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Michael Voepel, ESPN Senior Author
It says the whole lot about UConn‘s Geno Auriemma {that a} listing of his biggest victories may embrace solely nationwide championship video games. He has won 11 NCAA titles, greater than every other Division I ladies’s or males’s basketball coach.
On Wednesday, Auriemma may transfer atop the list of most victories, interval. With a win over Fairleigh Dickinson at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut, Auriemma will move retired Stanford ladies’s coach Tara VanDerveer together with his 1,217th victory. VanDerveer handed Duke males’s coach Mike Krzyzewski (1,202 wins) in January.
When Auriemma took over the Huskies in 1985, this system had just one successful season — at 16-14 — in its 11-year historical past. The NCAA match had been round for less than 4 years for the ladies. The game had little or no visibility.
It took Auriemma six years to succeed in his first Last 4, in 1991, and 10 years to win his first championship, in 1995. Now in his fortieth season in Storrs, Auriemma’s profession mark is 1,216-162. His Huskies have made the Last 4 23 occasions and had six good seasons.
His groups have been a part of the largest rivalries in ladies’s basketball up to now 30 years, first with Tennessee, then Notre Dame and now South Carolina. Auriemma has coached Staff USA to 2 Olympic gold medals. His former gamers have led the best way within the Olympics and the WNBA. Present Huskies star Paige Bueckers is projected to be the league’s No. 1 choose in April.
Sure, a listing of the most effective victories of Auriemma’s UConn profession may encompass simply NCAA title video games. However different wins alongside the best way, a few of them breakthrough moments for this system, even have had particular that means. Listed below are the 12 largest.
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UConn on a quest for twelfth title
Have a look again on the unimaginable successful historical past of UConn ladies’s basketball as head coach Geno Auriemma and star Paige Bueckers look to place the Huskies again on prime.
12. Again-to-back perfection
April 6, 2010: 53-47 over Stanford
It was an unpleasant recreation on the Alamodome in San Antonio, however a fantastic closing consequence for the Huskies. Led by Tina Charles and Maya Moore, UConn completed an unprecedented second consecutive good season in NCAA ladies’s basketball by beating the Cardinal within the nationwide championship recreation.
The Huskies rallied from a woeful 20-12 halftime deficit; 53 is the bottom level whole of any of UConn’s championship recreation victories. (Within the Huskies’ one loss within the NCAA closing, to South Carolina in 2022, they scored 49 factors.) The underside line: The Huskies discovered a solution to win.
11. “We obtained Diana”
April 6, 2003: 71-69 over Texas
The Huskies made a stirring rally within the NCAA semifinals to clinch Auriemma’s five hundredth profession victory. UConn had misplaced 4 senior stars to the WNBA from the earlier season’s undefeated staff, however the Huskies nonetheless had Diana Taurasi. The Longhorns led by 9 factors with 12½ minutes to go, however Taurasi’s 3-pointer with simply over two minutes left gave UConn the lead for good. She completed with 26 factors, and the Huskies then defeated Tennessee 73-68 within the closing. And that was the March that Auriemma got here up with six phrases that summed up 2002-03: “We obtained Diana and you do not.”
10. Knoxville celebration crashers
Jan. 6, 1996: 59-53 over Tennessee
This recreation marked the third assembly within the collection with Tennessee; the Huskies gained the primary two the earlier season at house in Storrs and on a impartial courtroom in Minneapolis. This time, as defending nationwide champions, they went into enemy territory and ended the Woman Vols’ 69-game house successful streak. UConn gained with protection, holding Tennessee scoreless for a six-minute stretch close to the tip of the sport, which had 21 lead adjustments.
9. Bueckers has the solutions
March 28, 2022: 91-87 over NC State, 2OT
The 2022 Last 4 was performed in Minneapolis, hometown of guard Paige Bueckers. To get there, she and the Huskies needed to outlast the Wolfpack, the No. 1 seed within the regional closing, in double additional time straight away basic. UConn was the No. 2 seed however had the benefit of enjoying in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It took 27 factors on 10-of-15 capturing from Bueckers, plus 21 factors from Christyn Williams and 19 from Azzi Fudd, for UConn to prevail.
