NEW ORLEANS -- No. 5 might have been the hardest for Connecticut.
The Huskies and their coaching staff celebrated with a
collective sigh Tuesday night after beating archrival Tennessee
70-61 for the program's fifth title and third straight.
Getting there this season was anything but easy.
"This one was hard," associate head coach Chris Dailey said.
"I remember last year. I hugged Barbara Turner and the first thing
I said to her was, 'I hope you realize we just made the bull's-eye
on our back 100 times bigger.' "
The pressure of that burden sometimes got the best of the
Huskies, who finished 31-4, losing more games this season than they
had the previous three years. Some of those losses were because of
complete meltdowns by a team that looked at times disjointed and
unfocused.
"We went through so many low moments," said Ann Strother, who
finished with 14 points Tuesday night. "There were times when
basketball was just hard for us."
The low point came Jan. 3 when UConn blew a 20-point lead to
Duke, losing for the first time on its home court in 70 straight
games. Other losses were to Notre Dame and Villanova on the road.
Then Boston College kept the Huskies out of the Big East
tournament title game for the first time in nine years, beating
them by three points in the tournament semifinal.
"Everything was a struggle," said Dailey, who has been on the
bench for all five titles.
This one also gave the school an unprecedented sweep of the NCAA
basketball championships. The men wrapped up their title 24 hours
earlier by beating Georgia Tech in San Antonio.
Assistant coach Jamelle Elliot was a player on UConn's first
title team in 1995, which finished 35-0.
"It never ever ever EVER gets old. Ever," Elliot said.
"They've had so much pressure on them this year. Just to see their
reaction and see how happy they are makes me happy because I know
how much hard work they put in."
Turner finished with 12 points and nine boards. With 45 seconds
left and two free throws to shoot, she broke into an wide grin.
"I just kind of had the feeling that we just achieved something
great," Turner said. "I probably was wrong for smiling that
early. It was probably kind of a slap in the face to Tennessee and
I apologize about that. It was just the feeling I had and all I
could do was smile."
In the end, even keeping a straight face was hard to do.