the roster. Eight WNBA players with two more that easily had the talent. Maria Conlon and Big Rig on the third team.
 
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The 2001 team pre-injury was the most talented team ever assembled, I think, championship or not.. Diana, Kennitra Johnson, Tamika Williams, Asjha Jones, and didn't Ashley Battle get hurt that year too? So four WNBA players and an incredibly talented point guard off the bench. With the five S's starting. Sue, Shea, Svet, Swin, and Shuie. Five Olympians on the roster. Eight WNBA players with two more that easily had the talent. Maria Conlon and Big Rig on the third team.
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If it could of been their most talented team ever how did they lose 3 games? Excusing the FF game against ND (due to Svet and Sheas injuries) they still got beat by ND earlier (by 15 or so) and Tenn.

Was it not getting the best out of the talent?

Also how good was that ND team then?

Beating Uconn twice and only losing once in the Big East Final on Sue Birds buzzer beater!
 

UcMiami

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This year Geno talked about 'not messing it up' and 'being there for his team if they needed him' - I really think this is the evolving lesson he learned from that 2001 semi-final.
 
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Putting the FF game aside I'm still wondering how they suffered the other 2 losses if they COULD of been their best team ever?

I wasn't watching back then but it would seem either ND was GREAT or they can't be considered among the best ever because the end result was 3 losses.
 
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Putting the FF game aside I'm still wondering how they suffered the other 2 losses if they COULD of been their best team ever?

I wasn't watching back then but it would seem either ND was GREAT or they can't be considered among the best ever because the end result was 3 losses.


Connman- To answer your question, there is some selective memory when it comes to the 2001 team. On paper they were the best. But it didn't play out that way at all. Even BEFORE the injuries. It was more than just one bad half. Notre Dame mauled a healthy 2001 UConn in South Bend. We lost to Tennessee. And needed a last second shot by Sue to beat ND in Gampel. Also some other sluggish efforts. They are not even one of the top 3-5 UConn teams let alone best teams of all time. Depth means nothing if it doesn't mesh well. You can only play 5 players at a time.
 
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there are two great books on the 2001 team alone that's how good they were that year. Bird at the Buzzer made me a fan.
 
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The 2001 team pre-injury was the most talented team ever assembled, I think, championship or not.. Diana, Kennitra Johnson, Tamika Williams, Asjha Jones, and didn't Ashley Battle get hurt that year too? So four WNBA players and an incredibly talented point guard off the bench. With the five S's starting. Sue, Shea, Svet, Swin, and Shuie. Five Olympians on the roster. Eight WNBA players with two more that easily had the talent. Maria Conlon and Big Rig on the third team.
I still think Shuie may be the most underrated Husky ever.
 
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Putting the FF game aside I'm still wondering how they suffered the other 2 losses if they COULD of been their best team ever?

I wasn't watching back then but it would seem either ND was GREAT or they can't be considered among the best ever because the end result was 3 losses.
I think it comes from looking at how great those players became and back projecting to that season. The pieces were there yes, but the players themselves weren't olympians at that point. And it could be those losses fueled the work necessary for all those players to become great.
 
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Putting the FF game aside I'm still wondering how they suffered the other 2 losses if they COULD of been their best team ever?

I wasn't watching back then but it would seem either ND was GREAT or they can't be considered among the best ever because the end result was 3 losses.

We have to look at the talent and parity of that 2001 season as well. Just because UCONN has won 5 undefeated championships, doesn't mean the competition was all that great each of those years. The three loses came from Notre Dame twice and Tennessee once. But their teams were stacked compared to today.

One of those three loses came from a Tennessee team, who's 2001 roster was: Michelle Snow, Tasha Butts, Kyra Elzy, Gwen Jackson, Kara Lawson, Semeka Randall, Tamika Catchings, Kristen "Ace" Clement, Ashley Robinson, April McDivitt, Shalon Pillow, and a few more. All but one or two of them played in the WNBA.

