The University of Connecticut women to nobody’s surprise won their third consecutive title (for the second time) beating Notre Dame 63-53 in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday night. Little consolation again for the Lady Irish as they finished runners-up for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Breanna Stewart was again named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, the first woman to win that award three straight times.
Things did not appear that way when the Lady Huskies lost to Stanford in December, but slowly–things turned around and those double digit blowouts which have been so commonplace in the women’s game really took off.
For Head Coach Geno Aureimma, he joins the late John Wooden of UCLA from 1964 to 1975 and Phil Jackson in the NBA from the Chicago Bulls/Los Angeles Lakers during the 1990’s through the middle 2000’s as the only coaches to win ten (10) national championships.
For UConn, what a 20 year run it has been.
From players like Rebecca Lobo and Sue Bird to Maya Moore and many others too numerous to mention, I have no doubt that some of those teams should be highly considered for enshrinement at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
I would not also be surprised to see many of these recent UConn stars sporting the red, white, and blue for Team USA during the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The way they share the ball and play together is a team is simply amazing.
In the early years of the women’s tournament, Tennessee was the model program and Pat Summitt was the coach that made many ladies literally run through a brick wall just to get her point across.
Well, that is all in the past. UConn simply has rewritten the record books time and time again–and for that, they should be congratulated.
Also, I wish to send along my hearty congratulations to these other men’s squads:
- Evansville for winning the CIT championship
- Loyola (Chicago) for winning the CBI title, their first major championship of any kind since winning the NCAA’s back in 1963
- Stanford for being labeled Number 69 in upending Miami (Florida) in overtime last Thursday night in New York to win their third NIT crown–at the same time when “The General” Bobby Knight was stepping down as a color commentator for ESPN after three years.
Next game action will be after we switch our clocks just hours after the annual candy passing, trick-or-treat tradition simply known as Halloween.
Enjoy the off season, and I will try my best to post some periodic news about any rule changes affecting the sport or key coaching/player/recruiting news that is worth blogging about.
Take care, everybody! Please enjoy the spring and summer.
All Things About Men's College Basketball 