The Dynasty: UConn Huskies (2026) s01e01 Episode Script
Episode 1
1
[crowd cheering]
[tense music plays]
[announcer] A champion is crowned today.
Two historic programs facing off
in a heavyweight bout.
South Carolina and Connecticut.
Connecticut seeking a 12th title
and their first since 2016.
- Here's Tessa, storming in.
- [whistle blows]
Gets the foul on the freshman,
who's a little shaken up afterward.
Johnson.
Connects!
Paige! Put a goddamn hand up.
It's the fucking
National Championship game here, man.
[announcer] Fulwiley leads
the break and Feagin lays it in.
[buzzer sounds]
And that will do it for the first half.
Ayayayayay.
[Elliott] Twenty more minutes, man.
- Ayayay.
- [Elliott] But we gotta talk about
what we're not taking advantage of.
[Auriemma] She just stands there.
Get back.
You think she would go set a screen
for somebody? Christ almighty.
How do you go from Friday night
to this bullshit?
[person 1] Ready?
[Paige] We got here by serving
every possession like it matters.
This is no different than
what we've been doing the entire time.
Play every possession like it's your last.
And now put your fucking hand up!
Run it back.
[person 2] That's the problem,
we have to turn in and box out…
Yes, we have to turn and box out.
[person 3] Ice has been
trying to attack defensively.
[Morgan] We are not boxing out.
We have to box out… [speaks indistinctly]
[Auriemma] Winning…
Winning is like a mist that covers you
and as the sun comes out,
it goes away quickly.
Losing…
Losing is like the entire universe
is strapped around your head
and it just sits there forever.
[commentator 1] They used to dominate.
Can UConn break that losing streak?
[Auriemma] This is the price
you have to pay for winning a lot.
[fans chanting] Overrated!
[Auriemma] When you lose,
people rejoice in your misery.
[commentator 2] Maybe Geno Auriemma
has lost his Midas Touch?
We love you on the way up
and we love you once you get there,
but then, you know what?
We're kinda sick of your shit,
and we can't wait for you to get beat.
["Like That" playing]
[broadcaster] And Connecticut has done it.
[announcer 1] Connecticut has won
the National Championship again.
[announcer 2] Is the UConn
Women's basketball team
the most dominant program
in any sport of all time?
At UConn,
it was just kind of the assumption
there's no reason we should lose a game.
[commentator 3] Geno.
He's the greatest ever.
As times have changed,
he's still who he is.
[Auriemma] What the hell was that?
- Stop!
- It's right in front of him.
All right, just stop.
[interviewer 1] Geno Auriemma,
the most polarizing figure
- in all of women's basketball.
- [whistle blows]
[reporter] He doesn't treat the team
like girls but like players.
Sometimes, more like soldiers
at a boot camp.
I miss the four years that I was at UConn,
but I don't wish to go back.
[Auriemma] You understand the meaning…
the fucking meaning of mental toughness?
I just kind of questioned,
did I even want to be there anymore?
What did we talk about, Paige?
Do not move until the screen is set.
It has to be us against him. You won't
survive if you don't figure that out.
[cheering]
[Jenkins] Women's basketball
was a very small world.
Pat just felt that the more he won,
it felt like he was kicking her
when she was down.
That's the relationship
that Geno worked very hard to create.
[interviewer 1] There's much more
to Geno Auriemma than just basketball.
[interviewer 2] You're the coach
everyone loves to hate. Why?
'Cause we win all the time.
[interviewer 2] Simple as that?
Among other things.
[music continues]
- [no audible dialogue]
- [crowd cheering]
[Taurasi] He starts
to tighten those screws.
And I'm like,
"Yeah, this is what I wanna feel."
Like… [stammers]
…this is the energy that I need.
[no audible dialogue]
[Williams] That's what makes him
a mastermind. He challenged our heart.
[buzzer sounds]
He challenged how much
we wanted to compete.
I think that's why
I fell in love with Geno.
[music continues]
[all] Together!
[announcer 1]
Are UConn's dominant days over?
[announcer 2] One of the great upsets.
[announcer 3] This is something
that has never been done before.
[announcer 4]
The dynasty fulfills its destiny.
[music ends]
[interviewer 3] Let's, uh,
roll camera and sound.
[crew] Unmuting sound.
[interviewer 3] Hey, uh, can you kick off
your shoes? Do you mind?
- Why?
- [interviewer 3] They're squeaking.
[playful music plays]
I haven't heard a word from my shoes.
It's the box. It's not the shoes.
[crew] It's the box? We can…
We can do a little thing.
Let's try this one.
[interviewer 3] Yeah,
that seems better. All right.
You hear my shoes squeaking now?
- [interviewer 3] No.
- No,
'cause it ain't the fucking shoes, dude.
I'll tell you the same thing
I tell my players.
Why the fuck would I say it
if it wasn't true?
[interviewer 3] All right,
let's start with this.
Why did you decide to go
into women's basketball?
[Auriemma] When I was in school
and playing basketball,
coaching women
would've been last on my list.
But my buddy,
he comes up to me one day and he says,
"Hey, I started coaching
girls' high school basketball.
I need an assistant coach."
I said, "Who the hell would coach girls?
I'm not doing it."
And, like, weeks and weeks
and he's just bugging me and bugging me,
badgering me. And then fin…
one day I just said, "Screw it, I'll go."
[intriguing music playing]
And I go to practice. I went to the games.
I just saw so many people
reluctant to coach them
like real,
honest-to-God basketball players.
You know, it kinda dawned on me,
they're not going to crack,
they're not fragile,
that you can demand a lot from them.
But everything just took off from there.
I got a job at the University of Virginia.
And then a Connecticut job opened up.
They were a program that was unknown.
Storrs. It's a small little town.
One road, a donut shop.
And the campus was a piece of shit.
Show you how bad it was, during
my interview, they didn't show me the gym.
They didn't show me a locker room
'cause we didn't have a locker room.
No one took any pride in anything.
When I was being interviewed,
one question was,
"Well, what are you gonna need
to take this job?"
I said, "I don't need anything,
just give me the job,
and we'll be in the top 20
in four years." What?
[announcer] We're looking at
the Connecticut Huskies on the floor.
Tracy Lis, off her foot and out of bounds.
[Goldberg] In the 1980s, in Connecticut,
nobody cared about women's basketball.
[announcer] Not a very adroit ball hand.
[Goldberg] We covered the Red Sox.
We covered the Yankees.
We covered the Patriots.
We covered the Giants.
Obviously, we covered the UConn men.
And the women's program,
nobody knew, probably,
that they even had a women's program.
[announcer 2] …and she didn't get it.
But that's how it was.
They were a sideshow.
[announcer 3 speaks indistinctly]
…to Heidi Robbins out of bounds.
The gap between us and the best teams
in the country was indescribable…
in every way.
There were a lot
of really good teams back then.
Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech,
and yes, of course, Tennessee.
[announcer 4] This is Bridgette Gordon.
The Lady Vols are on the board.
[MacMullan] Back then,
if UConn had played Tennessee,
I mean, UConn would lose by 40.
So much of it was about talent.
When Geno went there,
he was literally starting from level one,
maybe even below sea level.
So what Geno had to do
at UConn was lure in a big recruit.
That's where it all starts.
Hello.
I'm never on camera,
so I'm filming myself.
[person] Oh,
let's get a close up. [chuckles]
[Lobo] I was probably the kid who,
like, cared too much
what people thought of me.
I was always extraordinarily tall.
Taller than all the boys,
and in some cases in middle school,
taller than all the teachers.
And basketball was the one place where
that didn't make me feel uncomfortable.
It was like my superpower.
And I knew I was a good high school
player, but I… [stammers]
I never had that feeling of,
"Man, I am better than everyone else.
Look at how good I am.
I'm gonna, you know,
get recruited by all these schools."
Until I started getting letters
from college coaches and I was like, "Oh."
[Auriemma] Now, all of a sudden, here's a
kid who's the best player in the country.
A 6'5" player who played like a guard.
Now, as you're looking at her,
you're saying
this is a game changer
in-in a lot of ways,
because there's only one of her.
