Take heed.
The inaugural edition of "Inside Women's College Basketball," back in February of 2005, was a caveat against the default choice of the UConn Huskies as the national champion. And now, the sequel.
The UConn squad that came away with a 50-44 win over 12th-seeded West Virginia in the Big East Championship game on Tuesday night looked anything but invincible. Granted, it was a nice touch for the senior standout Ann Strother, who, after seeing nine straight UConn conference tournament titles from 1994 to 2002, finished her career with back-to-back tournament titles. And for UConn fans, the title smoothed over some rumblings of uneasiness that had descended on Husky country. But don't be fooled by a shiny trophy - their 13th Big East title comes with an ominous warning.
While their Big East dynasty is still as healthy as ever - the Huskies have held at least a share of the regular-season or tournament crown in every season since 1993 - they are far from the impenetrable UConn teams of the mid-nineties, characterized by a blindingly overpowering offense that rarely gave opponents time to check the score.
Facing a 12th-seeded Mountaineer squad that had upset Louisville, St. Johns and Rutgers in back-to-back-to-back games, the Huskies nearly became victim number four in what would have been the greatest upset in league history. The 50 points were the fewest for the Huskies in almost two years and the fewest in Big East history to win the tournament title.
The Huskies jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first three minutes, but it turned out that those were the best three minutes of the game for the UConn offense. The Huskies didn't seem to know what to make of the West Virginia zone. They shot just 29 percent from the floor in the first half, and the shots they hit seemed to surprise even themselves.
The precision passing and sixth sense of set-up that usually characterize the Husky offense was nowhere to be found, with just two assists in the first period. The seven-point lead they took into the half was mostly due to 5-of-30 shooting from the Mountaineers, who couldn't buy a bucket but actually looked more comfortable in their offense than UConn.
The second half was more of the same, as it took the Huskies nearly four minutes to score. But Strother came through, scoring nine straight to give UConn just enough to squeak by with the win.
Strother, whose 20 points led the Huskies, has put this team on her shoulders too many times to count in her four-year career. But while the 6'2" shooting guard from Colorado remains UConn's biggest threat, she has been without a real backcourt complement throughout her career, and the lack of a true point guard has hampered the Huskies in recent seasons.
The formidable UConn offenses of the late 90's channeled through the irreplaceable Sue Bird, whose talent and leadership have not since been met by a subsequent Husky point guard. Freshman Renee Montgomery has the skills and is growing increasingly comfortable at the position - she averaged 14.2 points over the team's final five regular-season games - but she still seems to be learning the ropes of the UConn offense.
"I ask the coaches, and they say it's because Renee doesn't know what to run," UConn coach Geno Auriemma told reporters after the West Virginia game. "Which, you know, it's not a good thing to have when the person with the ball doesn't know what to run. There are times when you look out there and you say somebody has got to be able to touch the ball and do something good with it. And there are points in the game where I don't even know what's going to happen next."
The good news is that the Huskies still have the greatest coach in the game at the helm. Past his dual status in the state of Connecticut as basketball and the dad you wished you had, Geno just gets it. Not only is he a master of the fundamentals, but ironically, he might be the only person in the entire state who sees - behind the fa?e of dynasty, behind the warehouse of hardware - a great program with no givens and a lot left to prove.
After the West Virginia game, while fans placated themselves with another banner, Auriemma had another take in the post-game conference.
"We are extremely flawed, as you can tell," he said. "I don't know if we made any progress other than winning."
And while only at a place like UConn - where winning is more than just a habit, but a celebrated tradition - can you get away with saying things like that, Auriemma's comment is telling. While it might send a cloud into the cloudless skies of UConn fans, the recognition that UConn is no longer an untouchable dynasty is actually a good sign for the future of the program.
