Geno Auriemma gathered his players this week and tried to explain the history behind what is about to happen. When UConn and Tennessee play in women’s basketball, it is a tradition like no other.
Or, at least, it once was.
“I just gave them a background,” Auriemma said. ‘”This is the history of the rivalry, this is how it started, this is what it meant, this is what it evolved into and it was probably the first and only classic women’s basketball rivalry on the level of North Carolina and Duke [in men’s basketball]’. It became something special, but these kids don’t know anything about that. There were so many years when we didn’t play while these kids were growing up.”
The rivalry, which was dormant between 2007 to 2021 for reasons that no longer matter, will be renewed again in Knoxville Thursday night. That ESPN will be in town for a special GameDay signifies that, even if UConn is not ranked No. 1 and Tennessee is unranked, magic is expected in the air, perhaps in the ratings, when these teams meet.
Auriemma could tell his team about the time, barely fathomable even for those of us old enough to remember, when UConn wasn’t the gold standard for women’s basketball, Tennessee was, and the Huskies finally knocked them from the mountaintop in 1995. And he could tell them about all the great and meaningful games that followed over the course of more than a decade, including four national championship games. But he saw blank stares, like a college professor referencing a 1970s sitcom to make his point.
“There was no reaction,” Auriemma said. “We went there a couple of years ago and it was COVID, they had a couple of people in the stands but not many, so you didn’t get the feel like players got when you walked in there and it was 24,000, and it’s not something that’s been talked about all year long, like what used to happen. So there was no reaction, and I’m not surprised, because most of my team couldn’t point to the state of Tennessee on the map, they all come from other countries.”
Yes, times have changed. As UConn accumulated 11 championships and Tennessee receded in importance as a rival, Stanford remained as a high bar to clear, then Notre Dame rose to become the ‘it’ team for a while, and Rutgers. Now South Carolina, the defending champ, is No. 1 and that’s the game that has been talked about all year, to be played Feb. 5 at the XL Center and televised on Fox.
“I’m proud of the fact that we’re still standing,” Auriemma said. “Through all of this time and all of these changes, we’re still hanging around here, top four or five. We’re still here, we haven’t gone away and a lot of those programs had to take a step back for one reason or another. And we’re still here.”
That doesn’t mean that UConn and Tennessee, in the third and final year of the reboot agreement, doesn’t mean anything now or can’t one day mean nearly as much as it once did. Back in the day, they’d play twice a year, because the TV networks wanted it. The animus, real and perceived, between Auriemma and Pat Summitt eventually led to the end of the series. Summitt retired in 2012 with eight championships and passed away in 2016. Current Vols coach Kellie Harper wants to continue the series to honor her. This game, in fact, comes at the end of the annual “We Back Pat” Week, which benefits the Summitt Foundation and its work in fighting Alzheimer’s Disease.
“The further we get from [Summit’s] time here, the more important it is that we have these moments that we’re able to reflect back on what she did,” Harper told reporters this week. “It gives us an opportunity to talk about her and what she stood for. It gives us an opportunity to remember and reflect on her legacy, and understand that even for so many young women’s basketball players that did not have an opportunity to meet her, or even to know her, she is a big part of why they have the opportunities that they have today.”
For Auriemma, 16-9 against Tennessee, emotions are mixed. “Part of me thinks if it wasn’t for that relationship, neither of us would’ve gotten to where we got to,” he said. “Coaching against Pat, having her in the world of women’s basketball, was like having Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, John Wooden, people who accomplished a lot and become synonymous with winning and excellence. But at some point, you’ve got to be fair to the kids who are playing there now and the coaches who are there now. It’s got to be about them, more than anything else.”
Where this rivalry goes from 2023 is yet to be determined, but there is just too much here not to find a way to continue it as an annual, or near-annual thing. The history should be remembered as a vitally important chapter in the growth of women’s basketball, but this game will focus on the remarkable job UConn (18-2), ranked fifth, has done winning through all the many injuries, and on what Harper is building at Tennessee (16-6, 8-0 in the SEC), which has won nine in a row and was just outside the AP Top 25 last week.
So the rivalry is history. The game is played, and should be appreciated, in the moment.
“It’s still going to be a big game, everybody thinks its a big game,” Auriemma said. “But there’s going to have to be a rejuvenation for their players and our players to really get caught up in it.”
Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com