And so if we can get her,
then we have something
no one else in the country has.
But we had a lot going against us.
[Lobo] I do remember, like,
it was an incredibly hard decision.
UConn, at that time,
had a very different reputation.
They haven't won
a National Championship ever.
But early in my recruitment,
talking to Coach Auriemma,
I remember him saying to me, like,
"You have a chance to help take a team
where they haven't been before."
He just knew what buttons to push.
It felt like he kind of
can speak to your soul.
[chattering]
[MacMullan] You cannot
underestimate his charm.
When you are in Geno's orbit,
and you are in a room with him,
and he wants you to feel it,
you feel like he is
the most important man on Earth.
I was looking for a school that
could offer me the best of both worlds,
strong academics and strong athletics.
I needed to feel comfortable
with the people on the team,
the coaching staff and the students.
There's no doubt in my mind
that I made the best decision possible.
[Auriemma] We had signed Rebecca Lobo,
and it's a huge deal, program wise.
Now we got a real star.
There was a feeling of,
"This has to go this way now."
- [player] Come on…
- Weave through, weave through.
There she is.
In the lane, Rebecca, stay in.
That's all right, that's all right.
Up strong. Good.
[applauding]
Don't put it in front of her, Rebecca,
and don't be quick to spin.
I don't want any spin dribbles.
Stay under control.
Head up now, you gotta have your
head up there. You got to see offense.
You got to be able to run offense.
Quite honestly, once Rebecca got here,
there was a lot of adjustments
that had to be made.
She was this lily-white, suburban girl
who wanted to play with her ponytail,
not break a sweat,
who wanted to play girls' basketball,
and I was trying to get her to play,
like, real basketball,
the way basketball
is supposed to be played.
Do you do everything
like softly, girly-girly?
[Lobo yelps]
Why are you afraid to hurt somebody?
[Dailey] I have spent
40 years coaching with Geno.
- Come on now. Come on now.
- [Auriemma] Lean in.
Knock them down.
[Dailey] When we brought in Rebecca,
she definitely had potential,
but we are,
and we've always been,
hardest on our best players
and our players
that have the most potential.
You know, at times, it's hard to handle.
[Auriemma] Hold… Hold it!
The defensive guy has
to play freaking defense.
That defensive guy was just
standing there doing nothing.
You have to play defense.
[Lobo] He was incredibly hard on me.
You know,
"You're the worst post player in America,"
"The dumbest smart person in America."
Like, yelling at me constantly.
Which was really hard for me
as a 17 and 18-year-old to understand
'cause no one had really ever
coached me in that way.
We're not asking you to cure cancer here.
We're asking you to make lay-ups.
It was really hard, and there-there
was a moment in my sophomore year
where I called home and I was crying,
or, I mean, it was probably more
than one moment, multiple moments,
calling home and crying and complaining
and, "Coach is so hard on me."
To my mom's credit, she said,
"You can do one of two things.
You can either transfer, or you can go in
and talk to him and figure this out.
You have to solve
this problem for yourself."
[Auriemma] We had
a long conversation about,
"These are the goals
that you told me you wanted to achieve.
Winning a National Championship.
Being an all-American.
What you are doing every day
does not prepare you
for the goals that you told me."
Some days, you're great,
and, uh, some days you're terrible.
Some days you're mentally focused,
other days you're not.
And he said, "It's my job to make you
the best version of yourself every day."
But two days later, in practice,
I do something stupid.
And he says, like, out at mid-court,
he's like, "Just see that.
Just see that. And she has, like,
the fucking nerve to come into my office
and cry and be upset
about how I'm coaching her,
and then she's gonna come here
and pull this shit?"
And, like,
at the time I remember thinking,
"Well, now all of my teammates
know that I was in his office
complaining about how he's coaching me."
It just hits you right
in your heart and soul.
[commentator] At center for Connecticut,
No. 50 Rebecca Lobo.
[Auriemma] After we got Rebecca,
we got better as a team.
But there was a feeling, kinda like,
"Maybe our toughness wasn't there."
We needed a couple more pieces.
And during the next recruiting period,
there was a little kid from New Fairfield,
Connecticut, Jen Rizzotti.
[commentator] At guard for Connecticut,
No. 21 Jennifer Rizzotti.
She played every possession
like it was life and death.
[whistle blows]
[cheering]
[Rizzotti] I was always
overly competitive to a fault.
Just kinda who I was.
I was like that in pickup. [chuckles]
I was like that in practice.
And I was like that in games.
So, at least I was consistent.
[commentator] At forward
for Connecticut, No. 33 Jamelle Elliott.
[Elliott] I just tried to come in
and be competitive.
But my role primarily was
to do the blue-collar stuff.
[whistle blows]
[cheering]
[Auriemma] The two of them combined
was like adding
another 400 horsepower to the…
to-to the machine here,
and it just… [imitates explosion]
- [whistle blows]
- [cheering]
[commentator 2] Great feed
from Rizzotti to Berube to Elliott.
[commentator 3] Oh,
Gampel Pavilion is rocking again.
[Auriemma] So things are starting
to fall together.
But in my mind,
I'm looking for any sort of an advantage.
Your job is to find out, "Okay,
what can you give this team that might…
put us over the edge?"
[inspirational music playing]
[announcer] And now,
the starting lineup
for your world champion,
Chicago Bulls.
[Auriemma] I watched the Chicago Bulls.
They were winning all the time.
And when I see something
that's really good,
I wanna emulate it.
So, at some point, I wrote Phil Jackson,
and I asked if I could come to practice
at some point. He said, "Absolutely."
And I went there for three days.
To learn the triangle offense.
[Kerr] I was really enamored
with Geno from afar.
Like, immediately, you see him,
he's got, like, oh,
this quaff of beautiful hair,
and he's always decked out.
Like, he looked the part.
But he also had that edge.
He's doing everything he can to win.
The triangle offense
provides beautiful spacing,
ball movement, which is really key.
Everybody gets to touch the ball,
not just the point guard.
It was really a beautiful offense.
[Auriemma] It's an offense that's been
around forever, the concepts of it.
But no one had ever thought
to try it in college.
And so I looked at our team and I thought,
"If we can recreate that,
damn, man, we have a chance
to be really, really, really good."
["Just a Girl" playing]
[Kerr] The triangle requires
a lot of work.
You have to have players
who are willing to embrace it.
But watching Geno do it
at the college level, it was like,
"Oh, my God. Like,
this guy… [chuckles] It's incredible."
So the Huskies now 2-0 on this season.
They have beaten their first two opponents
by an average of over 56 points.
[Lobo] This new offense we're running
is working beautifully.
We would work our ass off
all week long on the basketball court.
And then, weekend was spent for…
Friday and Saturday, we would go hard.
[player 1] What are you doing?
[player 2] What the hell? Put it away.
[player 3] Our team doesn't drink.
Put it away.
Where's Rebecca? I can't find her.
There's Rebecca.
[chuckles, shushes]
There was so little to do
on the UConn campus,
in Storrs in the early '90s.
But we just had an absolute blast.
[player 2] Jen Rizzotti, how is the beer?
This is Jen's face while drinking beer.
[Lobo] We would just bond,
and we would have a great time
and hang out.
[Lobo] Guys, our coach just called.
[friend 1] Good, what did he want?
[Lobo] He was like,
"We have two big games this weekend.
- Call before 11:00."
- Why would you stand here
- waiting like it's a camera?
- Geno. Geno.
- Hi, Geno.
- It's a video.
[Lobo] And at the same time,
we're playing against teams
in the regular season.
And we're kicking their ass.
[news anchor] 98-64. UConn
and the Huskies now 10-0 on the season.
[commentator 1] They're beating their
opponents by an average of 35 points
with a balanced offensive attack.
[Auriemma] I couldn't wait
to go to the games
because I didn't know
what was gonna happen.
I didn't know what I was gonna see.
That was one of the most exciting times
in my coaching career,
when I actually saw something
just blossom right in front of my eyes.
[commentator 2] Will be official.
Connecticut, number one
for the first time in school history.
[music ends]
[Goldberg] They had taken it
to a completely different level.
They're not losing any games.
They're undefeated.