8. Hometown championship celebration
April 2, 2000: 71-52 over Tennessee
This win gave UConn its second NCAA title and got here in Auriemma’s hometown of Philadelphia. The rivalry with Tennessee had reached red-hot standing, however getting into this recreation, the Woman Vols had six NCAA titles to UConn’s one. Led by juniors Shea Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova and sophomores Sue Chicken, Swin Money and Asjha Jones, UConn was almost good in 1999-2000. The Huskies’ solely loss was to Tennessee 72-71 on Feb. 2, 2000, in Storrs. UConn obtained revenge in Philly.
7. Season of firsts, Half 1
Feb. 18, 1989: 70-65 over Windfall
As soon as upon a time, successful a convention title wasn’t a foregone conclusion for the Huskies — it was trigger for celebration. UConn clinched its first Large East regular-season championship with this victory in a season of firsts.
The Huskies beat the Friars once more two weeks later for his or her first Large East match title, incomes UConn’s first NCAA match bid. It was additionally the primary season the Huskies gained at the least 20 video games (24-6) and the primary time this system had the Large East participant of the yr (Kerry Bascom).
6. Stewie’s legend begins
April 7, 2013: 83-65 over Notre Dame
Breanna Stewart introduced her intention to win 4 titles when she got here to UConn. She did it, however the first was probably the most difficult due to the semifinal foe: Notre Dame had defeated UConn thrice that season. After dropping to the Irish within the Large East match closing, Auriemma informed his despondent staff that he would present them learn how to win the NCAA title. Then a freshman, Stewart had 29 factors and 4 blocked photographs towards Notre Dame, after which UConn gained the championship in New Orleans with a 33-point rout of Louisville.
5. Season of firsts, Half 2
March 23, 1991: 60-57 over Clemson
The Huskies obtained their first win over a ranked staff in December of that season, then gained their first NCAA match recreation in March. They rode that momentum all the best way to their first Last 4. It got here with this victory in Philadelphia over Clemson. Bascom had 22 factors, making 7 of 8 free throws within the final 1:09 of the sport. Clemson lower the Huskies’ result in 59-57 with six seconds left, however Meghan Pattyson’s free throw gave UConn a three-point lead. The Tigers then missed a desperation 3-pointer.
4. Stewie seals her legacy
April 5, 2016: 82-51 over Syracuse
The Huskies bulldozed their solution to an ideal season, clobbering the Orange within the NCAA closing in Indianapolis. Stewart gained the Last 4’s most excellent participant award for the fourth time. The staff’s 38-0 mark was a part of UConn’s file 111-game successful streak that started in 2014 and ended within the 2017 nationwide semifinal.
3. Biggest staff ever?
March 31, 2002: 82-70 over Oklahoma
The Huskies put the ending touches on a 39-0 season within the Alamodome towards the Sooners, successful Auriemma’s third NCAA title. Seniors Chicken, Money, Jones and Tamika Williams, who have been all chosen within the first spherical of the 2002 WNBA draft, joined then-sophomore Taurasi on what many take into account the most effective beginning 5 in ladies’s faculty basketball historical past.
2. The rivalry begins
Jan. 16, 1995: 77-66 over Tennessee
This recreation, held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and nationally televised that Monday afternoon, was the primary assembly in what turned a legendary rivalry in faculty sports activities. The Related Press delayed its ballot voting for sooner or later (it is normally completed on Sunday evening) to account for the results of the sport. The Woman Vols have been 16-0 and ranked No. 1, the Huskies 12-0 and No. 2.
UConn led 41-33 at halftime, and by no means let Tennessee get nearer than 4 factors within the second half. Kara Wolters had a team-high 18 factors, Jennifer Rizzotti had 17 and Rebecca Lobo 13 factors, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 blocked photographs. The UConn followers did not need to go away Gampel Pavilion when it was over.
1. We’re the champions
April 2, 1995: 70-64 over Tennessee
Auriemma’s dynasty formally was launched with this victory, because the Huskies completed a 35-0 season with their first championship. The ultimate in Minneapolis was UConn’s second-closest recreation that season; the closest had come within the regional closing, 67-63 over Virginia. UConn trounced Stanford within the nationwide semifinals, and Tennessee did the identical to Georgia. It arrange a rematch of the January showdown that had obtained a lot consideration.
This was the final season the ladies’s Last 4 video games have been performed on back-to-back days, so there was little preparation time for the ultimate. Tennessee led by six at halftime, as Lobo battled foul hassle within the first half. However she had 11 of her 17 factors within the second half, with Rizzotti including 15. The championship elevated UConn right into a full-fledged phenomenon that is nonetheless going robust almost 30 years later.
