These have been the golden years of UConn athletics. When I was a student at UConn, there was the occasional trip to the NIT or the NCAA for the men's basketball team. The men's soccer team was a regional power, but had not achieved the ultimate success on the pitch. The baseball team had a little bit of success. The national power at the University was the polo team, which won two national championships during my undergraduate years.

Now Storrs is the capital of the basketball universe. It has been the capital of Women's basketball for almost a decade.

My, how things have changed for the Men's team.

This is the 1999 Men's NCAA Championship team. They beat Duke, the #1 team (and up to the game being considered one of the great teams of all-time) in a nail biter, 77-74.  It was unbelievable. They were led by Richard Hamilton and defensive standout, Rickey Moore, featured on the cover of SI.

Then this year, the team, preseason number 1, won it all again validating the initial championship. In a dominating performance, the Huskies beat Georgia Tech behind the player of the year, Emeka Okafor.

The team roared into the Final Four, survived a scare from old nemesis Duke and then went on to win in San Antonio.

And as a transition to the section on the Women's team, shouldn't all of these player of the year votes be held after the NCAA tournament? Jameer Nelson is a great player and had a great year, but Emeka Okafor proved conclusively that he is the single most dominant player in college basketball. He clinched the award in teh second half of the semifinal against Duke. And Alaina Beard is a great player, but she disappeared in the key games. Diana Taurasi is arguably the best women's college player of all-time. She was certainly the best this season. How many clutch plays did she make in the tournament? I do not care what the scoring averages were. Who was standing when the season ended?

The women's team has been a force on the national scene for the last decade, wining five national championships. The 1995 team, led by forward Rebecca Lobo, point guard Jennifer Rizzotti (the cover girl for SI), and center Kara Wolters (consecutive national players of the year) finished an undefeated season by beating Tennessee for the national title.

This is one of the enduring images in UConn history: Rebecca Lobo celebrates as the clock his all zeroes.

This was from the 2000 Championship, a defeat of archrival Tennessee in Philadelphia. The second national title for the team which was led by Shea Ralph and three time All American Svetlana Abrosimova and the fabulous freshwoman class that included Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tamika WIlliams, and Asja Jones.

The 2002 team, led by national Player of the Year Sue Bird,  finished an undefeated season with a victory over Oklahoma to win the University's third national championship.
 
 

Here Sue could be saying that the Huskies are number or 1 or she could be predicting where she would be drafted in the WNBA Draft.

This year's team is number 1 again, although it has a lot of freshmen (freshwomen). The Huskies won a women's record 70 straight games. Only UCLA with 88 straight has done better in college basketball. And this year, despite their relative youth, the Huskies went back-to-back, defeating hated Tennessee in the 2003 National Championship game in Atlanta. Diana Taurasi was awesome with, as the philosopher said, "a capital A". She dominated the game, including throwing in a left handed shot from the baseline. She is, quite possibly, the greatest women's basketball player ever. She was the best this year, winning very major national award. With no seniors, the Huskies stood as the preseason favorites for 2003-2004.

  

And the women completed a three-peat and made the University the first to have its women's and men's team win it all in the same year by continuing their mastery over Tennessee. Player of the decade (and beyond) Diana won her third straight championship and second straight Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four award. It was the fifth national championship for the Huskies.

Although it is the basketball capital of the world, UConn has other sports. The football team is set to join the Big East and completed a 9-3 season, the best of any team not invited to a bowl.  And the Huskies do well in the other football.

This is the Men's Soccer team, the 2001 NCAA Champions. This was the University's second national championship in Soccer.

The UConn women's soccer team made it to the national finals in 2003, but alas were defeated by soccer giant, North Carolina. The soccer team has made it to 22 straight NCAA tournaments and have played for the national championship four times: 1984, 1990, 1997, and 2003.

The UConn field hockey team is a two time national champion, winning the NCAA crowns in 1981 and 1985 and remain a strong national power today.

 

 

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