University of Connecticut Athletics
Something Special About Huskies' 22nd BIG EAST Title
3/12/2024 10:22:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By PHIL CHARDIS
Special to uconnhuskies.com
UNCASVILLE, Conn. – There were literally as many UConn players in sweatsuits as there were in uniforms.
No one is quite sure if there is an NCAA record for players unavailable, but the Huskies must to be close to setting it.
Yeah, so what? You only need 5 to play, right?
And as UConn celebrated its 22nd BIG EAST Tournament Championship -- its fourth straight since returning to the league in 2020-21, its 11th straight counting the seven in the American Athletic Conference -- at Mohegan Sun Arena Monday night after a lopsided 78-42 win over Georgetown, one could only imagine what new handicaps the BIG EAST office might be contemplating for future tournaments to make things more fair to the other 10 teams. UConn gets a 15-second shot clock, while every other team gets 30? Husky players only get four fouls before disqualification? Allow Paige Bueckers to only play left-handed?
Would any of it matter?
Perhaps it's not as easy as UConn has made it look, but with 30 consecutive wins in conference tournament games (and 47 of its last 48), it sure seems that way. While it's certain the Huskies will find a much more bumpy road in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, they have already shown their propensity for overcoming obstacles. UConn Coach Geno Auriemma has said it would take a miracle for this Husky team to reach the Final Four and that may be true, but certainly no opponent is going to be happy to see UConn on the opposite line in the bracket, especially in the early rounds.
The resiliency this UConn team has shown in the face of an overload of adversity has been remarkable, which is why – although he has been through the tournament championship ceremony 21 previous times in the BIG EAST and seven more in the American – this one meant something special to the Hall of Fame coach.
"Sometimes you don't know what's inside people until they're put into situations where they really have to dig down and see what they have," Auriemma said after the game. "Obviously at Connecticut, we're proud of all our championships, but this one, given what we went through ... we're going to celebrate this one really, really well."
UConn's Magnificent Seven – that counts everybody who was able to play – took the court Monday night with wild abandon, as if there were a plethora of reserves ready to take over as soon as those on the court needed a breather. Using a rotation of six for almost the whole game, the Huskies were nevertheless in constant motion on offense, setting tough screens, using hard cuts to create open shots and on defense, never letting Georgetown see an uncontested look.
This one is so special ?? pic.twitter.com/5n1leBqDLs
— UConn Women's Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 12, 2024
"The energy that it took to finish this off was really pretty remarkable," Auriemma said. "To see our players summon up that energy today took a lot. I couldn't be prouder of them. They acted like they could play another 40 minutes if they had to. They were committed to, 'We're going to do whatever we have to to win.' And you could tell by the way we played defensively that that was the case."
When the already undermanned Huskies lost stalwart forward Aaliyah Edwards to a broken nose during Saturday's quarterfinal game against Providence, Bueckers said the team just picked up added resolve.
"The first game after Aaliyah went out, we said, 'OK, 80 minutes … that's all we have to give. We have to give everything for 80 minutes,' " said Bueckers, who had 27 points against Georgetown to wrap up the tournament's Most Outstanding Player Award. "Then after the second game, it was 'All right, 40 more minutes … all we have to give for 40 minutes, and then we'll have two weeks off before our next game.' So, no thoughts of being tired, no thoughts of fatigue. Nobody's making excuses, we just continue to deal with the blows and keep on fighting."
It wasn't as if the Huskies just shrugged off the loss of Edwards – she's much too valuable a player for that – but they have become so used to dealing with adversity, they have become experts at how to handle it.
"We have been dealt the worst cards ever and we just never stop believing in ourselves," Nika Muhl said. "Coach told us, 'I'm so confident, nothing can shake us up.' And that's true, that's how we all felt and we just fed off each other. And that's because we trust each other. And we have been put in that situation so many times, over and over again, and I don't there's anybody better prepared for situations like this than us. To have only seven players and seven on the bench, that's ridiculous. But to be able to pull it off? That's what makes this one special."
The Magnificent Seven could become the Enthusiastic Eight when and if Edwards is able to return, but that's all the extra help the Huskies are going to get in the NCAA Tournament. But perhaps that's all they need. They have already proved there's something special about this season.
