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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (September 2006) |
| Connecticut Huskies | |
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| University | University of Connecticut |
|---|---|
| Conference | Big East Conference |
| NCAA | Division I FBS |
| Athletics director | Jeff Hathaway |
| Location | Storrs, CT |
| Varsity teams | 20 |
| Football stadium | Rentschler Field |
| Basketball arena | Gampel Pavilion |
| Baseball stadium | J.O. Christian Field |
| Other arenas | XL Center |
| Mascot | Jonathan the Husky |
| Nickname | Huskies |
| Fight song | "UConn Husky" |
| Colors | National Flag Blue [1] and White
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| Homepage | UConnHuskies.com |
The Connecticut Huskies, also known as the UConn Huskies, are the athletic teams of the University of Connecticut. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference for all sports except Men's Ice Hockey (Atlantic Hockey) and Women's water* Hockey (Hockey East). The major sports at the university are football (played at Rentschler Field) and men's and women's basketball (played on-campus at Gampel Pavilion and off-campus at the XL Center), although many of the other sports have large followings and a tradition of success.
The university's teams are nicknamed "Huskies". The school was originally named Connecticut Agricultural College, but it became Connecticut State College in 1933. During the Connecticut Agricultural College days, the teams were referred to as the Aggies.[2]
UConn's women's teams are not known as the "Lady Huskies", but merely as "UConn Huskies" in equal billing as the men's tea
UConn's teams participate in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big East Conference, except for hockey, which is not sponsored by the Big East. The men's hockey program competes in Atlantic Hockey and the women's hockey program is a member of Hockey East. UConn is one of only 18524789*(13) universities in the country offering NCAA division I-A football, division I men's and women's basketball, and division I hockey.
The most notable athletic facilities are:
Approximately 70% of all UConn student-athletes graduate from the university, and almost 50% maintain a 3.0 GPA. The women's lacrosse team had the second-highest team GPA in the country in 2004, and numerous UConn student-athletes, including former basketball star Emeka Okafor, have been named Academic All-Americans.
UConn is best known for having its men's and women's basketball teams consistently ranked in or near the top 10 in the nation in their respective divisions. The men's team (coached by Jim Calhoun) won the NCAA Div. I title in 1999 and 2004, and the women won in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004, including undefeated seasons in 1995 and 2002. Emeka Okafor, Richard Hamilton, Ray Allen, Clifford Robinson, Ben Gordon, Caron Butler, Denham Brown, Charlie Villanueva, Kevin Ollie, Hilton Armstrong, Donyell Marshall, Marcus Williams, Rudy Gay, Josh Boone, Travis Knight, Jake Voskuhl, are among the list of professional basketball players to achieve success after attending UConn.
Strong alumni, student, and fan support for UConn's men's basketball teams helped the Huskies' women's basketball program attract Geno Auriemma as head coach. Under the tutelage of Auriemma, UConn has become one of the few schools that consistently competes for the national title in women's basketball. The Huskies are also part of one of the fiercest rivalries in all of women's college sports. In the rivalry between UConn and the University of Tennessee, there is no love lost between Auriemma and Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. The two schools have faced each other seven times in the NCAA Tournament, and five times in the NCAA Championship Game. UConn leads 5-2 in those games including a 4-0 record in the finals. UConn leads the all-time series 13-8. Summitt ended the regular season series in the summer of 2007. It is unknown why the series was ended, but media outlets reported that Tennessee reported to the NCAA that UConn committed minor recruiting infractions with the recruitment of Maya Moore which included a tour of ESPN while Moore was a junior in high school. Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Carla Berube, Svetlana Abrosimova, Shea Ralph, Nykesha Sales, Kelly Schumacher, Swin Cash, Kara Wolters, Tamika Williams Raymond, Diana Taurasi, Asjha Jones, Sue Bird, Ann Strother, Barbara Turner, Paige Sauer, Rita Williams, Jessica Moore, Ashley Battle, Barbara Turner, Willnet Crockett, Ketia Swanier and Charde Houston are among the women's professional basketball players or WNBA draftees that attended UConn.
In 2002, UConn became the only school ever to have 4 women drafted among the top 10 of the first round of the 2002 WNBA draft, with National Player of the Year Sue Bird drafted 1st, Swin Cash drafted 2nd, Asjha Jones drafted 4th, and Tamika Williams Raymond drafted 6th. The 5th starter on the UConn 2001-2002 NCAA championship team was future No. 1 WNBA draft choice and future 2-time National Player of the Year Diana Taurasi. A total of 12 UConn alumnae play in the WNBA in the 2008 season, and another two are on leave due to injury or national team commitments because of the Olympic games.
In 2004, UConn became the second school ever, and the first in Division I, to win the men's NCAA National Championship and the women's basketball title in the same season. It was also the first school to ever have both teams ranked number 1 in the nation at the same time (1994), and has also spent the most weeks by far with both teams holding the number one spot, with Duke University being the only other team ever to achieve the feat, for a short period during the 2003-2004 season.
In 2006, UConn became the third school ever to have 4 players drafted in Round 1 of the NBA Draft, and the first school ever to have 5 players selected in the two-round draft. In the first round, Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Marcus Williams and Josh Boone were selected. In the second round, Denham Brown was selected. It should also be noted that Rashad Anderson also entered the NBA draft and will play for a leading European professional team in the 2006-2007 season.
In 2008, freshman Maya Moore made history by being named Big East Player of the Year, the 1st time a freshman was so honored in either men's or women's basketball.
