Notre Dame is a “big game,” according to Geno Auriemma of UConn women’s basketball. Do they remain competitors?
Moving into a staging area with pictures of players and staff members celebrating a national title as the background, Auriemma remarked, “Must be a big game.”
At Gampel Pavilion on Saturday night, No. 8 Connecticut takes on No. 15 Notre Dame. This is undoubtedly a major game—possibly the greatest the sport offers each year.
Relations between rivals, according to Auriemma, “develop over a period of time.” “These rivalries—Ohio State-Michigan, Auburn-Alabama, Duke-North Carolina—have existed for a very long time and will continue to do so despite coaching, player, and administrative changes. Those rivals are alumni. Other than us, I’m not sure if there’s one that’s been around long enough to be thought of as “when we beat them, they have to mean something.”
Caroline Ducharme, a guard for UConn, will miss the remaining games.
Over the course of almost 30 years, the 53 meetings between the Huskies and Fighting Irish have been both intense and oftentimes controversial. A vibrant basketball collage, these matches have captured the attention of the country during the rise and fall of the UConn-Tennessee shooting star.
The Big East games between UConn and Notre Dame were legendary. And the same went for the Final Four. Sue Bird’s renowned buzzer-beater in the conference final from 2001 and Arike Ogunbowale’s overtime buzzer-beater in the national semifinal from 2018 are two examples. Muffet McGraw, who retired in 2020, and Auriemma were never without drama.
What is the current rivalry? Though their 2023–24 teams are only among the top in the sport, not the greatest, the programs are still very good. Niele Ivey has long since taken McGraw’s place. It might be argued that UConn-Notre Dame isn’t even the most fascinating women’s NCAA basketball game this week, with Dawn Staley’s top-ranked South Carolina upsetting Kim Mulkey’s No. 9 LSU in a thrilling Thursday night contest. It’s possible that some sizzle has faded in recent years.
However, the series that started with Diana Taurasi and Ruth Riley and is currently starring Paige Bueckers and Hannah Hidalgo still packs a house, with each match advancing a distinct shared past that very few collegiate sports couples can lay claim to. because a great deal has been at stake a lot of the time.
“In those crazy days, we played each other sometimes, if we weren’t careful, for the fourth time, which made it what it became,” Auriemma remarked, alluding to two regular-season matches, the conference tournament, and the NCAA Tournament. It simply has to remain constant. Notre Dame-Concord, Notre Dame-Concord, Notre Dame-Concord. That became a yardstick for both clubs while we weren’t in the same league. “All right, let’s assess our current position in the season.”
“I do believe that rivalries have a major role in stability. You continue to be excellent and relevant. I have no idea how many times, in our games against Notre Dame, one of us has been [ranked] 1 or 2, or 3 at worst, and the other one has been the same.
39-14 is UConn’s lead in the series, which has a page on Wikipedia. There have been eight Final Four meetings between the Irish and Huskies. National semifinals were reached by Notre Dame in 2001, 2011, 2012, 2018, and 2019. In 2013, UConn advanced to the national championship game; in 2014 and 2015, they won. The Huskies won the first 11 games of their 1996 matchup. In 2011–13, the Irish won seven of eight games. UConn has won 11 national championships, while Notre Dame has won 2.
There have been so many renowned players engaged. Even while the most recent argument between Auriemma and McGraw, similar to those between Auriemma and Summitt, frequently progressed from sideshow to main show, it is arguably what should be valued and acknowledged above all else.
“I hope so, because if you make it personal, that’s the easiest way to kill a rivalry,” Auriemma remarked. “And I’m not sure that’s always the case in other sports; perhaps it’s because the coaches don’t stay as long as Pat and I did, or Muffet and I did. It does, therefore, sort of get there.
In my opinion, other schools have different coaches, so it’s not always him against her or her against him when it comes to UConn-Tennessee or UConn-Notre Dame. I believe it’s the element that just puts an end to rivalries. It’s lost its comedy long ago, even though it was amusing once. I’ll just say that I favor UConn over anybody. That is a regrettable consequence of the circumstances in which we found ourselves as trainers.
It has frequently turned into Geno vs. whomever throughout the years. It’s truly Geno vs the world. Pat against Geno. Muffet against Geno. Dawn against Geno. Geno has faced up against C. Vivian Stringer, Mulkey, and Tara, among others. Coach Tara VanDerveer of Stanford and head coach Auriemma are tied for the most victories in NCAA basketball history. VanDerveer has 1,203, Auriemma 1,197.
It’s likely that you will get quite close to competing coaches if you work at the same position for nearly fifty years, surpassing everyone in wins and exchanging ideas with them along the way. Storylines and feuds that transcend player eligibility emerge. For example, when most people think of the emergence of women’s basketball, they usually think of Geno and Pat, or Pat and Geno.
When Auriemma’s young Huskies defeated the Lady Vols on Martin Luther King Day in 1995 and Summitt ended the series in 2007, the sport was never more fascinating. Sometimes it was unpleasant. So many confrontations. When Summitt was given an early onset dementia diagnosis in 2011, it made no difference. Summitt retired in 2012, the coaches made up, and she passed away four years later.
After the series resumed in 2020, UConn and Tennessee have played four times to date. However, the stakes are not the same, and the vibe is different.
One cannot coerce rivalries. They cannot be created out of nothing and they cannot always be brought back to life. The UConn football team learned it the hard way when its series against Central Florida was dubbed “Civil ConFLiCT.” On the other hand, their endless construction possibilities make them interesting. through the instructors’ varied personalities. through the performance histories of programs. through best athletes facing off on the court. via a common boundary.
Even when they are real, some happen instantly. Jim Calhoun’s longstanding opponent from their Boston days in the 1980s, Rick Pitino, the men’s coach at St. John’s, is back in the Big East and making headlines. The only team he wants to see play on campus rather than at Madison Square Garden is UConn, he stated.
Pitino subsequently stated to the New York Post, “I don’t believe Connecticut understands how to accept praise. Jim Calhoun is the one player in the game who I admire the most.
Dan Hurley, who brought up UConn’s 2023 national title and how St. John’s is “punching up” at the Huskies, was left out of Pitino’s remarks. Laughing at the back and forth, Auriemma said. He has worked on the other side of the Big East during the growth of the league, the departure and return of UConn to a new incarnation, and several other occupations. Never before has there been a conference with a more colorful sideline cast.
According to Auriemma, “that’s what made the Big East the Big East.” “They all became legendary, they all recruited the same kids, and all the coaches talked about each other.” Perhaps the ACC with Dean Smith, Jim Valvano, Coack K, and Bobby Cremins was another conference. John Thompson, Louie Carnesecca, Rollie Massimino, [Jim] Boeheim, Rick, and Calhoun were still absent. That wasn’t the case.