Big East honorees reminders that UConn dynasties built from within
Before UConn could become the “basketball capital of the world,” it had to put a fence around its own back yard. One of the first steps for Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma was to keep Connecticut's talent in state.
“It's funny,” Chris Smith said, “when I was choosing to come to UConn, my uncles were all saying, ‘Why UConn? They're always bottom of the Big East, nobody cares?' And now it's the mecca of basketball.”
Smith, from Bridgeport, chose UConn in 1988, at a time other Big East schools were raiding downstate players, and 35 years later he is still the career scoring leader for the men's program.
As Geno Auriemma was beginning to build, he and Chris Dailey set their sights on Bristol Eastern star Laura Lishness and won her over in 1987.
“Nothing actually drew me there, I just wanted my family to be able to watch and my friends,” Lishness said. “So when Coach started recruiting me, he just kept at it and at it and at it. I was told Georgetown was the team to beat in the conference and out of 300-odd teams in the world we were 300-and-something.I went there just to have fun.”
Both programs appeared to be in far over their heads in the early years of the Big East, but before Smith and Lishness were finished, the UConn men had their first conference title in 1990, part of the Dream Season and its run to the Elite Eight. The women were also Big East champs and went to their first Final Four in 1991. So it is perfectly fitting that UConn chose them as the first players to represent the Huskies in the Big East Legends program. Lishness was honored Saturday at the women's tournament at Mohegan Sun, and Smith will be recognized at the men's tournament next week at Madison Square Garden.
“Chris was the jet fuel we needed,” Calhoun said. “I may have been the jet, but he was the fuel. People should never forget how important Chris Smith was, he was the foundation..”
As Smith helped put UConn on the national map and made it a dream destination, state players like Steve Pikiell, Murray Williams, Scott Burrell came on board, too, forerunners as subsequent coaches were able to keep Andre Drummond and Donovan Clingan home.
“Even back when Coach Calhoun recruited me, he
said we could do something special in Connecticut,” Smith said. “He told me this week, ‘You guys were the fire starters.' … That was a special time.”
Kathy Ferrier, also from Bristol, followed Lishness to UConn, as did Bloomfield's Nykesha Sales, Norwalk's Rita Williams. (And, yes, I'm counting Rebecca Lobo as a Connecticut player, too, since she's from “the notch” in the Massachusetts border.)
“The Final Four? Oh, no. When (Auriemma) recruited me, I don't think that was even a thought in his head at the time,” Lishness said. “It definitely wasn't a thought in mine. But Coach always had that air about him, he knew how to get players to play the way he wanted. When we won our first Big East, I had my triple-double (vs. Providence), Kris Lamb made six 3-pointers, bam, bam, bam, Kerry Bascom did what she was supposed to do, and we realized, hey, if we all play together and we respect each other's roles, we're going to be pretty good.”
Lishness scored 22 in the victory over NC State in the Sweet 16 in 1991. When the Huskies arrived in New Orleans for the first Final Four, “I was just in awe,” she said. “Are we really supposed to be here? It was like a scene out of Hoosiers, and I told Coach, ‘I need you to go measure the rim from the ground. Is it still 10 feet?'”
She scored 1,303 points, with 671 rebounds, 531 assists and 150 steals at UConn. Lishness, 55, still lives in Bristol and spends a lot of her time playing pickleball in a building where Clingan's and Victor Rosa's jerseys are hung, and hers will soon be up there, too.
Smith, 53, who played three years in the NBA with Minnesota, is still in Connecticut, too, and plans to retire next year from his job as a probation officer with the state. He's a fixture at UConn games to this day. .
“It means so much that people still care, 30, 35 years later,” Smith said. “Coach Calhoun had this vision a long time ago, and he shared his vision with me and felt like I could be a huge part of it. And for
this to come to fruition, see the program as it is today, and to have my footprints on how the program's trajectory. I'm so happy and proud when I see these guys play. I see the banners and I'm always smiling inside.”
One thing Smith would like to see: Someone top his scoring mark. All Americans, lottery picks, even Hall of Famers have come and gone, but his record, 2,145 points, still stands.
“I would love to go to a game and have a kid from UConn take the scoring lead,” Smith said. “That would be really, really nice.”
Two programs, 16 national titles, players coming to Storrs from all over the world — it all had to start somewhere. This March, at the Big East tournaments, we'll be reminded that it started in close to home.
More for your Sunday Read:
Strong homecoming for Eli Wilborn
When St. Francis warmed up for its NEC quarterfinal at CCSU this week, Eli Wilborn got a visual from his coach, Rob Krimmel.
“Coach said, when we get to the playoffs, try to go back to that first time you ever watched March Madness,” said Wilborn, the 6-foot-8 freshman from Middletown. “And my first time was watching UConn, with Kemba Walker, Shabazz Napier, Andre Drummond, so I just had a thought, ‘It's your first college playoff game, don't think too much, just do what you've been doing the whole year.”
Wilborn had himself quite a time, hitting 7 of 9 from the floor, including a three, scoring 19 points, interacting with the crowd as his family looked on.
The Red Flash, the No.8 seed, gave Central a fight, but ultimately lost, 71-62. Wilborn averaged 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds as a true freshman, his productivity trending upward as the season wore on. St. Francis began the season on the West Coast, with games at UCLA , San Francisco and Santa Clara, then played at Penn State.
All signs point to a bright future for Wilborn.
“He went into his first college game, against UCLA, I vividly remember his face when we checked him into the game,” Krimmel said. “The way he played then is very different than the way he played tonight. To see from the start of the season to where he is now, especially in the position. It's very difficult to come into college basketball as a forward, as a big man, and the way he's played the entire season, after he got his feet wet, his progress has been pretty evident in the box scores. It's growth.”
Sunday short takes
◼ A concerned fan recently contacted me to urge that UConn put railings in the aisles all the way down to the floor at Gampel Pavilion. The lower section, which folds up, has no railings and for older fans, or anyone on $2 beer nights, you could see where it could be a hazard. At CCSU's Detrick Gym, the fold-up bleachers do have removable railings all the way down to the floor. In the spirit of helpfulness, this seems like a cost-effective way to prevent an accident.
◼ The Boston College women's hockey season ended with the loss at UConn this week, but freshman Molly Jordan, from Berlin, a veteran of international play with the U.S. under-18 team, had a solid year on defense, scoring four goals, with 13 assists in 33 games.
◼ That UConn, before clinching last Sunday, hadn't won the Big East regular-season title outright since 1999, or shared it since 2006, is testament to how hard that achievement is. That the program won or shared it 10 times between 1990 and 2006 is testament to the powerhouse teams Calhoun built … not that a reminder should be needed.
◼ Great to see former UConn coach Dom Perno getting out to Sheehan Walling ford girls basketball tournament games to watch his granddaughter, Bella Perno, play for the Titans. Next Wednesday, March 13, is the 60th anniversary of Perno's famous steal from Bill Bradley to clinch UConn win over Princeton in the 1964 NCAA Tournament.
◼ With Sacred Heart leaving for the MAAC, this may be the right time for the University of New Haven to make its move to mid-major Division I and join the NEC. UNH has the football, the facilities, the proximity to most of the schools, and Division II scheduling is becoming more complicated.