UConn’s loss was no April Fools’ Day joke

Many people woke up on Saturday morning and may have thought that the headlines saying the UConn women had lost was an April Fools’ Day joke. Unfortunately for the Huskies, it wasn’t.

The boy unleashed a cavalcade of April Fools’ Day pranks on us Saturday morning. Black pepper in the coffee. A frozen bowl of cereal. Grizzly bear sightings on the patio. Goodnatured yuks were had by all.

I didn’t play any tricks on him; I never do because the whole April Fools’ Day thing is so stupid. But when he woke up I told him UConn lost the night before, and for several minutes was convinced that was the joke. Nope. Though I’m sure Geno would have preferred the pepper flakes in the coffee gag, instead.

• Well, I suppose you really can’t win them all, even if it sure seemed like the old adage didn’t apply to UConn women’s basketball.

The last time the Huskies’ returned to Storrs without a national championship trophy, Barack Obama was still in his first term, the Cubs were in the process of losing 101 games and London was in final preparations to host the Summer Games.

Two presidential elections, three Olympics and one Cubs’ World Series title later, there’ll be a new women’s national champion.

• It was a rough Friday night for the Huskies. They were outplayed and beaten, fair and square, by Mississippi State, an unintimidated group confident to prove it was the better team. Mission accomplished.

UConn’s offense was disjointed, pressured into turnovers, missed shots and forced into making poor decisions by an aggressive defense. Mississippi State’s size posed problems on both ends of the floor. And no one could keep up with Morgan Williams, the little guard who knocked down a buzzerbeater for the ages.

One loss won’t tarnish an incredible streak that, believe it or not, had to end.

• Those on ESPN touting it as one of the greatest upsets in history might want to reel it in a bit. Yes, UConn had won 111 straight games. But 75 came with a nucleus of Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck. And Mississippi State won 34 games in a tough SEC. It marks the end of one of the greatest win streaks ever. As far as upsets so, it’s not at historic levels.

• Everyone seemed convinced the flagrant foul that allowed UConn to tie the game late in overtime was the proper one, including TV announcers and referees, who studied video replay of the incident like it was the Zapruder film.

What did I see? Incidental contact, Mississippi State hand grazing UConn chin, with the UConn player reacting like she’d just been stabbed in the throat with an ice pick. Oscar-worthy flop aside, it seemed like a dubious interpretation of the rule by the refs in a crucial situation. At least it didn’t determine the outcome.

• Absolutely loved Geno’s reaction to the shot that ended the streak. That’s the smile of a coach who appreciates the game for what it is. A game.

• There weren’t nearly enough cut-away shots of Dak Prescott cheering on his alma mater from the stands. Perhaps ESPN can install a Dak Cam, so we can properly monitor his emotions for the entirety of today’s final.

• Denver and Minnesota-Duluth are considered favorites, but Harvard has the talent to win the Frozen Four, which starts on Thursday in Chicago.

• There should be no shortage of marketing ideas at Quinnipiac that play on the name of the new men’s basketball coach. Old friend Brian Farrell, a Quinnipiac alum and disc jockey in Portland, Maine, believes any local donut shop would be wise to christen the Baker Dunleavy Dozen. “Buy a dozen and get a free ticket to a game,” Farrell suggests. We agree. What a great way to get butts in the seats. It just may require a crowbar to extricate them afterward.

• A retirement dinner in honor of longtime Hand football coach Steve Filippone takes place on April 23 at Amarante’s Sea Cliff in New Haven, with an hour-long open bar starting at 1 p.m. followed by dinner at 2. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased at www.tigerpride.com. For more information contact Barbara Ciotti at 203245-0282. • Former Quinnipiac star Connor Jones will make his NHL debut today with the New York Islanders at Buffalo. He’s been with Bridgeport the past two seasons, and joins Matthew Peca and Michael Garteig on the list of Bobcats who’ve been on active NHL rosters this year.

• At the very least, Aaron Judge will provide daily entertainment just by taking the field every day for the Yankees. At 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds, Judge is the size of a professional wrestler. Actually, he’s bigger than most of them; Judge has two inches and 15 pounds on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Whether Judge, named starting right fielder, can be an effective major league player remains to be seen. But with the power potential to launch home runs into Westchester County, you won’t want to miss his atbats.

• Baseball is back! Finally! You know what that means. In practically no time we’ll be idling away scorching summer afternoons in the backyard, basking on a lawn chair we placed inside a kiddie pool, cold drink in hand, burgers on the grill and a ballgame on the radio. That’s when we know all is right in the world, at least for a few hours each day

TONY GUTIERREZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Members of the UConn women’s basketball team look on from the bench area during Friday’s loss to Mississippi State.