Tales of UConn women's basketball, much like with the Yankees, Celtics, Canadiens and Notre Dame, are told through historical narratives as much as current events. And so while accounts of Paige Bueckers' growing number of Instagram followers may infatuate the youngins, the program's tentacles to the past faithfully educate, edify and entertain.

Somewhere in the recent news cycle came word that after 50 years and more than 1,000 coaching wins, C. Vivian Stringer announced her retirement from Rutgers and women's basketball, taking a pertinent part of UConn's past with her.

Stringer belongs among UConn's best antagonists in our contrived good vs. evil allegories. As novelist Dalton Frey wrote once, "Behind every villain is a truth, whether it be perceived or actual."

Stringer's teams were our "villains" here in Connecticut for many years. We needed them. They needed us. No good story has ever been told without one. As Bill Parcells once said to Phil Simms as they both heard the catcalls at RFK Stadium: "They hate us so much here that they like us."

Stringer has few peers in coaching: fourth in career victories with 1,055, Final Four berths at Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers and a paragon of strong, Black female leadership. And she did much of it with an endearing eccentricity, perhaps best captured by late Boston Herald writer Mike Shalin, who noted Stringer's spasms with streams of consciousness, narratives and parables with the line, "I asked Vivian Stringer a question and Casey Stengel answered."

Here are a few of the favorites from the vault:

• Feb. 10, 1998: UConn was playing at Rutgers, not long after Stringer got the job there. The team's media guide that year pronounced Rutgers the "Jewel of the East."

Shots fired.

"There's 30 seconds left in that game and I'm sitting on the bench. It's over and we're going to lose," Geno Auriemma recalled once about that night. "Someone is shooting free throws at the other end. (Freshman) Linda Miles walks all the way back near us and yells, 'Get used to this Geno! Four more years!' To this day when I see her (an aspiring official) we laugh."

It should be noted Rutgers never beat UConn again with Miles there.

• Jan. 27, 1999: For my money, the greatest regular season win in UConn history.

Rutgers was home and salivating for a shot at the Huskies, who had Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Shea Ralph and Amy Duran all injured. A few days earlier, the Huskies lost at Boston College, leading to doomsday predictions for the Rutgers game.

"It was typical UConn-Rutgers. Physical. Back in the days when you could foul on every possession," Auriemma said. "We're down one, maybe 10 seconds left. In the huddle, I say to Svet (Svetlana Abrosimova) '(gosh darnit) Sveta, we need a steal right now.' She nods once. No smile, nothing. Just like if the KGB asked someone to murder five people.

"She goes out there, gets a steal and a layup and we win by one," Auriemma said. "I said, 'Damn. That kid is unbelievable.'"

After the game, Abrosimova deadpanned in her endearing Russian accent, "Coach said we needed steal so I got one." With no smile.

• March 5, 2001: This was the night before Sue Bird made her mad dash down the court at Gampel Pavilion, making the buzzer beater that gave UConn an iconic win over Notre Dame in the Big East championship game.

UConn was playing Rutgers in the semifinals as a blizzard was crippling the state. It got so bad that water leaked from the roof onto the court, causing a 90-minute delay. Gampel engineer Bill Sehl was raised 140 feet to the rafters in a skylift to fix the problem, earning a standing ovation from the 5,000 fans who ignored Gov. Rowland's advice to stay home.

Turns out that was just the appetizer.

It was around midnight when Stringer entered the press room. Reporters were on edge about deadlines and the specter of ever making it home through two feet of snow. They wanted things to move quickly.

Stringer had other ideas.

"Is there a Chris Elsberry in here?" Stringer began, bypassing details about the game.

Elsberry, a columnist at the Connecticut Post, wrote something critical of Stringer's program a few weeks earlier. Stringer read a letter aloud she wrote to Elsberry — all 903 words of it — that went for 15 minutes.

Elsberry tried to cut her off several times, begging her to take this outside and let the other writers do their jobs. Stringer never broke stride.

• March 9, 2005: Television cameras captured Rutgers guard Cappie Pondexter's animation after a Big East Tournament game, directing what appeared to be some unkind words toward Auriemma.

Reporters were seated in the XL Center interview room waiting for the postgame news conferences to begin when suddenly, an argument ensued between Stringer and Auriemma behind the curtain. We did our best to eavesdrop until somebody began blasting Sinatra over the intercom system. Too bad it wasn't "I've Got You Under My Skin."

Thirty minutes later, Stringer told a roomful of reporters that Auriemma "made a comment (to Pondexter) unbecoming to any player at any time." When reporters asked Auriemma if he was aware of Stringer's comments, Auriemma said what happened was "none of your business."

Classic, classic stuff. Frankly, as good as any Auriemma vs. Pat Summitt and Auriemma vs. Muffet McGraw.

On behalf of everyone here in Connecticut: Thank you to the woman we affectionately called "C. Viv." She'll always have a starring role in UConn lore and legend. We'll always leave the light on for someone who made it more fun.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro