Tennessee fans keep score with each UConn loss in Final Four

Candace Parker, 5. Geno Auriemma, 0. That’s the scoreboard for Tennessee basketball fans who are tracking the national titles for Auriemma and Connecticut since the legendary Lady Vol wasn’t included on the U.S. Olympic team for the 2016 Summer Games.

In a situation that still roils Tennessee fans, on April 25, 2016, the Olympic roster was released and Parker, one of the best players on the planet who NBC already had included in its promotional materials, wasn’t on it, a move likely influenced by Auriemma, who was serving as head coach of the national team.

Parker responded that spring on Twitter with a video of her dunking on UConn’s home court in 2007, which was pretty much all of the confirmation needed by Tennessee fans to pin the blame on Auriemma, who had stacked the Olympic roster with UConn players. He also didn’t particularly care for Parker, who came off the bench in 2012 to rescue the U.S. Olympic team under his command in the gold medal game against France and thanked Pat Summitt afterwards.

Leaving Parker off the team in 2016 was the epitome of petty, and USA Basketball tried to explain it by talking about depth and talent. While the United States dominates the event, no one bought that explanation. USA Basketball wanted Parker to peddle a storyline that her absence reflected a need for family time, but she refused to lie on anyone’s behalf – and has kept her vow to never again play for USA Basketball.

Parker, who went on to win a WNBA championship in 2016 for the Los Angeles Sparks and then another one in 2021 for her hometown Chicago Sky, is one of the best players in the world – then and now. She dedicated the Oct. 20, 2016, championship to Summitt, who had died June 28, 2016, due to Alzheimer’s. Had Summitt not been compromised and then felled by such a debilitating disease, USA Basketball’s shenanigans with Parker likely never would have happened.

Since that 2016 snub – which came a few weeks after Auriemma won his 11th national title at UConn – Tennessee fans have gleefully tracked his losses in the Final Four in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, which now span six years for a total of five defeats. (The pandemic wiped out the NCAA tourney in 2020.)

The latest loss came last Sunday against South Carolina and Dawn Staley in Minneapolis. When South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston accepted the most outstanding player award, she saw Parker in the stands and addressed her speech to Parker, saying that was who she patterned her game after and looked up to as a player. The influence and impact of Parker, who was invited onto the court, haven’t waned one bit.

Muffet McGraw, who is now retired after a long career at Notre Dame, has a knack for getting under Auriemma’s skin. She noted that the last five national titles have been won by female coaches from Staley (2017) to McGraw (2018) to Kim Mulkey (2019) to Tara VanDerveer (2021) to Staley again (2022), and she wants the trend to continue.

Tennessee fans want to see Kellie Harper’s name on that list and in 2022-23, the former Lady Vol will have her best roster to date. Send a nod to the basketball gods that it can happen. Tennessee fans really want to settle that score.