And for college basketball,
it was as big a story
in the country as anything else.
What's going on
at the University of Connecticut?
The women's team is number one,
and they are undefeated.
[all] Husky-mania! [cheering]
[Goldberg] And people
in Connecticut were ecstatic.
[cheering]
They treated the UConn women's players
- like they were their own daughters…
- We're here!
[Goldberg] …and granddaughters.
We made a special pizza
with a big number one in Italian sausage
for the UConn Huskies.
[Dailey] I remember that year,
there was a men's game.
And our kids went to the game.
[commentator 3] There's Rebecca Lobo,
and she's brought the rest of the team
over here to watch the guys tonight.
And when they walked in,
standing ovation with 16,000 people.
[cheering]
[Goldberg] And meanwhile,
the men's basketball coach,
Jim Calhoun, is sitting there.
He can't believe he's a second fiddle.
And that led to a lot of problems
between the head coaches
at the University of Connecticut.
[intriguing music plays]
[Calhoun] Do I wanna be the best program
on campus? Of course I do.
We were just all kind of fighting
to get to where we wanted to be,
and we all wanted to be
in the same place, one. [chuckles]
When Geno and I met,
he was feisty, confident.
And for the first couple of years, we had
locker rooms, so we-we saw each other,
we talked, et cetera.
And then the locker rooms got separated,
and quite frankly,
so did, uh, our relationship.
[MacMullan] I couldn't tell you
what the actual beef was
between Geno and Jim Calhoun
other than I think
they were just two proud men,
and I don't think either one of them
was particularly interested
in sharing the spotlight.
We bring in 12 million to the university.
Nothing to do with state funds.
We make $12 million a year
for this university.
Get some facts and come back and see me!
[Goldberg] A reporter from
the Dallas Morning News asked Jim Calhoun
about the success
that the women were having.
And Jim Calhoun said,
"If you go to a women's game,
you need to set up a day care
and a senior center."
Because that was the demographics
of the women's fans for a long time.
[cheering]
But that all changed.
Yeah, UConn! Go!
And so, nobody really thought
that was funny.
M-Move, move.
I've said some stupid things in my life,
in anger, frustration like all of us.
It-It was never meant with malice.
It was meant with my competitive edge.
[Auriemma] It was a pain in the ass
to deal with a lot of times.
- Go! Shoot! Shoot!
- There were so many people
that resented the fact
that we had gotten really, really good.
There's an inherent
sexist attitude among sports
that women's sports aren't as important.
They're not to be taken seriously.
I just don't like anybody looking down
on our program and demeaning our program.
Quickly.
For women's basketball, I think
there was always this fight for respect,
fight for recognition,
fight for acknowledgement.
And for the first time ever,
it was not just about
what's going on with the men's team.
[commentator 1]
Welcome back to Gampel Pavilion.
the folks are ready
to see UConn take on Virginia.
[Goldberg] The UConn women,
they're playing in the NCAA tournament,
and the entire country
- …was paying attention.
- [cheering]
And I think the pressure of all of that
had finally gotten to them.
[players speak indistinctly, clamoring]
[commentator 1] Those little shots
just not falling for the Huskies.
It's Virginia's ball.
By the time you get to
the NCAA tournament, your body is taxed,
that you're exhausted.
And at the same time, you can't let
your brain shut down for a second.
[commentator 1]
Rebecca Lobo really struggling.
- A lot of physical play, Sherry.
- [commentator 2] Certainly is.
[Lobo] It's physically hard,
but it's even more mentally hard.
And I had always been
a high achiever, so, like,
I didn't understand
that there was a next level to get to.
[commentator 1]
Lobo has it stripped by Palmer.
[commentator 3]
First major scare of the season
in the regional finals against Virginia.
We played Virginia
in the Elite Eight game,
and we were horrendous.
[cheering]
And I remember Geno and I
walking off the court and saying,
"We're lucky that we won that game."
Connecticut, maybe this was the wake-up
call they needed. We keep saying
that a team has to be scared before they
get to the Final Four and survive a test,
and they certainly did today.
[commentator 4] The final score,
UConn 87 and Stanford 60.
The women's team heading
to the National Championship game.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Huskies
will try to become only the second team
in NCAA women's basketball history
to finish undefeated.
[MacMullan] UConn was a Cinderella story
in a lot of ways.
They worked so hard to get to this point
and to get to this moment.
They would face Tennessee tomorrow
for the National Championship.
[MacMullan] But now,
they had to play Tennessee.
And Tennessee was a national powerhouse.
[commentator 5]
The Lady Vols of Tennessee.
They take home the National Championship.
[commentator 6] So, Tennessee has won
the women's National Championship.
76-60 over Auburn.
[commentator 7]
The title goes to Knoxville again.
She's been to the summit three times now.
And Tennessee had the greatest leader
that women's basketball had ever seen.
[news anchor] If coaching is an art form,
then we're going to tell you
about one tough artist.
Her name is Pat Summitt.
[news anchor 2] Pat Summitt has led
her Lady Vols
to more National Championship victories
than any other coach in the country.
Get tough! Get Tough!
[MacMullan] I mean, when I was growing up,
I remember watching this powerful woman
who just seemed to have a command of
everything that was going on around her.
[no audible dialogue]
[Lobo] When I was a kid,
if there was a game on, it was Tennessee.
Pat Summitt was the preeminent figure.
Like, if she walked into a gym,
everyone turned their head and noticed.
She was what elite women's basketball was.
[DeMoss] We've got to get
some more offensive production
- out of some of the players.
- Sure.
- I mean, that's just the bottom line.
- [Summitt] Right.
[DeMoss] Before she passed away,
I'd spent 20 years at Tennessee
with Pat Summitt.
I would… I mean, I… I certainly
would let them know I was not happy.
[DeMoss] In '95, we were
on the top of the mountain.
We were everybody's benchmark.
You know, play Tennessee to see where you…
where you stack up nationally.
And we started noticing Connecticut.
They were undefeated
going into the championship.
But it didn't intimidate us
or it didn't scare us in any way.
We were never scared of anybody.
[commentator] Welcome back
to the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Site of the most anticipated
championship game matchup
in the 14-year history
of the women's NCAA tournament.
It's the Connecticut Huskies
and the Lady Volunteers from Tennessee.
For most of the season, these two teams
were number one and two in the country.
And as Connecticut coach
Geno Auriemma said yesterday,
"If you didn't wanna see Connecticut
and Tennessee in the championship game,
you're un-American."
[announcer] Please welcome
the University of Tennessee Lady Vols.
[Auriemma] Playing that role of David
going up against Goliath.
It felt like fate.
And sometimes fate taps you
on your shoulder and says,
"Yo, man, this is your time.
Are you ready for it or not?
Did you prepare yourself or not?"
And if the answer is no, you're screwed.
[cheering]
[whistle blows]
[commentator 2] And the National
Championship game is underway.
Marciniak. Wide open, Latina Davis.
And full-court pressure.
And Marciniak intercepted Rizzotti's pass
and pulls up for two.
Play's now to Jen Rizzotti
who was shoved and fouled.
Boy, they're really going at it.
Jamelle Elliott for two.
Vonda Ward.
- [whistle blows]
- The entry pass from McCray. Count it.
Foul was charged to Lobo.
[Lobo] I distinctly remember
having a couple of fouls early on.
[whistle blows]
[commentator 2] And a foul called
for a moving screen.
And if it's on Lobo,
it's number three and it is.
She has three fouls
with 12:50 remaining in the first half.
[Lobo] And just find myself on the bench.
And just, like, this is unbelievable.
With quite a bit of time left
in the first half.
[commentator 2]
And since Lobo left the game,
it's 14-6 in favor of the Lady Vols.
- [whistle blows]
- Johnson. Foul. Count it.
[cheering]
The first half,
Tennessee looked like they were poised
to run away with this game.
[commentator 2]
Tennessee by three. By six.
Abby Conklin drains the three.
Tennessee has its largest lead now.
[Goldberg] And it looked like Connecticut,
in particular, Rebecca Lobo,
now on the biggest stage of all,
didn't seem like she was ready for it.
