HARTFORD, Conn. _ Geno Auriemma was ecstatic when he got the call that Rebecca Lobo had decided to play for him at UConn. After all, she was the best center in the country and had chosen to spend the next four years in Storrs over the likes of Stanford, Northwestern and Notre Dame.
But did he think at the time that he had just acquired the backbone to an eventual national championship team? Certainly not. Nor did he see it coming after getting players such as Jamelle Elliott, Jennifer Rizzotti and Kara Wolters to come aboard.
"We didn't know any of this stuff," Auriemma said. "We were just like, 'Man, we really like these kids, and I think they fit our culture. And if we bring them there, who knows what could happen?' "
Auriemma and the basketball world would find that out in 1995, when those four and the rest of the 1994-95 Huskies dethroned top-ranked juggernaut Tennessee, went undefeated in the Big East and ultimately strung together a 35-0 record. The culmination of that run, achieved 25 years ago Thursday, was UConn's first national title, a 70-64 win over the Lady Vols at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
But in the years since, that group has shown that winning the school's first basketball title was just the beginning, not only for UConn's dynasty but also for those players' own meaningful individual trajectories. Because what helped those Huskies win a championship nearly three decades ago has carried over into the rest of their lives, their legacy extending far beyond what any 35 games could ever mean.
