Channeling Some History

SAN ANTONIO —  Something historic will happen here tonight.

The undefeated Connecticut Huskies will pounce on Oklahoma as if it were a favorite rawhide chew toy, drag it around for 40 minutes and toss it in the pile with their other 38 victims this season. Then, having won the NCAA tournament, the Huskies will be proclaimed one of the best women’s basketball teams ever, maybe the best.

Or, the Sooners, who have won 32 of 35 games and battled through the toughest conference in the country--the Big 12--to get here, will pull off one of the biggest upsets the women’s game has seen.

Few give the second scenario a chance.

For one thing, the Huskies have already beaten the Sooners this season, although the game was closer than the 86-72 score would indicate.

Most important, though, is that Connecticut, which embarrassed Tennessee, 79-56, in a semifinal game Friday, seems to play a game this season that no one else is familiar with.

“It’s not that complicated,” Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma said. “The cliche is we have really good players. But there’s a lot of really good players out there playing college basketball. We have a unique group of kids whose talents mesh together really well.”

That’s what makes the task facing Oklahoma, which defeated Duke, 86-71, Friday, so daunting.

Not only do the Huskies pass with precision and defend with passion, they also understand the place in history that awaits them.

Auriemma grew wistful Saturday talking about his decorated seniors, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams. That group has won a national championship, appeared in three Final Fours and has a 135-9 record in four years at Connecticut. Each has scored at least 1,000 points.

“Their first practice I left the gym,” Auriemma said. “I’m going, ‘Here are five of the top 15 [high school] players in America and they stink.’ And that first week of practice they couldn’t do anything right compared to the kids we already had. They looked awful.

“When I go out there today [for their last practice], the first 40 minutes I won’t have to say a word, and we’ll get more done in that 40 minutes than they got done in their first week. That’s the difference.”

Connecticut averages 87.2 points and has won its games by an average of 36.1. Every starter, including brilliant sophomore Diana Taurasi, score in double figures but no one is averaging 15 points or more.

Opponents have tried to get them in foul trouble, played them physically, tried a cerebral approach.

So far, nothing has worked.

“There are no secrets,” Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale said of the Huskies. “It’s not like you have to unlock a code.

“Geno will tell you what he’s going to do. ‘We’re going to go to the right, set a screen, [a player’s] going to come off it, now guard it.’ It’s up to you to stop it.

“When you take the floor, you have to make sure the [Connecticut] mystique doesn’t beat you. Make the players beat you.”

Coale has some ideas, such as using four guards--Stacey Dales, LaNeishea Caufield, Rosalind Ross and Dionnah Jackson--to either disrupt the Bird-Taurasi tandem or try to create matchup problems for Cash, Jones and Williams.

But other things have to happen, according to her players.

“People talk about the guard play,” Oklahoma forward Caton Hill said. “But me and Jamie [Talbert] have a huge responsibility to rebound. If the other players are doing their jobs but [Connecticut] keeps getting second shots, it’s demoralizing.”

The Huskies have to guard against complacency. The fact they’ve never beaten Connecticut doesn’t make the Sooners less dangerous.

Oklahoma has averaged 80 points in the tournament, so it can keep up with the Huskies on the scoreboard. On a given night, Dales and Caufield might equal Bird and Taurasi.

“Playing against them the first time,” said Connecticut’s Williams, “Stacey threw the most awesome pass I’ve ever seen and it was against me.

“It wasn’t that she got behind me or Swin; she knew exactly how to thread the needle. I call her Pistol Pete.”

With six seniors, Oklahoma is a veteran team that shouldn’t panic if Connecticut bolts to a big early lead.

“I think they’ve learned how to overcome in a big game if Stacey doesn’t have her ‘A’ game,” Auriemma said.

“They are so well balanced, so confident in each other and their abilities. They play loosey-goosey, carefree basketball. I don’t think they’re affected by much; that’s why they are here.”