[tense music playing]
[Auriemma] I felt like Rebecca
was living in this fear of,
"I won't win a National Championship.
What if I'm not this?
What if I'm not that?"
That is probably the one thing
that holds back more players
than anything else.
This fear of failure.
[commentator 2]
Connecticut couldn't get a last shot off.
At the end of the first half, the score,
Tennessee 38, Connecticut 32.
[Auriemma] My reaction
in the locker room at halftime.
A lot of the time,
I would completely lose my shit.
But in my mind, I'm like,
"You know… [clicks tongue]
…if there's any kind of doubt
in there, I need to, like,
change the narrative here."
Because they're already scared shitless.
Why should I scare them even more?
Well, uh…
I said, "Listen,
if it was supposed to end,
it wouldn't end here.
If this was supposed to end differently,
it would've ended before now.
It wouldn't end here right now."
[commentator 2]
Connecticut trails Tennessee by six.
It's only the second time this season
that Connecticut has trailed at the half…
[Lobo] I distinctly remember we're down,
kind of feeling a little bit nervous.
And when I heard that,
sort of relaxing and being like,
"We're not gonna lose this frigging game."
His thing with me was I wasn't
enough of a dog, I wasn't mean enough.
I… I needed to be tougher.
I needed to be mentally tougher
and just go out there and be dominant and…
and demand that we win the game.
[commentator 2] 11:40 remaining.
Rebecca Lobo,
the national player of the year.
[commentator 3] And you definitely
have to get the player of the year
involved in your offense.
[commentator 2] Elliott hit Lobo,
and UConn's back within two.
And then throughout the last ten,
12 minutes of that second half,
you know, Rebecca Lobo
became Rebecca Lobo.
[commentator 2] Lobo for two.
And she's starting to pick it up.
She has 12.
[Lobo] It was without question
the first time I ever became
what Coach Auriemma wanted me to be.
My head was different.
My soul was different.
[commentator 2] Lobo.
[cheering]
Lobo single-handedly
helping her team match baskets
at this point in the game with Tennessee.
[Auriemma] The last minute and a half,
two minutes, was a battle.
[commentator 2] Elliott trying
to rip it away. She goes down.
[Auriemma] We used to have a saying,
"If you were playing Tennessee,
and you wanted to win by three,
you better be up ten
in the last 40 seconds."
[commentator 2]
McCray wide open. Long with it.
Rizzotti. Marciniak, the defender.
Rizzotti all the way to the bucket
for the lead.
[cheering]
[Rizzotti] I had a long rebound
and crossed over one
of the Tennessee players
to lay it in to give us the lead,
to where now, it just came down
to making free throws.
[commentator 2] Lobo four for four
from the line today.
[inhales deeply, sighs]
[Lobo] I remember standing
on the free throw line,
looking up and seeing the scoreboard
and seeing the time on the clock,
and, like, processing in my brain…
doing math.
If I make this shot,
we are going to win this game.
[commentator 3] It certainly would be
a Cinderella season for UConn.
A lot of people didn't think
that they had it in 'em…
[cheering]
…but they're proving it.
[commentator 2] Lobo has just helped
her team take another step
toward the National Championship.
[commentator 3] And there's her mom
and dad watching.
[commentator 2] For three from the corner,
no good…
- [buzzer sounds]
- [cheering]
UConn has won the National Championship,
and they've done it
in perfect fashion at 35-0.
[inspirational music playing]
[interviewer] Well, you hung in there,
you were in deep trouble
in the first half,
but you stayed in the ball game.
Yeah. Yeah, we were, you know,
and we just kept saying, "Hang in there."
We… We played poorly in the first half,
and… and they were only up six,
so I thought if we could play, you know,
a little bit better,
we would have a chance.
But, uh,
I'll tell you what, Rebecca,
the whole team, I mean,
I just couldn't be prouder of 'em.
It was the perfect ending.
The player that's wanted it the most,
that's agonized more about it,
beat herself up, tortured herself,
she's the best player on the floor
when it's time to be
the best player on the floor,
and then you win
a National Championship, and…
Yeah, that's a heck of a…
that's a heck of a fairy tale, huh?
[cheering]
[Lobo] I don't know that
any other coach in the country
would have gotten that out of me,
'cause he puts you through that every day.
Things are hard, and it's brutal,
and it… it… it hurts.
But, man, in that moment,
celebrating with my teammates…
Everything that you see
when you watch that back
is real raw joy.
[Elliott] I was just so in the moment,
so excited to find my teammates
and hug and celebrate.
Wow, I'm getting emotional now.
It was, uh, emotional joy, um,
but also emotional just
celebrating it with the people
that meant so much to you
and had gone through so much
with you up until that point.
[people cheering]
[Rizzotti] We pulled in on the plane,
and there were people lined up
at the entire airport.
[cheering]
[Rizzotti] It was unbelievable.
It was… felt like every person
in the state of Connecticut
was waiting for us when we got back.
- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.
[interviewer] How do you sum it up?
You can't… [stammers] You really can't.
I don't… I don't have a voice,
but, uh… [sniffles]
…it's hard to imagine all this.
President Clinton welcomed the Women's
NCAA Basketball champs in the White House.
The Connecticut Huskies did more
to make the rest of America appreciate
women's basketball
than any team has ever done.
[guest 1] Well, you know,
when they won their national title,
they had bumper stickers made,
and it said, uh,
"University of Connecticut, where men
are men and women are champions."
[laughing]
- Can we use that here too? [chuckles]
- [chuckles] Hey.
[Lobo] You know, we became darlings
not only for the State
of Connecticut, but globally,
in terms of the sport
of women's basketball.
She just led the University of Connecticut
Huskies to a 35-0 season,
ending with the NCAA Championship
on Sunday.
Please welcome Rebecca Lobo.
- Nice to me you, Rebecca.
- How are you?
- Congratulations. Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
[Dailey] It was the highest of highs.
That season, that team.
Today, this is just a warm-up
for next year.
We're gonna see you next year
as the national champions.
Thank you. Go Huskies.
And then reality hits,
and then you're like,
"Oh, no.
We have to do this again." [laughs]
It was really going great until, uh,
the president stood up here
and said he'd guarantee
that we were gonna do it again next year.
After we won the first one,
we felt like we could go back
and do it again.
[all chanting, cheering]
Brought on a bus! Brought on a bus!
[Auriemma] But the basketball gods,
the minute you start
to think you got this…
Okay, let's go.
Basketball sneakers on, and let's go.
- Repeat.
- Repeat.
[Auriemma] …they're like sitting up there,
twiddling their thumbs.
We need some cocky shithead to actually
think they got this figured out,
and the minute they hear those words come
out of your mouth… [imitates explosion]
[commentator 1]
Back in the Charlotte Coliseum,
a sellout crowd of 22,800.
[Auriemma] Give credit to Tennessee
where credit is due.
In '96, '97, '98, they won three in a row.
[commentator 1] The Lady Vols
have won it, the title game.
[commentator 2] And they've done it.
Back-to-back championships.
[commentator 3] And they have won their
third straight National Championship.
[MacMullan] Tennessee comes back
with the counterpunch,
and I think Geno was jealous
of what Pat and Tennessee had.
And I think it drove Geno crazy.
["Bad Reputation" playing]
[commentator 2] Mr. Auriemma is not
pleased with the foul that was called…
[MacMullan] But Geno,
he had no problem adopting
- this persona of being the bad guy.
- What the hell was that?
Auriemma also soaked up the fires
on Rocky Top
by referring to Tennessee
as the evil Empire.
[commentator 3] Geno is ready
to charge again.
[MacMullan] He was just pissed.
Women's basketball was
all about Pat Summitt in Tennessee.
Tonight, I accept this
on behalf of our great game.
[Taurasi] That was the dynasty
in women's basketball.
I understood that
when I walked into that building.
It was the game that I wanted
to make sure we never lost.
[commentator 2] Taurasi.
- [buzzer sounds]
- [cheering]
[Bird] When we got on campus,
Tennessee was the team to beat.
[commentator 2] Oh, my…
What a great pass by Bird.
But the confidence that we had as a team…
Our class came in and we were like,
"We're gonna kick their fucking ass."
