UConn women’s march toward another title looking like a slam dunk

Huskies heavily favoured in Final 4 matchup against upstart Oregon State

INDIANAPOLIS— Put aside for the moment the women’s sports revolution and its ever-accompanying and sometimes distressing social commentary. Saturday at the women’s Final Four, the day before the national semifinals, it was time to reflect on the 80 basketball minutes impeding Connecticut’s bid for an unprecedented fourth consecutive national championship.

“I know we’re just anxious,” said the Huskies’ coach, Geno Auriemma, also on the threshold of personal history, with an 11th title on the line, or one more than John Wooden, the career Division I men’s leader.

On the other side of what would appear to be a lopsided semifinal equation was Scott Rueck, the Oregon State coach, who explained how his potholed road to Sunday’s match with 36-0 UConn began in 2010, when he inherited a team from which nine of 11 players had transferred and open tryouts were necessary to field a squad. There were three incoming freshmen, a junior college transfer, four walk-ons who wound up earning minutes, a soccer player and a volleyball player. “Utter chaos,” Rueck said. His intriguing tale made an impression on Auriemma, who said: “I mean, how can a school in the Pac-12 have tryouts? It just goes to show you how bad the program was when he took over.”

Auriemma added: “I think it’s another great example of how many great schools in this country just have the wrong leaders and, if they hired the right people, they would be where Oregon State is today.”

Led by senior guard Jamie Weisner, six-foot-six senior centre Ruth Hamblin and junior Sydney Wiese, the Beavers are 32-4 after upsetting Baylor in the regional final. They are also one of the three programs appearing for the first time in the Final Four, with Washington, 29-7, also out of the Pac-12, to meet Syracuse, 26-10, in Sunday’s other semifinal. When the UConn dynasty won its first title in 2013, Weisner and Hamblin were shaking off a 10-win freshman season. Now, UConn’s senior stars — Breanna Stewart being the brightest, with Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck also shining — are heavily favoured to become the only women’s or men’s class in Division I history to run the NCAA four-year table.

Asked about sentimentality for the class he recruited in 2012, Auriemma said: “Next October, when practice starts.” He said he would look around and know what he was missing.

When the Huskies annihilated Mississippi State by 60 points in the second round, Vic Schaefer, the humbled coach, said: “I don’t know what team in the league they can’t compete with.”

He was talking about the WNBA, not any college conference.

“I would say it’s even an honour to play against them,” Oregon State’s Weisner said. “In 20 years, I can tell my kids that I played against that UConn team.”

The drama comes now, whatever the margins of presumed UConn victories might be. To Kara Lawson, a former Tennessee star and ESPN analyst, Stewart is already the best player in women’s college history — “and I really don’t care what happens this weekend.”

And, as Lawson characterized UConn’s last push for NCAA tournament perfection, “I’m not a bean counter,” but two more victories and “Stewie’s got all the beans.”

“In 20 years, I can tell my kids that I played against that UConn team.” JAMIE WEISNER OREGON STATE GUARD