Shea Ralph - College

College

Ralph was the subject of a spirited recruiting battle, a natural consequence of her abilities leading to national high school player of the year honors. Many programs pursued her, but two schools appeared to have better chances than Connecticut. Ralph's mother, Marsha (Mann) Lake, was an All-American basketball player for the University of North Carolina. The North Carolina program was one of the better programs in the country. Ralph was growing up in North Carolina and her name was a "household word since she was eleven years old". Another premier program, the University of Tennessee, was also very interested in Ralph. The head coach of Tennessee, Pat Summitt, was good friends with Marsha, so many felt one of those two schools would have the inside track.

Ralph called Geno Auriemma, the Connecticut coach, to ask what kind of role he envisioned for her at UConn. It is not uncommon for coaches to promise starting positions and a minimum number of minutes playing time for highly promising recruits. However, Auriemma responded, "I don't know. If you are really, really good, then you'll have a chance to play a lot. But if you suck, you won't play at all." Shortly thereafter, she made a recruiting visit to UConn, and told the coach she was ready to commit to Connecticut. She went on to have a great senior season in high school. After she earned the USA Player of the Year award, she was interviewed by USA Today, who asked about her recruiting decision. She explained, "Coach Auriemma was the only coach that told me if I was really good I'd play a lot, and if I sucked I wasn't playing." Auriemma read the quote in the paper and "almost off his chair". He called her to say, "Geez, Shea. Did you have to say that in the paper?".

Ralph attended the University of Connecticut from 1996–2001, wearing uniform number 33, and graduating with a B.A. in Exercise physiology. She was enrolled at the university for five years, with a medical redshirt in her second year, 1997-98. During the four years she played a full or partial season, UConn had a record of 130-10. In Big East play, the team only lost two games in four seasons for a combined record of 66-2. Uconn won the Big East Regular season Championship and the post-season Big East Tournament Championship all four years. The Huskies went to the NCAA Tournament all four years, making the Sweet Sixteen each time, and the Final Four in her last two seasons. In 2000 Ralph captained the team to the National Championship and at the Final Four, was named the Tournaments Most Outstanding Player.

In her freshman year(1996–97) the UConn team won every game of their regular season schedule (27–0) and went on to win the Big East Tournament, completing an undefeated regular season with a 30–0 record. Ralph was named the Big East Rookie of the Year. She also earned national freshman of the year honors from both the United States Basketball Writers Association and The Sporting News. However, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, a game against Lehigh, Ralph tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee. She was unable to play for the rest of the tournament. While the team was able to win their first three NCAA matches without Ralph, they lost to Tennessee in the regional final.

Shea had her best scoring year as a sophomore, with 16.7 points per game. She shot over 40% from beyond the three point arc for that season, and 51.7% during the Big East season, setting the all-time Big East record for three-point shooting in a season. In the Big East Tournament, her play earned her the Most Outstanding Performer award.

In her junior year (1999–00), she was named captain of the team that went on to win the national championship. In the Championship game against Tennessee, she scored 15 points on seven of eight shooting. She also had six steals and seven assists, prompting teammate Marci Czel to nickname her Tournament Shea. She was named the Big East Player of the Year. Ralph also won national awards, including Sports Illustrated Women Player of the Year, the Honda Award in Basketball for best female collegiate athlete, and a spot on the Kodak All-America team. She played on the USA Basketball 2000 Jones Cup Team that won the Gold in Taipei.

In her senior year(2000–01), Ralph was named to the Big East First team. During her four years she wore number 33, worn previously by Jamelle Elliott, current UConn sports announcer Meghan Pattyson Culmo and subsequently by Barbara Turner.

Her final game was memorialized in Jeff Goldberg's book Bird at the Buzzer, a game some have termed the "greatest women's basketball game ever played". After an excellent junior season, Ralph was less productive in the beginning of her senior season. The low point came in a game against Big East rival Notre Dame in January, a match-up between two undefeated teams ranked number one and number two in the country. (Goldberg p 66) (Walters 239). Ralph scored only two points in that game. The rematch between the two teams came in the Big East Championship game. Ralph started out on fire. At one point, she scored eight consecutive points for the Huskies to help them turn a deficit into a slim 31–28 lead. A few minutes later she scored again, pushing her scoring total to eleven points on 4–4 shooting, along with six assists and three steals with over six minutes remaining in the first half. However, on her next possession, she drove to the basket and took a shot, twisting to avoid her defender. Then, "an agonizing scream pierce the air" which prompted commentator Robin Roberts to cry "Shea Ralph, oh goodness, oh no", recognizing that Ralph had yet again torn an ACL. At halftime Ralph told her teammates that she had just "tweaked " it, and she would be back. UConn went on to win the game on a buzzer-beater by Sue Bird, but Ralph's college career was over. Nevertheless, Ralph's overall tournament production earned her a position on the All-tournament team.

Shea was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program. She finished her college career with 1,678 points.

Shea's battle with anorexia continued in college. Her condition was not known to Connecticut at the time of her recruitment, but soon became apparent. Playing basketball was her first love, so benching her from playing did get her to eat. But that only lasted until her first ACL tear. Not able to exercise while rehabilitating, she worried about gaining weight and reverted to poor eating habits. A second ACL tear caused her to miss the entire 1997-1998 season. Even though the injury occurred in off-season, the news was significant enough that it was the lead story on the eleven o'clock news that evening in Connecticut. That year off convinced her that she needed to overcome her anorexia, if only out of responsibility to her teammates.