[music continues]
[crowd cheering]
[tense music plays]
[announcer] A champion is crowned today.
Two historic programs facing off
in a heavyweight bout.
South Carolina and Connecticut.
Connecticut seeking a 12th title
and their first since 2016.
- Here's Tessa, storming in.
- [whistle blows]
Gets the foul on the freshman,
who's a little shaken up afterward.
Johnson.
Connects!
Paige! Put a goddamn hand up.
It's the fucking
National Championship game here, man.
[announcer] Fulwiley leads
the break and Feagin lays it in.
[buzzer sounds]
And that will do it for the first half.
Ayayayayay.
[Elliott] Twenty more minutes, man.
- Ayayay.
- [Elliott] But we gotta talk about
what we're not taking advantage of.
[Auriemma] She just stands there.
Get back.
You think she would go set a screen
for somebody? Christ almighty.
How do you go from Friday night
to this bullshit?
[person 1] Ready?
[Paige] We got here by serving
every possession like it matters.
This is no different than
what we've been doing the entire time.
Play every possession like it's your last.
And now put your fucking hand up!
Run it back.
[person 2] That's the problem,
we have to turn in and box out…
Yes, we have to turn and box out.
[person 3] Ice has been
trying to attack defensively.
[Morgan] We are not boxing out.
We have to box out… [speaks indistinctly]
[Auriemma] Winning…
Winning is like a mist that covers you
and as the sun comes out,
it goes away quickly.
Losing…
Losing is like the entire universe
is strapped around your head
and it just sits there forever.
[commentator 1] They used to dominate.
Can UConn break that losing streak?
[Auriemma] This is the price
you have to pay for winning a lot.
[fans chanting] Overrated!
[Auriemma] When you lose,
people rejoice in your misery.
[commentator 2] Maybe Geno Auriemma
has lost his Midas Touch?
We love you on the way up
and we love you once you get there,
but then, you know what?
We're kinda sick of your shit,
and we can't wait for you to get beat.
["Like That" playing]
[broadcaster] And Connecticut has done it.
[announcer 1] Connecticut has won
the National Championship again.
[announcer 2] Is the UConn
Women's basketball team
the most dominant program
in any sport of all time?
At UConn,
it was just kind of the assumption
there's no reason we should lose a game.
[commentator 3] Geno.
He's the greatest ever.
As times have changed,
he's still who he is.
[Auriemma] What the hell was that?
- Stop!
- It's right in front of him.
All right, just stop.
[interviewer 1] Geno Auriemma,
the most polarizing figure
- in all of women's basketball.
- [whistle blows]
[reporter] He doesn't treat the team
like girls but like players.
Sometimes, more like soldiers
at a boot camp.
I miss the four years that I was at UConn,
but I don't wish to go back.
[Auriemma] You understand the meaning…
the fucking meaning of mental toughness?
I just kind of questioned,
did I even want to be there anymore?
What did we talk about, Paige?
Do not move until the screen is set.
It has to be us against him. You won't
survive if you don't figure that out.
[cheering]
[Jenkins] Women's basketball
was a very small world.
Pat just felt that the more he won,
it felt like he was kicking her
when she was down.
That's the relationship
that Geno worked very hard to create.
[interviewer 1] There's much more
to Geno Auriemma than just basketball.
[interviewer 2] You're the coach
everyone loves to hate. Why?
'Cause we win all the time.
[interviewer 2] Simple as that?
Among other things.
[music continues]
- [no audible dialogue]
- [crowd cheering]
[Taurasi] He starts
to tighten those screws.
And I'm like,
"Yeah, this is what I wanna feel."
Like… [stammers]
…this is the energy that I need.
[no audible dialogue]
[Williams] That's what makes him
a mastermind. He challenged our heart.
[buzzer sounds]
He challenged how much
we wanted to compete.
I think that's why
I fell in love with Geno.
[music continues]
[all] Together!
[announcer 1]
Are UConn's dominant days over?
[announcer 2] One of the great upsets.
[announcer 3] This is something
that has never been done before.
[announcer 4]
The dynasty fulfills its destiny.
[music ends]
[interviewer 3] Let's, uh,
roll camera and sound.
[crew] Unmuting sound.
[interviewer 3] Hey, uh, can you kick off
your shoes? Do you mind?
- Why?
- [interviewer 3] They're squeaking.
[playful music plays]
I haven't heard a word from my shoes.
It's the box. It's not the shoes.
[crew] It's the box? We can…
We can do a little thing.
Let's try this one.
[interviewer 3] Yeah,
that seems better. All right.
You hear my shoes squeaking now?
- [interviewer 3] No.
- No,
'cause it ain't the fucking shoes, dude.
I'll tell you the same thing
I tell my players.
Why the fuck would I say it
if it wasn't true?
[interviewer 3] All right,
let's start with this.
Why did you decide to go
into women's basketball?
[Auriemma] When I was in school
and playing basketball,
coaching women
would've been last on my list.
But my buddy,
he comes up to me one day and he says,
"Hey, I started coaching
girls' high school basketball.
I need an assistant coach."
I said, "Who the hell would coach girls?
I'm not doing it."
And, like, weeks and weeks
and he's just bugging me and bugging me,
badgering me. And then fin…
one day I just said, "Screw it, I'll go."
[intriguing music playing]
And I go to practice. I went to the games.
I just saw so many people
reluctant to coach them
like real,
honest-to-God basketball players.
You know, it kinda dawned on me,
they're not going to crack,
they're not fragile,
that you can demand a lot from them.
But everything just took off from there.
I got a job at the University of Virginia.
And then a Connecticut job opened up.
They were a program that was unknown.
Storrs. It's a small little town.
One road, a donut shop.
And the campus was a piece of shit.
Show you how bad it was, during
my interview, they didn't show me the gym.
They didn't show me a locker room
'cause we didn't have a locker room.
No one took any pride in anything.
When I was being interviewed,
one question was,
"Well, what are you gonna need
to take this job?"
I said, "I don't need anything,
just give me the job,
and we'll be in the top 20
in four years." What?
[announcer] We're looking at
the Connecticut Huskies on the floor.
Tracy Lis, off her foot and out of bounds.
[Goldberg] In the 1980s, in Connecticut,
nobody cared about women's basketball.
[announcer] Not a very adroit ball hand.
[Goldberg] We covered the Red Sox.
We covered the Yankees.
We covered the Patriots.
We covered the Giants.
Obviously, we covered the UConn men.
And the women's program,
nobody knew, probably,
that they even had a women's program.
[announcer 2] …and she didn't get it.
But that's how it was.
They were a sideshow.
[announcer 3 speaks indistinctly]
…to Heidi Robbins out of bounds.
The gap between us and the best teams
in the country was indescribable…
in every way.
There were a lot
of really good teams back then.
Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech,
and yes, of course, Tennessee.
[announcer 4] This is Bridgette Gordon.
The Lady Vols are on the board.
[MacMullan] Back then,
if UConn had played Tennessee,
I mean, UConn would lose by 40.
So much of it was about talent.
When Geno went there,
he was literally starting from level one,
maybe even below sea level.
So what Geno had to do
at UConn was lure in a big recruit.
That's where it all starts.
Hello.
I'm never on camera,
so I'm filming myself.
[person] Oh,
let's get a close up. [chuckles]
[Lobo] I was probably the kid who,
like, cared too much
what people thought of me.
I was always extraordinarily tall.
Taller than all the boys,
and in some cases in middle school,
taller than all the teachers.
And basketball was the one place where
that didn't make me feel uncomfortable.
It was like my superpower.
And I knew I was a good high school
player, but I… [stammers]
I never had that feeling of,
"Man, I am better than everyone else.
Look at how good I am.
I'm gonna, you know,
get recruited by all these schools."
Until I started getting letters
from college coaches and I was like, "Oh."
[Auriemma] Now, all of a sudden, here's a
kid who's the best player in the country.
A 6'5" player who played like a guard.
Now, as you're looking at her,
you're saying
this is a game changer
in-in a lot of ways,
because there's only one of her.
And so if we can get her,
then we have something
no one else in the country has.
