Dream Team Matchup, Perennial Titans, UConn vs Tennessee, get ready to Rumble!

Diana Taurausi, Player of the Year, and arguably Best Womens Player ever.

If UConn wins they will tie Tennessee, with 3 consecutive Titles.
Tennesse  can win an unprecedented seventh title!!

UConn Men won their title last nite. If the Ladies win tonite, it will be the FIRST time a University has won Both  Mens and Womens Basketball Title in the SAME Year.

Tonite on ESPN at 5:30 PT. Check Local Listings 8:30 ET ??
THIS FINAL HAS FAMILIAR RING

Connecticut, going for its third consecutive national championship,
meets Tennessee in the title game for the fourth time since 1995.

Los Angeles Times
By Mike Terry
Times Staff Writer
April 6, 2004

NEW ORLEANS — Those tuning in to tonight's Connecticut-Tennessee basketball game to determine the 2004 NCAA women's Division I championship may think they're watching the History Channel.

These longtime and occasionally bitter rivals played for the NCAA title last year, and this will be the fourth time since 1995 that they have met in the national final. The Huskies and Lady Vols know each other as well as two teams can. And they are as compatible as grits and clam chowder.

Still, something special figures to happen in the New Orleans Arena.

Connecticut (30-4), which got here by beating Minnesota onSunday, is a two-time defending champion. Only one women's team has won three consecutive championships — Tennessee, from 1996-98.

Huskies' Coach Geno Auriemma is aware of the significance of completing a three-peat against the Lady Vols.

"When we started winning championships in 1995, we were the new kids on the block," Auriemma said Monday. "I remember a comment was made that there's a lot of people who pretended to be good. Old Dominion was a challenger at one time. USC was a challenger at one time. Texas was a challenger at one time. Stanford a couple of times. But only Tennessee stood on the mountaintop forever.

" … We have to beat the team that everybody associates as the best program over the last some 20 years. So it's only fitting that if you want to win, that's who you got to beat. And if they want to win, they got to beat us."

Tennessee (31-3), here after edging Louisiana State in the other semifinal, can win an unprecedented seventh title. Almost as important would be ending its five-game losing streak to Connecticut, including an 81-67 defeat in Knoxville on Feb. 5.

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt had no trouble Monday defining why Connecticut has that five-game winning streak, dating back to Jan. 2, 2002, and is 12-6 against Tennessee overall.

"I think what we haven't been able to do is win close games against them. And it just comes down to we have to make more plays," Summitt said. "They have had a lot of great players and a lot of great teams, as has Tennessee. But of late, they have definitely been the better team."

One definite edge, of course, has been Connecticut senior All-American guard Diana Taurasi, who has averaged 22.3 points in the seven games she has played against Tennessee. And she wants to end her celebrated college career with a flourish.

"It's important [to go out a winner]," Taurasi said. "After four years of being here and this being our last game, our last chance to go out there and put the Connecticut jersey on, it means a lot.

"Throughout the season we've had a lot of ups and downs, and I think we've handled it really well. And now we're in a position to win a national championship. As a senior, I don't think you can go out any better way." Connecticut stumbled occasionally during the regular season, but has looked like its dominating self in the tournament, winning five games by an average of 19.2 points.

Tennessee, by contrast, has been on the brink of elimination the last three games, winning each with a second or less to play. But when asked if the Lady Vols were a team of destiny, senior guard Tasha Butts — who won two of those games with free throws and a last-second shot — said no.

"I just think it speaks of Tennessee's will of not wanting to lose," Butts said. "The game is 40 minutes; I don't care if you're down by five or up by two. We have something inside of us in that we don't want to go home empty-handed. We've done that so far. We've had some doubts but we've gotten to the national championship game and we believe in ourselves.

"At the end of a game we are so confident; we know we can pull through, we know that some way — by scoring or defense — we can do it. But I don't believe in the fate or destiny stuff. It's all about Tennessee. We know we can control the game."

The Lady Vols, however, scored only 62 points in the Midwest Regional final against Stanford, and 52 in the national semifinal against LSU, which is why conventional wisdom points toward Connecticut winning a third consecutive title tonight.

This Final Has Familiar Ring
http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/
la-sp-ncaawomen6apr06,1,7683052.story?coll=la-home-headlines