The mid 2000's saw a change in who the arch rival was for UConn when it came to Big East play...at that team was Rutgers. Who beat the Huskies in 2006 to win the Regular Season Crown....Then won the tourney title in 2007. 2008 was exciting as well. As the Scarlet Knights won 73-71 in Piscataway in January only to have the Huskies beat them in Hartford win win the Conference crown....When the brackets came out, a rarity, conference foes 1 and 2 in the same regional. Greensboro the site for turned into the third meeting of the season with a Final Four berth on the line. RU had played for the National Championship in 2007, losing to Tennessee in the Finals....And they wanted to get back. This UConn Senior Class had yet to get to a Final Four....Keita Swanier, Mel Thomas, Charde Houston..and incomplete resume...Only the Scarlet Knights stood in their way...
The trio of Matee Ajavon, Essence Carson and Epiphanny Prince, along with post player Kia Vaughn made shots early while the stingy Rutgers defense chased freshman All American Maya Moore all over the floor using a box in one...And Maya's teammates missed open looks to the tune of a 25-11 Rutgers lead with 7:33 left in the half. But with Kalie McLaren and Charde Houston making some shots, the Huskies chipped away, a 14-5 run to close the half and trailed just 32-27 at the half.
After a Renee Montgomery pull up jumper tied the game at 34, the Scarlet Knights answered with a 7-0 run to take a 41-34 advantage with 12:35 remaining. UConn, led by Keita Swanier and the rebounding of Tina Charles again rallied. A Swanier pull up got UConn within 2 at 43-41..Montgomery again from the right elbow, tied the game at 46...
The game stayed tied at 49 forever it seemed with someone waiting to make a big shot. Maya Moore had just 4 points and 4 rebounds...but off a RU miss, UConn set up a great play off the timeout. Moore cut off a Charles screen of Carson and got free to bury a top of the key three with 3 minutes left to give UConn the lead for good. Then the Huskies made free throws Swanier went 6-6 down the stretch, McLaren added a pair and Charles 4 of 6 to finish off the Scarlet Knight 66-56. Swanier and Montgomery scoring 15 each. McLaren 10 and a huge 9 point, 12 rebound performance from Charles as UConn went 19-21 from the line...Moore had 7p-5r and 5 steals in the win...
Whoever thought on this April 1st night in 2008, this would just be the start of an incredible run of 12 straight Final Fours for the Huskies...Six ending in National Championships...
See the Game at UConnHuskyGames.com