But we had a lot going against us.
[Lobo] I do remember, like,
it was an incredibly hard decision.
UConn, at that time,
had a very different reputation.
They haven't won
a National Championship ever.
But early in my recruitment,
talking to Coach Auriemma,
I remember him saying to me, like,
"You have a chance to help take a team
where they haven't been before."
He just knew what buttons to push.
It felt like he kind of
can speak to your soul.
[chattering]
[MacMullan] You cannot
underestimate his charm.
When you are in Geno's orbit,
and you are in a room with him,
and he wants you to feel it,
you feel like he is
the most important man on Earth.
I was looking for a school that
could offer me the best of both worlds,
strong academics and strong athletics.
I needed to feel comfortable
with the people on the team,
the coaching staff and the students.
There's no doubt in my mind
that I made the best decision possible.
[Auriemma] We had signed Rebecca Lobo,
and it's a huge deal, program wise.
Now we got a real star.
There was a feeling of,
"This has to go this way now."
- [player] Come on…
- Weave through, weave through.
There she is.
In the lane, Rebecca, stay in.
That's all right, that's all right.
Up strong. Good.
[applauding]
Don't put it in front of her, Rebecca,
and don't be quick to spin.
I don't want any spin dribbles.
Stay under control.
Head up now, you gotta have your
head up there. You got to see offense.
You got to be able to run offense.
Quite honestly, once Rebecca got here,
there was a lot of adjustments
that had to be made.
She was this lily-white, suburban girl
who wanted to play with her ponytail,
not break a sweat,
who wanted to play girls' basketball,
and I was trying to get her to play,
like, real basketball,
the way basketball
is supposed to be played.
Do you do everything
like softly, girly-girly?
[Lobo yelps]
Why are you afraid to hurt somebody?
[Dailey] I have spent
40 years coaching with Geno.
- Come on now. Come on now.
- [Auriemma] Lean in.
Knock them down.
[Dailey] When we brought in Rebecca,
she definitely had potential,
but we are,
and we've always been,
hardest on our best players
and our players
that have the most potential.
You know, at times, it's hard to handle.
[Auriemma] Hold… Hold it!
The defensive guy has
to play freaking defense.
That defensive guy was just
standing there doing nothing.
You have to play defense.
[Lobo] He was incredibly hard on me.
You know,
"You're the worst post player in America,"
"The dumbest smart person in America."
Like, yelling at me constantly.
Which was really hard for me
as a 17 and 18-year-old to understand
'cause no one had really ever
coached me in that way.
We're not asking you to cure cancer here.
We're asking you to make lay-ups.
It was really hard, and there-there
was a moment in my sophomore year
where I called home and I was crying,
or, I mean, it was probably more
than one moment, multiple moments,
calling home and crying and complaining
and, "Coach is so hard on me."
To my mom's credit, she said,
"You can do one of two things.
You can either transfer, or you can go in
and talk to him and figure this out.
You have to solve
this problem for yourself."
[Auriemma] We had
a long conversation about,
"These are the goals
that you told me you wanted to achieve.
Winning a National Championship.
Being an all-American.
What you are doing every day
does not prepare you
for the goals that you told me."
Some days, you're great,
and, uh, some days you're terrible.
Some days you're mentally focused,
other days you're not.
And he said, "It's my job to make you
the best version of yourself every day."
But two days later, in practice,
I do something stupid.
And he says, like, out at mid-court,
he's like, "Just see that.
Just see that. And she has, like,
the fucking nerve to come into my office
and cry and be upset
about how I'm coaching her,
and then she's gonna come here
and pull this shit?"
And, like,
at the time I remember thinking,
"Well, now all of my teammates
know that I was in his office
complaining about how he's coaching me."
It just hits you right
in your heart and soul.
[commentator] At center for Connecticut,
No. 50 Rebecca Lobo.
[Auriemma] After we got Rebecca,
we got better as a team.
But there was a feeling, kinda like,
"Maybe our toughness wasn't there."
We needed a couple more pieces.
And during the next recruiting period,
there was a little kid from New Fairfield,
Connecticut, Jen Rizzotti.
[commentator] At guard for Connecticut,
No. 21 Jennifer Rizzotti.
She played every possession
like it was life and death.
[whistle blows]
[cheering]
[Rizzotti] I was always
overly competitive to a fault.
Just kinda who I was.
I was like that in pickup. [chuckles]
I was like that in practice.
And I was like that in games.
So, at least I was consistent.
[commentator] At forward
for Connecticut, No. 33 Jamelle Elliott.
[Elliott] I just tried to come in
and be competitive.
But my role primarily was
to do the blue-collar stuff.
[whistle blows]
[cheering]
[Auriemma] The two of them combined
was like adding
another 400 horsepower to the…
to-to the machine here,
and it just… [imitates explosion]
- [whistle blows]
- [cheering]
[commentator 2] Great feed
from Rizzotti to Berube to Elliott.
[commentator 3] Oh,
Gampel Pavilion is rocking again.
[Auriemma] So things are starting
to fall together.
But in my mind,
I'm looking for any sort of an advantage.
Your job is to find out, "Okay,
what can you give this team that might…
put us over the edge?"
[inspirational music playing]
[announcer] And now,
the starting lineup
for your world champion,
Chicago Bulls.
[Auriemma] I watched the Chicago Bulls.
They were winning all the time.
And when I see something
that's really good,
I wanna emulate it.
So, at some point, I wrote Phil Jackson,
and I asked if I could come to practice
at some point. He said, "Absolutely."
And I went there for three days.
To learn the triangle offense.
[Kerr] I was really enamored
with Geno from afar.
Like, immediately, you see him,
he's got, like, oh,
this quaff of beautiful hair,
and he's always decked out.
Like, he looked the part.
But he also had that edge.
He's doing everything he can to win.
The triangle offense
provides beautiful spacing,
ball movement, which is really key.
Everybody gets to touch the ball,
not just the point guard.
It was really a beautiful offense.
[Auriemma] It's an offense that's been
around forever, the concepts of it.
But no one had ever thought
to try it in college.
And so I looked at our team and I thought,
"If we can recreate that,
damn, man, we have a chance
to be really, really, really good."
["Just a Girl" playing]
[Kerr] The triangle requires
a lot of work.
You have to have players
who are willing to embrace it.
But watching Geno do it
at the college level, it was like,
"Oh, my God. Like,
this guy… [chuckles] It's incredible."
So the Huskies now 2-0 on this season.
They have beaten their first two opponents
by an average of over 56 points.
[Lobo] This new offense we're running
is working beautifully.
We would work our ass off
all week long on the basketball court.
And then, weekend was spent for…
Friday and Saturday, we would go hard.
[player 1] What are you doing?
[player 2] What the hell? Put it away.
[player 3] Our team doesn't drink.
Put it away.
Where's Rebecca? I can't find her.
There's Rebecca.
[chuckles, shushes]
There was so little to do
on the UConn campus,
in Storrs in the early '90s.
But we just had an absolute blast.
[player 2] Jen Rizzotti, how is the beer?
This is Jen's face while drinking beer.
[Lobo] We would just bond,
and we would have a great time
and hang out.
[Lobo] Guys, our coach just called.
[friend 1] Good, what did he want?
[Lobo] He was like,
"We have two big games this weekend.
- Call before 11:00."
- Why would you stand here
- waiting like it's a camera?
- Geno. Geno.
- Hi, Geno.
- It's a video.
[Lobo] And at the same time,
we're playing against teams
in the regular season.
And we're kicking their ass.
[news anchor] 98-64. UConn
and the Huskies now 10-0 on the season.
[commentator 1] They're beating their
opponents by an average of 35 points
with a balanced offensive attack.
[Auriemma] I couldn't wait
to go to the games
because I didn't know
what was gonna happen.
I didn't know what I was gonna see.
That was one of the most exciting times
in my coaching career,
when I actually saw something
just blossom right in front of my eyes.
[commentator 2] Will be official.
Connecticut, number one
for the first time in school history.
[music ends]
[Goldberg] They had taken it
to a completely different level.
They're not losing any games.
They're undefeated.
And for college basketball,
it was as big a story
in the country as anything else.
