Strong UConn presence in ESPY nominations

With the 2017 ESPY Awards set to air on July 12, the 2017 award nominees were released on Wednesday, with six current and former Huskies nominated in five categories for the 25th annual ESPN award show.

The women’s basketball team appeared twice in two different categories, but not for the reasons they typically are.

They were a part of the Best Upset category for their Final Four defeat at the hands of Mississippi State, which ended UConn’s streak of national championships at four straight and consecutive victories at 111.

The game goes up against Clemson’s defeat of Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship game and Novak Djokovic’s loss to Denis Istomen in the second round of the Australian Open.

In that same contest, Morgan William’s buzzer-beater from the right elbow that slew the beast in overtime was nominated in a 16-play bracket style tournament for Best Play. In the first round, it is up against Larry Nance’s dunk over Brook Lopez.

As for the four alumni, they were nominated for better categories.

Diana Taurasi breaking the WNBA career scoring record was nominated for Best Record-Breaking Performance along with Bill Belichick’s career Super Bowl wins, Michael Phelps extending his own record of Olympic gold medals and Russell Westbrook setting the record for most triple-doubles in an NBA season.

Tina Charles of the New York Liberty and Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx are being considered for the Best WNBA Player category. The pair is competing for votes against Elena Delle Donne, Nneka Ogwumike, and Candace Parker.

Former UConn men’s soccer goalkeeper Andre Blake was nominated in the Best MLS Player category and will go against Stefan Frei, Matt Hedges, David Villa and Bradley Wright-Phillips.

Voting goes through the beginning of the show on July 12 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. You can vote here.