Their Skies May Be Falling

When the Connecticut-Tennessee rivalry began 10 years ago, the Huskies and Lady Volunteers could rightfully envision women’s college basketball as their private game.

Since then, those schools have won eight NCAA Division I championships and each has won three consecutive titles -- no other team has done that. But as they tip off here today at the Hartford Civic Center in a nationally televised game, neither Connecticut nor Tennessee can claim -- for now, at least -- to be the gold standard.

It’s not as if the Huskies and Lady Vols have fallen into an abyss. The rest of women’s college basketball simply appears to be catching up.

“This year, throughout the country, we are seeing parity at its best in the women’s game,” Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt said. “It’s deeper with talent and better overall play at this stage of season. If teams can stay healthy, you will see a different March and April” at NCAA tournament time.

Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma usually loves disagreeing with Summitt, but not this time.

“There are more good players going to more schools,” he said. “The coaching is better. And it’s better for the game in the big picture.”

Tough on the Huskies and Lady Volunteers, though.

Look at their records. The three-time defending champion Huskies are 8-3, the first time since the 1991-92 season they have lost three games before January. They were battered on the road by North Carolina and Arizona State, and at home by Michigan State. Their No. 15 ranking is their lowest since December 1993. More startling, the Huskies have not beaten a ranked team.

Tennessee is 9-3 and ranked 10th, down from the No. 1 preseason ranking. As usual, Summitt made the Lady Vols’ non-SEC schedule as difficult as possible, playing Texas, Stanford, Duke, DePaul and Rutgers, all ranked teams.

Summitt hardly expected her women to stay No. 1 with that schedule -- they were beaten by Texas, Duke and Rutgers -- but she also did not plan on injuries that left her with a depleted roster. Monday was the first time this season she had all 15 scholarship players available to practice.

“I think, more than anything, we both are probably experiencing a sense of normalcy that most programs experience,” Auriemma said.

“It’s just that those things haven’t happened at UConn and Tennessee to this extent. The fact that it’s happening is not necessarily bad if, again, you think big picture. Am I surprised? Probably not. But it’s January.”

Summitt said, “We are getting better. Yes, we’ve had many injuries but ... you learn to handle injuries. From the long range, it makes you tougher.”

Both teams are having trouble scoring. Connecticut is averaging 69.1 points, its lowest total in nearly 10 seasons. Tennessee is averaging 65.8 and has scored more than 70 points only four times.

The Huskies were expecting to miss star Diana Taurasi, now in the WNBA, but they did not anticipate how much they would miss point guard Maria Conlon.

“Diana and Maria walked on court with attitude and made everyone else fall in line,” Auriemma said. “When they graduated, that attitude left. Now more than anything that’s what we have to get back. Maria and Dee’s attitudes, more than their points, that’s what we miss.”

Auriemma continues to search for someone to run the offense. He has tried four players at point guard and for the moment has settled on freshman Mel Thomas.

Summitt also has lacked a reliable point guard, although she gets senior Loree Moore back for today’s game. Moore had a tonsillectomy Dec. 10. Summitt, however, wants some of her veterans to be doing more than scoring and rebounding.

“For us, there has been a struggle of leadership at times,” she said of seniors Moore, Shyra Ely and Brittany Jackson. “As a point guard, Loree has consistently tried to be a leader. Shyra is working hard to be a better leader, but I’ve asked all of our three seniors to pick it up.”

The Lady Vols have lost their last six against Connecticut -- including the last two national championship games -- and have never beaten the Huskies here.

And rarely in the last 10 years have the Huskies seemed so ripe for the plucking.

“We’re in one of those cycles where we can look back and see how easy it was [to win] with all those All-Americans we had,” Auriemma said. “Those guys aren’t here, so it’s more difficult to get done what we’ve done in the past. But because we’re UConn, 8-3 to some people seems tantamount to failure.”

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Showdown

The results of the 10-year rivalry in women’s basketball between Connecticut and Tennessee, heading into today’s game at Hartford (Connecticut leads series, 13-6):

*--* DATE RESULT NOTE Jan. 16, 1995 Connecticut, 77-66 at Storrs April 2, 1995 Connecticut, 70-64 NCAA CH Jan. 6, 1996 Connecticut, 59-53 at Knoxville March 29, 1996 Tennessee, 88-83 NCAA SF Jan. 5, 1997 Connecticut, 72-57 at Hartford March 24, 1997 Tennessee, 91-81 Reg CH Jan. 3, 1998 Tennessee, 84-69 at Knoxville Jan. 10, 1999 Tennessee, 92-81 at Storrs Jan. 8, 2000 Connecticut, 74-67 at Knoxville Feb. 2, 2000 Tennessee, 72-71 at Storrs April 2, 2000 Connecticut, 71-52 NCAA CH Dec. 30, 2000 Connecticut, 81-76 at Hartford Feb. 1, 2001 Tennessee, 92-88 at Knoxville Feb. 5, 2002 Connecticut, 86-72 at Knoxville March 29, 2002 Connecticut, 79-56 NCAA SF Jan. 4, 2003 Connecticut, 63-62 at Hartford April 8, 2003 Connecticut, 73-68 NCAA CH Feb. 5, 2004 Connecticut, 81-67 at Knoxville April 6, 2004 Connecticut, 70-61 NCAA CH

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NCAA CH: national championship game; NCAA SF: national semifinal; Reg CH: regional championship game.

Source: Associated Press