What's going on
at the University of Connecticut?
The women's team is number one,
and they are undefeated.
[all] Husky-mania! [cheering]
[Goldberg] And people
in Connecticut were ecstatic.
[cheering]
They treated the UConn women's players
- like they were their own daughters…
- We're here!
[Goldberg] …and granddaughters.
We made a special pizza
with a big number one in Italian sausage
for the UConn Huskies.
[Dailey] I remember that year,
there was a men's game.
And our kids went to the game.
[commentator 3] There's Rebecca Lobo,
and she's brought the rest of the team
over here to watch the guys tonight.
And when they walked in,
standing ovation with 16,000 people.
[cheering]
[Goldberg] And meanwhile,
the men's basketball coach,
Jim Calhoun, is sitting there.
He can't believe he's a second fiddle.
And that led to a lot of problems
between the head coaches
at the University of Connecticut.
[intriguing music plays]
[Calhoun] Do I wanna be the best program
on campus? Of course I do.
We were just all kind of fighting
to get to where we wanted to be,
and we all wanted to be
in the same place, one. [chuckles]
When Geno and I met,
he was feisty, confident.
And for the first couple of years, we had
locker rooms, so we-we saw each other,
we talked, et cetera.
And then the locker rooms got separated,
and quite frankly,
so did, uh, our relationship.
[MacMullan] I couldn't tell you
what the actual beef was
between Geno and Jim Calhoun
other than I think
they were just two proud men,
and I don't think either one of them
was particularly interested
in sharing the spotlight.
We bring in 12 million to the university.
Nothing to do with state funds.
We make $12 million a year
for this university.
Get some facts and come back and see me!
[Goldberg] A reporter from
the Dallas Morning News asked Jim Calhoun
about the success
that the women were having.
And Jim Calhoun said,
"If you go to a women's game,
you need to set up a day care
and a senior center."
Because that was the demographics
of the women's fans for a long time.
[cheering]
But that all changed.
Yeah, UConn! Go!
And so, nobody really thought
that was funny.
M-Move, move.
I've said some stupid things in my life,
in anger, frustration like all of us.
It-It was never meant with malice.
It was meant with my competitive edge.
[Auriemma] It was a pain in the ass
to deal with a lot of times.
- Go! Shoot! Shoot!
- There were so many people
that resented the fact
that we had gotten really, really good.
There's an inherent
sexist attitude among sports
that women's sports aren't as important.
They're not to be taken seriously.
I just don't like anybody looking down
on our program and demeaning our program.
Quickly.
For women's basketball, I think
there was always this fight for respect,
fight for recognition,
fight for acknowledgement.
And for the first time ever,
it was not just about
what's going on with the men's team.
[commentator 1]
Welcome back to Gampel Pavilion.
the folks are ready
to see UConn take on Virginia.
[Goldberg] The UConn women,
they're playing in the NCAA tournament,
and the entire country
- …was paying attention.
- [cheering]
And I think the pressure of all of that
had finally gotten to them.
[players speak indistinctly, clamoring]
[commentator 1] Those little shots
just not falling for the Huskies.
It's Virginia's ball.
By the time you get to
the NCAA tournament, your body is taxed,
that you're exhausted.
And at the same time, you can't let
your brain shut down for a second.
[commentator 1]
Rebecca Lobo really struggling.
- A lot of physical play, Sherry.
- [commentator 2] Certainly is.
[Lobo] It's physically hard,
but it's even more mentally hard.
And I had always been
a high achiever, so, like,
I didn't understand
that there was a next level to get to.
[commentator 1]
Lobo has it stripped by Palmer.
[commentator 3]
First major scare of the season
in the regional finals against Virginia.
We played Virginia
in the Elite Eight game,
and we were horrendous.
[cheering]
And I remember Geno and I
walking off the court and saying,
"We're lucky that we won that game."
Connecticut, maybe this was the wake-up
call they needed. We keep saying
that a team has to be scared before they
get to the Final Four and survive a test,
and they certainly did today.
[commentator 4] The final score,
UConn 87 and Stanford 60.
The women's team heading
to the National Championship game.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Huskies
will try to become only the second team
in NCAA women's basketball history
to finish undefeated.
[MacMullan] UConn was a Cinderella story
in a lot of ways.
They worked so hard to get to this point
and to get to this moment.
They would face Tennessee tomorrow
for the National Championship.
[MacMullan] But now,
they had to play Tennessee.
And Tennessee was a national powerhouse.
[commentator 5]
The Lady Vols of Tennessee.
They take home the National Championship.
[commentator 6] So, Tennessee has won
the women's National Championship.
76-60 over Auburn.
[commentator 7]
The title goes to Knoxville again.
She's been to the summit three times now.
And Tennessee had the greatest leader
that women's basketball had ever seen.
[news anchor] If coaching is an art form,
then we're going to tell you
about one tough artist.
Her name is Pat Summitt.
[news anchor 2] Pat Summitt has led
her Lady Vols
to more National Championship victories
than any other coach in the country.
Get tough! Get Tough!
[MacMullan] I mean, when I was growing up,
I remember watching this powerful woman
who just seemed to have a command of
everything that was going on around her.
[no audible dialogue]
[Lobo] When I was a kid,
if there was a game on, it was Tennessee.
Pat Summitt was the preeminent figure.
Like, if she walked into a gym,
everyone turned their head and noticed.
She was what elite women's basketball was.
[DeMoss] We've got to get
some more offensive production
- out of some of the players.
- Sure.
- I mean, that's just the bottom line.
- [Summitt] Right.
[DeMoss] Before she passed away,
I'd spent 20 years at Tennessee
with Pat Summitt.
I would… I mean, I… I certainly
would let them know I was not happy.
[DeMoss] In '95, we were
on the top of the mountain.
We were everybody's benchmark.
You know, play Tennessee to see where you…
where you stack up nationally.
And we started noticing Connecticut.
They were undefeated
going into the championship.
But it didn't intimidate us
or it didn't scare us in any way.
We were never scared of anybody.
[commentator] Welcome back
to the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Site of the most anticipated
championship game matchup
in the 14-year history
of the women's NCAA tournament.
It's the Connecticut Huskies
and the Lady Volunteers from Tennessee.
For most of the season, these two teams
were number one and two in the country.
And as Connecticut coach
Geno Auriemma said yesterday,
"If you didn't wanna see Connecticut
and Tennessee in the championship game,
you're un-American."
[announcer] Please welcome
the University of Tennessee Lady Vols.
[Auriemma] Playing that role of David
going up against Goliath.
It felt like fate.
And sometimes fate taps you
on your shoulder and says,
"Yo, man, this is your time.
Are you ready for it or not?
Did you prepare yourself or not?"
And if the answer is no, you're screwed.
[cheering]
[whistle blows]
[commentator 2] And the National
Championship game is underway.
Marciniak. Wide open, Latina Davis.
And full-court pressure.
And Marciniak intercepted Rizzotti's pass
and pulls up for two.
Play's now to Jen Rizzotti
who was shoved and fouled.
Boy, they're really going at it.
Jamelle Elliott for two.
Vonda Ward.
- [whistle blows]
- The entry pass from McCray. Count it.
Foul was charged to Lobo.
[Lobo] I distinctly remember
having a couple of fouls early on.
[whistle blows]
[commentator 2] And a foul called
for a moving screen.
And if it's on Lobo,
it's number three and it is.
She has three fouls
with 12:50 remaining in the first half.
[Lobo] And just find myself on the bench.
And just, like, this is unbelievable.
With quite a bit of time left
in the first half.
[commentator 2]
And since Lobo left the game,
it's 14-6 in favor of the Lady Vols.
- [whistle blows]
- Johnson. Foul. Count it.
[cheering]
The first half,
Tennessee looked like they were poised
to run away with this game.
[commentator 2]
Tennessee by three. By six.
Abby Conklin drains the three.
Tennessee has its largest lead now.
[Goldberg] And it looked like Connecticut,
in particular, Rebecca Lobo,
now on the biggest stage of all,
didn't seem like she was ready for it.
[tense music playing]
[Auriemma] I felt like Rebecca
was living in this fear of,
"I won't win a National Championship.
