UConn-Duke ’99 National Title with Joe Courtney - Remember That Game

2025-09-25

Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) and host Thomas Emerick talk about how the bricks were laid for a powerhouse in Storrs, Conn., home of UConn Huskies basketball and part of Connecticut's 2nd Congressional district that Congressman Courtney represents spanning the central to eastern parts of the state. The vehicle for the episode is the 1999 NCAA tournament men's basketball final between the Connecticut Huskies and Duke Blue Devils, which also allows for traveling backwards and forwards through time.A few of the...

Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) and host Thomas Emerick talk about how the bricks were laid for a powerhouse in Storrs, Conn., home of UConn Huskies basketball and part of Connecticut's 2nd Congressional district that Congressman Courtney represents spanning the central to eastern parts of the state. The vehicle for the episode is the 1999 NCAA tournament men's basketball final between the Connecticut Huskies and Duke Blue Devils, which also allows for traveling backwards and forwards through time.

A few of the topics covered while revisiting the UConn 77, Duke 74 finish in the '99 final:

Early days of the Jim Calhoun era
The excitement sparked in CT by Tate George's shot at the start of this decade, and the letdown vs. Duke days later
UConn cutting their teeth on '90s Big East basketball
Ray Allen and favorite UConn players or personalities of that decade on the rise
Rising tide with ESPN, UConn, and Big East basketball
Rip Hamilton and Khalid Al-Amin, what was most exciting about the way this duo played
Expectations heading into the regional final and coming out of it.
How did this simultaneous emergence of these two teams really generate the energy for the programs in Storrs, CT?
How beatable did that juggernaut Blue Devils team seem?
Ricky Moore defensive tour de force and supplying offense at the right moments
Coach K vs. Calhoun chess match: Bothering Elton Brand and Trajan Langdon, denying Rip
Jim Nantz delighting in the Moore-Avery August matchup; Late great Billy Packer on the call
Award for bipartisanship in CT legislature, and also whether a common sports fandom can be a depolarizer
Duke squad favored by 9.5, also had future Naismith Men's College Player of the Year Shane Battier as basically a role player in this game
Hamilton catching fire, El-Amin crucial buckets down the stretch, and high tension in waning moments
Pulling off the upset and the environment on the streets over that next week. Different than the reaction to the next four UConn men’s team championships?
The foundation this win laid for the 21st century in Connecticut, both in state pride and having the basketball programs with the most titles over the past 25 years