The Dynasty: UConn Huskies

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. -

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.

Fulwiley leads the break and Feagin lays it in.

And that will do it for the first half.

Ayayayayay.

Twenty more minutes, man.

- Ayayay. - But we gotta talk about

what we're not taking advantage of.

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?

Ready?

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.

That's the problem, we have to turn in and box out…

Yes, we have to turn and box out.

Ice has been trying to attack defensively.

We are not boxing out. We have to box out…

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.

They used to dominate.

Can UConn break that losing streak?

This is the price you have to pay for winning a lot.

Overrated!

When you lose, people rejoice in your misery.

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.

And Connecticut has done it.

Connecticut has won the National Championship again.

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.

Geno. He's the greatest ever.

As times have changed, he's still who he is.

What the hell was that?

- Stop! - It's right in front of him.

All right, just stop.

Geno Auriemma, the most polarizing figure

- in all of women's basketball. -

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.

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.

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.

There's much more to Geno Auriemma than just basketball.

You're the coach everyone loves to hate. Why?

'Cause we win all the time.

Simple as that?

Among other things.

- -

He starts to tighten those screws.

And I'm like, "Yeah, this is what I wanna feel."

Like… …this is the energy that I need.

That's what makes him a mastermind. He challenged our heart.

He challenged how much we wanted to compete.

I think that's why I fell in love with Geno.

Together!

Are UConn's dominant days over?

One of the great upsets.

This is something that has never been done before.

The dynasty fulfills its destiny.

Let's, uh, roll camera and sound.

Unmuting sound.

Hey, uh, can you kick off your shoes? Do you mind?

- Why? - They're squeaking.

I haven't heard a word from my shoes.

It's the box. It's not the shoes.

It's the box? We can… We can do a little thing.

Let's try this one.

Yeah, that seems better. All right.

You hear my shoes squeaking now?

- 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?

All right, let's start with this.

Why did you decide to go into women's basketball?

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."

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?

We're looking at the Connecticut Huskies on the floor.

Tracy Lis, off her foot and out of bounds.

In the 1980s, in Connecticut,

nobody cared about women's basketball.

Not a very adroit ball hand.

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.

…and she didn't get it.

But that's how it was. They were a sideshow.

…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.

This is Bridgette Gordon. The Lady Vols are on the board.

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.

Oh, let's get a close up.

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…

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."

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.

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.

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.

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."

- Come on… - Weave through, weave through.