What if I'm not this?
What if I'm not that?"
That is probably the one thing
that holds back more players
than anything else.
This fear of failure.
[commentator 2]
Connecticut couldn't get a last shot off.
At the end of the first half, the score,
Tennessee 38, Connecticut 32.
[Auriemma] My reaction
in the locker room at halftime.
A lot of the time,
I would completely lose my shit.
But in my mind, I'm like,
"You know… [clicks tongue]
…if there's any kind of doubt
in there, I need to, like,
change the narrative here."
Because they're already scared shitless.
Why should I scare them even more?
Well, uh…
I said, "Listen,
if it was supposed to end,
it wouldn't end here.
If this was supposed to end differently,
it would've ended before now.
It wouldn't end here right now."
[commentator 2]
Connecticut trails Tennessee by six.
It's only the second time this season
that Connecticut has trailed at the half…
[Lobo] I distinctly remember we're down,
kind of feeling a little bit nervous.
And when I heard that,
sort of relaxing and being like,
"We're not gonna lose this frigging game."
His thing with me was I wasn't
enough of a dog, I wasn't mean enough.
I… I needed to be tougher.
I needed to be mentally tougher
and just go out there and be dominant and…
and demand that we win the game.
[commentator 2] 11:40 remaining.
Rebecca Lobo,
the national player of the year.
[commentator 3] And you definitely
have to get the player of the year
involved in your offense.
[commentator 2] Elliott hit Lobo,
and UConn's back within two.
And then throughout the last ten,
12 minutes of that second half,
you know, Rebecca Lobo
became Rebecca Lobo.
[commentator 2] Lobo for two.
And she's starting to pick it up.
She has 12.
[Lobo] It was without question
the first time I ever became
what Coach Auriemma wanted me to be.
My head was different.
My soul was different.
[commentator 2] Lobo.
[cheering]
Lobo single-handedly
helping her team match baskets
at this point in the game with Tennessee.
[Auriemma] The last minute and a half,
two minutes, was a battle.
[commentator 2] Elliott trying
to rip it away. She goes down.
[Auriemma] We used to have a saying,
"If you were playing Tennessee,
and you wanted to win by three,
you better be up ten
in the last 40 seconds."
[commentator 2]
McCray wide open. Long with it.
Rizzotti. Marciniak, the defender.
Rizzotti all the way to the bucket
for the lead.
[cheering]
[Rizzotti] I had a long rebound
and crossed over one
of the Tennessee players
to lay it in to give us the lead,
to where now, it just came down
to making free throws.
[commentator 2] Lobo four for four
from the line today.
[inhales deeply, sighs]
[Lobo] I remember standing
on the free throw line,
looking up and seeing the scoreboard
and seeing the time on the clock,
and, like, processing in my brain…
doing math.
If I make this shot,
we are going to win this game.
[commentator 3] It certainly would be
a Cinderella season for UConn.
A lot of people didn't think
that they had it in 'em…
[cheering]
…but they're proving it.
[commentator 2] Lobo has just helped
her team take another step
toward the National Championship.
[commentator 3] And there's her mom
and dad watching.
[commentator 2] For three from the corner,
no good…
- [buzzer sounds]
- [cheering]
UConn has won the National Championship,
and they've done it
in perfect fashion at 35-0.
[inspirational music playing]
[interviewer] Well, you hung in there,
you were in deep trouble
in the first half,
but you stayed in the ball game.
Yeah. Yeah, we were, you know,
and we just kept saying, "Hang in there."
We… We played poorly in the first half,
and… and they were only up six,
so I thought if we could play, you know,
a little bit better,
we would have a chance.
But, uh,
I'll tell you what, Rebecca,
the whole team, I mean,
I just couldn't be prouder of 'em.
It was the perfect ending.
The player that's wanted it the most,
that's agonized more about it,
beat herself up, tortured herself,
she's the best player on the floor
when it's time to be
the best player on the floor,
and then you win
a National Championship, and…
Yeah, that's a heck of a…
that's a heck of a fairy tale, huh?
[cheering]
[Lobo] I don't know that
any other coach in the country
would have gotten that out of me,
'cause he puts you through that every day.
Things are hard, and it's brutal,
and it… it… it hurts.
But, man, in that moment,
celebrating with my teammates…
Everything that you see
when you watch that back
is real raw joy.
[Elliott] I was just so in the moment,
so excited to find my teammates
and hug and celebrate.
Wow, I'm getting emotional now.
It was, uh, emotional joy, um,
but also emotional just
celebrating it with the people
that meant so much to you
and had gone through so much
with you up until that point.
[people cheering]
[Rizzotti] We pulled in on the plane,
and there were people lined up
at the entire airport.
[cheering]
[Rizzotti] It was unbelievable.
It was… felt like every person
in the state of Connecticut
was waiting for us when we got back.
- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.
[interviewer] How do you sum it up?
You can't… [stammers] You really can't.
I don't… I don't have a voice,
but, uh… [sniffles]
…it's hard to imagine all this.
President Clinton welcomed the Women's
NCAA Basketball champs in the White House.
The Connecticut Huskies did more
to make the rest of America appreciate
women's basketball
than any team has ever done.
[guest 1] Well, you know,
when they won their national title,
they had bumper stickers made,
and it said, uh,
"University of Connecticut, where men
are men and women are champions."
[laughing]
- Can we use that here too? [chuckles]
- [chuckles] Hey.
[Lobo] You know, we became darlings
not only for the State
of Connecticut, but globally,
in terms of the sport
of women's basketball.
She just led the University of Connecticut
Huskies to a 35-0 season,
ending with the NCAA Championship
on Sunday.
Please welcome Rebecca Lobo.
- Nice to me you, Rebecca.
- How are you?
- Congratulations. Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
[Dailey] It was the highest of highs.
That season, that team.
Today, this is just a warm-up
for next year.
We're gonna see you next year
as the national champions.
Thank you. Go Huskies.
And then reality hits,
and then you're like,
"Oh, no.
We have to do this again." [laughs]
It was really going great until, uh,
the president stood up here
and said he'd guarantee
that we were gonna do it again next year.
After we won the first one,
we felt like we could go back
and do it again.
[all chanting, cheering]
Brought on a bus! Brought on a bus!
[Auriemma] But the basketball gods,
the minute you start
to think you got this…
Okay, let's go.
Basketball sneakers on, and let's go.
- Repeat.
- Repeat.
[Auriemma] …they're like sitting up there,
twiddling their thumbs.
We need some cocky shithead to actually
think they got this figured out,
and the minute they hear those words come
out of your mouth… [imitates explosion]
[commentator 1]
Back in the Charlotte Coliseum,
a sellout crowd of 22,800.
[Auriemma] Give credit to Tennessee
where credit is due.
In '96, '97, '98, they won three in a row.
[commentator 1] The Lady Vols
have won it, the title game.
[commentator 2] And they've done it.
Back-to-back championships.
[commentator 3] And they have won their
third straight National Championship.
[MacMullan] Tennessee comes back
with the counterpunch,
and I think Geno was jealous
of what Pat and Tennessee had.
And I think it drove Geno crazy.
["Bad Reputation" playing]
[commentator 2] Mr. Auriemma is not
pleased with the foul that was called…
[MacMullan] But Geno,
he had no problem adopting
- this persona of being the bad guy.
- What the hell was that?
Auriemma also soaked up the fires
on Rocky Top
by referring to Tennessee
as the evil Empire.
[commentator 3] Geno is ready
to charge again.
[MacMullan] He was just pissed.
Women's basketball was
all about Pat Summitt in Tennessee.
Tonight, I accept this
on behalf of our great game.
[Taurasi] That was the dynasty
in women's basketball.
I understood that
when I walked into that building.
It was the game that I wanted
to make sure we never lost.
[commentator 2] Taurasi.
- [buzzer sounds]
- [cheering]
[Bird] When we got on campus,
Tennessee was the team to beat.
[commentator 2] Oh, my…
What a great pass by Bird.
But the confidence that we had as a team…
Our class came in and we were like,
"We're gonna kick their fucking ass."
[music continues]