Most Division I women's basketball coaches would gladly trade their fortunes for Geno Auriemma's. They'd do it in a heartbeat. There aren't too many resumes in the women's coaching ranks that his wouldn't eclipse by leaps and bounds.
Still, the longtime UConn fixture - a six-time National Champion, six-time Naismith National Coach of the Year and the odds-on favorite to raise another banner after the 2009-10 season - broached an interesting point when he addressed the media at an open practice at Gampel Pavilion this preseason.
While the Huskies have enjoyed unprecedented success under Auriemma, they've done so without the benefit of a fluke play in a tight game or even an upset win on the extremely rare occasions when they've been underdogs.
No, there haven't been any surprises when it comes to UConn women's basketball. No flukes or favorable bounces. Whenever Auriemma's Huskies have been pegged as the country's top team and the favorite to win a National Championship, they've always accomplished the feat - sometimes flawlessly. If anything, Auriemma's teams have had to overcome their share of misfortune in the 25 years he's been in Storrs.
"There hasn't been a whole lot of luck in our six championships," Auriemma said. "I don't think luck had anything to do with any of those, except maybe the bounce that went to Jen Rizzotti [in '95] when she took it coast-to-coast, that could have went to somebody else."
The play he's referring to is one captured on the April 10, 1995 cover of Sports Illustrated. Rizzotti was an All-American point guard for the Huskies, playing from 1992-1996 - the era in which UConn's status as a national force in women's basketball was established. Her full-court drive late in the 1995 National Title game against Tennesee helped seal the 70-64 proverbial "win that started it all."
While there might have been some chance involved in a loose ball eluding a pack of opposing players and finding the speedy Rizzotti, the circumstances that brought the Huskies to that moment - an undefeated season and a year-long No. 1 ranking following a 30-3 mark and an Elite Eight berth a season prior - are the kind UConn fans have come to expect. Like fans of other dynasties in the sports world, Husky fans are the calmest of the brood at crunch time. And why shouldn't they be? They've seen almost nothing but dominant efforts and lop-sided victories in championship games for nearly two decades.
"You look at the other five championships that we played in, there wasn't any luck involved," Auriemma said. "We just went out and beat people we were supposed to beat. We've had a lot of luck go the other way in terms of injuries, but I don't think there's been any championships or opportunities that we've denied ourselves because we were complacent or we took it lightly."
In those six banner seasons under Auriemma, UConn went unbeaten three times and lost a total of just six games in the other three - four of which came in 2003-2004 when the Huskies capped a three-peat of the National Championship with Diana Taurasi at the helm.
Taurasi - the program's all-time leader in assists and three-point field goals made - was only a freshman in 2001 when a pair of inaugural Huskies of Honor inductees suffered season-ending injuries in the span of a little more than a month, severely diminishing the team's hopes for a repeat title that year. Svetlana Abrosimova required crutches to walk out on Senior Night that March after undergoing surgery on her left foot to repair ligament damage. Shea Ralph - now an assistant coach with the Huskies - had one of the most emotional walk-outs that night as fans celebrated a stellar career marred by injuries. Weeks later, Ralph crumpled to the floor in the Big East Championship against Notre Dame. She had suffered what amounted to a career-ending ACL tear in her left knee - the third she sustained while at UConn. Playing without two of their biggest stars, the Huskies were knocked out in the Final Four. It was the only year in a stretch from 1999-2004 that they didn't finish as champions.
Those injuries may have cost them a title outright, but even in championship years, the Huskies could have been even better - a scary prospect for opponents to wrap their heads around.
"I could go down the list and talk about, we should have six undefeated seasons but we don't," Auriemma said. "So you deal with what you've done and [you think], 'are you proud of what you've done and the process?' And yeah [we are]."
The 2009-10 team hasn't been without adversity of its own to this point. They went the second half of last season without the lights-out three-point shooting of Caroline Doty, who was lost for the year with an ACL tear to her left knee in January. Again, drawing a parallel between the current group and the 2001 squad, these Huskies could easily be playing for a third straight title this year had it not been for the dreaded ACL tear happening to a starter. In 2008, senior guard Mel Thomas went out in January with a tear to her right ACL. A month earlier, current redshirt senior Kalana Greene fell victim to the same injury. Auriemma has said that Thomas' stability and leadership were vital ingredients missing from the 2007-08 club as they came down the stretch. They too bowed out in the Final Four.
Before a basketball was ever tipped in the 2008-09 campaign, the Huskies were dealt an unfavorable hand. The nation's No. 1 recruit, Elena Delle Donne, opted to play volleyball in her home state of Delaware after signing a letter of intent to come to Storrs. She's since decided to make a comeback in basketball, but she'll do that at the University of Delaware also.
Despite all this, UConn is expected to repeat their championship performance from a year ago, perhaps even doing one better than the 39-0 mark they posted when they breezed by Louisville in April. If the Huskies indeed reach their goal again, it won't be because they got hot at the right time or a break went their way in a big spot. Luck has only had negative implications in Storrs, and Auriemma's bunch wouldn't have it any other way.
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