39 years ago, the Georgetown Hoyas, Villanova Wildcats and St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball teams all reached the Final Four. Most people recall the eighth-seeded Wildcats’ historic upset over the Hoyas in the championship game that season. It marked the only time in men’s basketball that three teams from the same conference made the Final Four.
1985 was not the most recent year the Big East Conference accounted for 75% of the teams in the national semifinals, however.
Last Saturday, the UConn women’s basketball team inducted their 2013 and 2014 national championship teams into the Huskies of Honor. Both of the Huskies’ title teams combined for just four losses; all of them came during the 2012-13 season.
Like 1985, that season featured two of the nation’s top programs who played each other in the Final Four. They met three times beforehand.
UConn’s previous two tournament campaigns ended in heartbreak in the national semifinals. Two-time National Player of the Year Maya Moore and three-time All-Big East selection Tiffany Hayes departed for the WNBA in consecutive seasons. Big East Rookie of the Year Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis took Moore’s spot in the rotation during the 2011-12 season; forward Breanna Stewart changed the Huskies’ starting five into a three-forward attack.
With that lineup and several other future WNBA stars, Connecticut wreaked havoc. The Huskies allowed 35 points against the No. 1 Stanford Cardinals in their first-ever victory at Maples Coliseum and dusted the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils by 30, just to name a few non-conference wins. Six different players landed on the All-Big East teams led by center Stefanie Dolson and Mosqueda-Lewis’ First Team honors. Despite their success, all three of UConn’s conference defeats came at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame had their sights set on making their third straight national title game. Head coach Gary Blair and the Texas A&M Aggies beat the Fighting Irish for their first national championship in 2011. Reigning National Player of the Year Brittney Griner and the Baylor Bears capped off an undefeated season with a 19-point victory in 2012.
Despite losing All-Big East selections Natalie Novosel and Devereaux Peters, Notre Dame still had Big East Player of the Year Skylar Diggins-Smith and star forward Natalie Achonwa. Illinois native Jewell Lloyd strengthened their roster.
Under the guidance of Basketball Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw, the Fighting Irish were a national title contender all year. Notre Dame went 19-0 against conference foes between the regular season and the Big East Tournament. Diggins-Smith won her second straight Big East Player of the Year Award, and Lloyd took home Big East Freshman of the Year honors.
Connecticut provided the Fighting Irish with their toughest battles. Only once out of the three wins did Notre Dame beat the Huskies by more than five points, which came in a triple overtime epic at Purcell Pavilion. The Big East Tournament champs steamrolled their way through the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed in the Norfolk Regional. Diggins-Smith scored in double figures in 15 straight games heading into the Final Four, but Connecticut delivered the biggest surprise of them all.
Stewart scored 31 total points in three career games against the Fighting Irish going into New Orleans, Louisiana. She dropped a season-high 29 points with the season on the line. The Huskies did not just fend off Notre Dame; they beat them by 18 and held Diggins-Smith to 10 points on 3-15 shooting.
Downing the Fighting Irish removed a huge boulder off UConn’s back. Back in the championship game for the first time in three years, the Huskies were one game away from tying the Tennessee Volunteers on the all-time national title list.
Only one conference foe stood in their path.
Head coach Jeff Walz and the Louisville Cardinals finished 16th in the final AP poll, but they had the talent of a Top-10 program even without forward Asia Taylor. Junior guards Shoni Schimmel and Antonita Slaughter both earned All-Big East honors. The Cardinals started their season with a ranked victory over No. 15 Texas A&M and went 11-5 in conference play.
Their third-place finish and Big East Semifinal appearance prepared them for an improbable NCAA Tournament run.
Griner and the Bears had lost just one contest heading into the Sweet 16 in the Oklahoma City Regional. Redshirt senior Monique Reid spoiled Baylor’s repeat title hopes with two clutch free throws in the final seconds of regulation for a one-point upset. Two days later, the Cardinals stunned Tennessee by nine to earn their second Final Four appearance.
After a comeback win against the California Golden Bears in the national semifinals, Louisville was 40 minutes away from becoming the second school in history to sweep the national titles in the same year. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino and the men’s team outdueled the Michigan Wolverines for their third national title 24 hours earlier (it would later be vacated).
Louisville kept it early in the first half; their five-point lead marked Connecticut’s largest deficit of the tournament. Once the Huskies went ahead, they never let go. UConn ended the Cardinals’ Cinderella run with a 33-point victory, claiming their first of four straight championships.
Eight teams represented the Big East in the NCAA Tournament, the most of any conference that season. Half of those teams — the Syracuse Orange, DePaul Blue Demons, St. John’s and Villanova — were first-round exits. The 10th-seeded South Florida Bulls upset the Texas Tech Red Raiders but fell in overtime against second-seeded Cal in the second round.
2013 marked the last time three teams from one conference made the Final Four in either men’s or women’s basketball. That may change soon because of realignment, but until it does, how the Big East achieved this phenomenon 11 years ago remains an impressive feat no Power Five conference can claim.