Notre Dame had Ruth Riley, Niele Ivey, Alicia Ratay, and Kelley Siemon. No slouches .
 

iamcbs

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There's nothing down this road, so why go there? Its all just speculation and opinion. Every school has talented teams that don't win NC's. How do you think ND felt the past two years or Baylor with a shot at back-to-back losing to a Louisville team that they would have beaten 10 out of 10 times if they played again. Celebrate the 10 you have and don't worry about the ones you didn't get. But purely in the spirit of keeping in the thread that 2001 team was really awesome!!
 

UcMiami

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Undefeated seasons are not just about the quality of a team, but also about their powers of concentration - that is why there have been so few and why Uconn's 5 are truly an amazing standard. A regular season plus conference tournament stretches across 5 months and 30+ games. To have 10+/- teammates remain consistent and keep concentration through all the distractions of life, love, and schoolwork for that period time is not easy. And the coaches were not as skilled as they have become at helping in that process. In 2001 they had only achieved that feat once as had two other teams in the history of the NCAAs. It has only become 'commonplace' in the last few years - 3 for Uconn, 1 for Baylor, and a near miss for ND. The fact that it has become 'commonplace' actually makes it easier for a team like Princeton to imagine doing it and imagination is half the battle.
Look at some of the great NBA teams - the ones that were around 70-12 - they should't have lost those 12 games they were that good, but they had 'off nights'.
 
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Undefeated seasons are not just about the quality of a team, but also about their powers of concentration - that is why there have been so few and why Uconn's 5 are truly an amazing standard. A regular season plus conference tournament stretches across 5 months and 30+ games. To have 10+/- teammates remain consistent and keep concentration through all the distractions of life, love, and schoolwork for that period time is not easy. And the coaches were not as skilled as they have become at helping in that process. In 2001 they had only achieved that feat once as had two other teams in the history of the NCAAs. It has only become 'commonplace' in the last few years - 3 for Uconn, 1 for Baylor, and a near miss for ND. The fact that it has become 'commonplace' actually makes it easier for a team like Princeton to imagine doing it and imagination is half the battle.
Look at some of the great NBA teams - the ones that were around 70-12 - they should't have lost those 12 games they were that good, but they had 'off nights'.

I loved this post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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1997 deserves a plug. Undefeated until Shea was injured against Lehigh - then ended up suffering a loss in the Elite Eight. The 2001 team was more talented, but 1997 was playing at a really high level with Sales and Ralph on the wings.
 
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Putting the FF game aside I'm still wondering how they suffered the other 2 losses if they COULD of been their best team ever?

I wasn't watching back then but it would seem either ND was GREAT or they can't be considered among the best ever because the end result was 3 losses.

Everyone has their own definition of best ever. IMO this team wasn't best ever. One criteria for me is you have to go undefeated. This team when healthy got whipped by ND. That disqualifies them. UCMIAMI had an excellent post above.

IMO this 2001 team was the best in 2001 and ND/Purdue and Tenn were fortunate UCONN lost two all-americans. One in Sveta who was turning into a beast.

Regarding the other two losses - you have to understand Tenn was real tough. Playing at Tenn - Sveta was recovering from an ankle injury and back issues - but as you know sometimes seniors put their game into another gear. We started to see that per the link below.

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/datadump/WBasketball/2001/Stats/teamcume0001.html

Leading up to then you can see vs ND even though we got wiped she got 20 pts and 14 rb. Next game vs Old Dominion - Sveta got 19 pts and 13 rb. The game before Tenn she scored 25 pts. (How often is a player scoring this much and rebounding with such talent surrounding her for UCONN when she has the lienup UCONN had unless she was starting to raise her game for her senior year?). She was banged up but she was starting to "go off." In the 2nd matchup between UCONN and Tenn - link below look at Feb 1st-

Sveta had 18 pts in 25 min and 8 rb. She was shooting very efficiently. Around 10 minutes left in 2nd half - Sveta got hurt and wound up being out for season. See 2nd link. UCONN was breathing down Tenn's neck in 2nd half Sveta wasn't in foul troube; Was shooting well and reboudning well. She got hurt. One of the top player's in wcbb at the time - she got hurt- what are you going to do? You lose your best player and all of a sudden you are going to beat a terrific team on their home court?