UConn is not only a pipeline to both the NBA and the WNBA, but to coaching ranks ranks throughout the sport of basketball. UConn alumnae in the coaching ranks include Jennifer Rizzotti at Hartford, Carla Berube at Tufts, Jamelle Elliott and Shea Ralph at UConn, Tamika Williams Raymond at Kansas, Ann Strother at Colorado, Paige Sauer at Northern Colorado, Stacy Hansmeyer at Oklahoma, Britanny Hunter at Temple, Kris Lamb Caruso at Longwood University, Wendy Davis at Western New England, and Morgan Valley at Towson. Maria Conlon was an assistant coach at NCAA Div II Champion Southern Connecticut State Univ and Debbie Baer Fiske is Associate Athletic Director at St Joseph's College. Former UConn assistant coach Tonya Cardoza is the head coach at Temple. And, former UConn assistant coach Charlene Curtis was the head coach at Wake Forest.
Only six women in the history of women's basketball in America have obtained the Triple Crown (an NCAA national championship, an WNBA Championship & an Olympic Gold Medal). Four of these women are UConn alumnae: Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Kara Wolters & Diana Taurasi. The other two are Sheryl Swoopes of Texas Tech University and Ruth Riley of the University of Notre Dame.
In addition to its basketball success, UConn is known for its championship soccer teams. The men's team has won two NCAA National Championships, in 1981 and 2000, and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America named the undefeated 1948 team the national champion. The men's team won back to back Big East championships in (2004 and 2005) UConn also has the best average attendance in the nation for both men's and women's soccer. Major League Soccer players Chris Gbandi, Damani Ralph, Bobby Rhine, Julius James, and Shavar Thomas each attended UConn. A consistently competitive and frequent NCAA tournament team, the UConn women's soccer team advanced to the NCAA National Championship title games in 1984, 1990, 1997, and 2003, losing each time to the University of North Carolina.
UConn football moved up to Division I-A status in 2000, was included in official NCAA Division I-A statistics for the first time in 2002, and became a full Big East member in 2004. UConn has been recognized as having the fastest progression out of I-AA in NCAA history, as it was invited into a BCS conference only two years after becoming a full I-A member, was bowl-eligible in its first season in I-A, and was invited to a bowl game in its first season as a conference member. The Huskies defeated the University of Toledo in the 2004 Motor City Bowl by a score of 39-10, with quarterback Dan Orlovsky being named Most Valuable Player. In 2003, the team was also honored for being one of only 7 schools in the U.S. to graduate 80% or better of its members; it was the only public school on the list. In 2007, the Huskies had their best year as they went 9-3, finished 7-0 at home and earned a berth in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, where they were defeated by Wake Forest, 24-10.
*1996 tournament results vacated by NCAA
UConn Men's Basketball was once a regional power, winning 18 Yankee Conference championships between 1947 and 1975, when the Yankee Conference dropped support of basketball including 12 by Hugh Greer. In 1979, UConn was one of the seven founding schools of the Big East Conference, which was created to focus on basketball. In the early days of the Big East, UConn struggled behind national powers Georgetown and Syracuse. Prior to the 1986-87 season UConn hired Jim Calhoun to be the program's new head coach, but the Huskies difficulties continued and they finished the season with a record of 9-19, their fifth straight losing season. But in 1988, the team showed significant improvement and gained a berth in the NIT. UConn went on a run in the tournament and defeated Ohio State 72-67 at Madison Square Garden to win the NIT, the school's first national basketball title.
The 1990 "Dream Season" would bring UConn basketball to the national stage. Led by Chris Smith, Nadav Henefeld and Tate George, UConn went from unranked in the preseason to winning the Big East Regular Season and Tournament Championships, both for the first time. 1990 also marked the opening of Gampel Pavilion, the program's new on-campus home. In the NCAA Tournament the Huskies garnered a #1 seed in the East Reigon, but trailed Clemson 70-69 with 1 second remaining in the Sweet 16. Scott Burrell's full-court pass found Tate George on the far baseline. George spun, fired, and hit a buzzer-beater that is known in Connecticut simply as "The Shot". They would be eliminated on a buzzer-beater 2 days later by Duke, losing in overtime 79-78.
UConn rose as a national program throughout the 1990s, winning five more Big East Regular Season and three more Big East Tournament Championships, but the Final Four still eluded Calhoun and the program until the 1999 NCAA Tournament. The Huskies were the top seed in the West region and a win over Gonzaga in the regional finals sent UConn to Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay for the Final Four. They defeated Ohio State 64-58 in the semi-final to face off against Duke in the final. Despite having been ranked #1 for half of the year, the Huskies entered the national championship game as 9-point underdogs. The game was tight throughout, and when the final buzzer sounded, UConn had defeated Duke 77-74.
The 1999 National Championship would not be the last. In 2004, the Huskies returned to the Final Four. Once again, they faced Duke, this time in the National Semifinal, and used a late run to beat the Blue Devils 79-78. Two nights later, led by Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor, UConn beat Georgia Tech 82-73 to win the championship.
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In the late 1990s, UConn decided to go from I-AA, where it had sporadic success, including making the 1998 I-AA playoffs, to I-A. UConn played as a I-A Independent from 1999 to 2003. During this time, the Huskies went from 2-9 to 9-3, and moved from Memorial Stadium to Rentschler Field. In 2004, the Huskies were admitted as full football members of the Big East, and went 3-3 in conference play, en route to a 7-4 regular-season record. The school made its first-ever appearance in a bowl game, winning the 2004 Motor City Bowl over Toledo by a score of 39-10. 2007 was a breakout year for the UConn Football team. They achieved a national ranking for the first time, becoming the second fastest team ever to attain a ranking after moving to division I-A, shared the Big East Championship with a 5-2 conference record, went 7-0 at home (only the second Big East team to ever do so), finished the season 9-3, and climbed as high as 13th in the BCS standings. The team was rewarded for their efforts with an invitation to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
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