ATLANTA – You graduate four seniors from a national championship team and it’s natural to worry how your team is going to fare.
So it was that Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma sought out his one returning starter, Diana Taurasi, before the season started.
“Are we going to be all right?” Auriemma asked.
“I said, ‘We’re going to be fine. Just give us a little time,’ ” Taurasi remembered last night. “Six months and it worked out.”
Did it ever. In knocking off archrival Tennessee, 73-68, at the Georgia Dome last night, the Huskies were simply magical, winning their second straight national title and third crown in four years. More impressively, they became the first team ever to win the title without a single senior.
“I don’t want to say it’s sweeter,” Taurasi said, the freshly snipped net hanging around her neck. “But this year was unexpected. It’s a different kind of thrill.”
Auriemma was proud. “I’ve never been more proud of a group of kids,” he said. “Nobody ever deserved it more because of how hard they’ve worked and what they endured. I’ve never met a tougher bunch of kids.”
Over the last two seasons, UConn has an unbelievable 76-1 record, losing only to Villanova in this year’s Big East tournament title game. But unlike last year’s title team, this year’s 37-1 crew did it with only one superstar – albeit one who may very well be the player of the ages.
In another brilliant performance, Taurasi scored a game-high 28 points, tied for the second-highest total in championship game history. The junior sensation was 8-for-15 from the field -including an outrageous left-handed flip shot over the backboard – and was the most obvious choice for Most Outstanding Player in recent memory.
“She just comes from a different cloth,” Auriemma said. “I’ve never been around anyone who was just immune to the pressure. This puts her right there, if not above, anyone who’s ever played at this level.”
“It’s unbelievable,” said Taurasi, who averaged 26.2 ppg in the tournament. “As a little kid, that’s what you grow up [dreaming about].”
Taurasi also got more than her usual share of help last night. Junior Maria Conlon scored 11 points and handed out six assists without a single turnover. Freshman Barbara Turner added 10 points.
Aside from Taurasi, the real hero was freshman Ann Strother. She scored 17 points, calmly hitting one contested shot after another. And when a 13-point Husky lead with 6:11 to go melted down to 71-68 with 20 seconds left, Strother sank two clutch free throws to ice things.
Who did she think she was, Carmelo Anthony?
“Now I don’t have to listen to Jim Boeheim, at the Big East coaches’ meetings, give me a hard time about how he coached freshmen to the national championship,” Auriemma said.
Everybody believed all year long. That’s how they repeated as champs. Six months, and it worked out.