Now read that NY Times article again the 2nd para. Sveta led team in scoring and steals and 2nd in assists and rebounds while being banged up. Then the game we won at the buzzer- during that game Ralph went down. Give us our two all-americans - Notre Dame isn't beating UCONN in FF.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...5/misc_non_event/2000-01AllGamesBoxScores.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/06/s...ll-injury-ends-abrosimova-s-uconn-career.html
 
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Wally East

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Everyone has their own definition of best ever. IMO this team wasn't best ever. One criteria for me is you have to go undefeated. This team when healthy got whipped by ND. That disqualifies them. UCMIAMI had an excellent post above.

IMO this 2001 team was the best in 2001 and ND/Purdue and Tenn were fortunate UCONN lost two all-americans.

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you're saying about the regular season loss to ND when UConn was at full strength.
 

bballnut90

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We have to look at the talent and parity of that 2001 season as well. Just because UCONN has won 5 undefeated championships, doesn't mean the competition was all that great each of those years. The three loses came from Notre Dame twice and Tennessee once. But their teams were stacked compared to today.

One of those three loses came from a Tennessee team, who's 2001 roster was: Michelle Snow, Tasha Butts, Kyra Elzy, Gwen Jackson, Kara Lawson, Semeka Randall, Tamika Catchings, Kristen "Ace" Clement, Ashley Robinson, April McDivitt, Shalon Pillow, and a few more. All but one or two of them played in the WNBA.

Notre Dame had Ruth Riley, Niele Ivey, Alicia Ratay, and Kelley Siemon. No slouches .

Great comments. 2001 was just an outstanding year in women's college basketball when you look at talent across the board. UCONN had more talent on that roster than they've ever had, Tennessee might have had their deepest roster ever, and Notre Dame had the nation's best starting 5. Aside from the power 3, Georgia had the Miller Twins, Deanna Nolan, Tawana McDonald and Christi Thomas, yet they were only a 2 seed. Duke had Alana Beard, Tillis, Georgia Schweitzer and a lot of solid role players. Purdue had Katie Douglas, Camille Cooper, and 2 stud freshmen in Shereka Wright and Shalicia Hurns--Hurns was outstanding as a freshman and probably would have been one of the top players from the 2004 class, but had major off the court issues that derailed her career. OU had all of their studs from their 2002 runner up season, Stiles was the best scorer in the nation, and other teams like LSU, Florida, LaTech, Iowa State, Vanderbilt, Xavier, Texas Tech and Rutgers all had really strong programs in 2001.


That said, in regards to the best UCONN team to not win a title, my vote is 2011. I really thought they would roll to another title even after the Stanford loss and the first close call with Notre Dame. UCONN just looked better than everyone, and Maya Moore could score at will and was finally taking over games on a nightly basis and dominating the statline after deferring to teammates her first three seasons. I really thought she couldn't lose as a senior, and I didn't see that happening against Notre Dame.

2001 had the most talent of any UCONN team, but it was never evident that UCONN was head and shoulders better than everyone in college basketball that year. As I noted above, so many teams had outstanding talent. Notre Dame proved the first win by 13 wasn't just a fluke and they could not only hang with UCONN, but was capable of beating UCONN. Tennessee was so much stronger back then, too, and both match ups during 2001 were extremely competitive. Looking back the talent UCONN had was out of this world, but no one back then could've predicted the following:

1. Sue Bird would go on to win 3 Olympic Gold Medals and be widely regarded as the best point guard in the world for a long period of time. In 2001, it wasn't evident she was the nation's best point guard, and was badly outplayed by Niele Ivey in 2 out of 3 match ups.

2. Taurasi would go on to be one of the best players of all time. She showed great potential in the NCAA Tournament and her monster night at Tennessee, but she had struggles as a freshman, she only averaged around 11 ppg, had moments where she played out of control, and she was awful her last game.

3. Cash and Jones would go on to be main stays in the WNBA and earn multiple All-Star nods. Cash made good strides in 2001 but was a solid role player who I don't think anyone anticipated would be as successful as she has been. Jones had potential but didn't seem much improved from 2000.

All of these players have obviously turned into huge success stories, but back then none of them were close to being as good as they would go on to be.
 
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Close between 2001 team and 2008 season (Maya's freshman season)...Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Renee Montgomery, Ketia Swanier, Kalana Greene, Charde Houston
 
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