There are more than 360 Division I women’s basketball programs, but for many of us who came up during a particular era, there were really two.
UConn and Tennessee didn’t just dominate women’s college basketball for a generation of fans, but they defined it. From 1995-2010, the Huskies and Lady Vols combined to win 12 of a possible 16 national titles. They were led by the two unquestionably best coaches in the sport, with Geno Auriemma at UConn and Pat Summitt at Tennessee. Their rosters regularly featured the biggest stars in the game, from Rebecca Lobo, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore at UConn to Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings and Candace Parker at Tennessee.
Inevitably, and despite not sharing a conference and their campuses being separated by 850 miles, the two became rivals.
Seven times from 1995-2007, the two sides met in the NCAA Tournament, including four times in the national championship game. The Huskies and Lady Vols also had a non-conference game in the regular season every year over those 12 years, with each matchup bringing in huge television audiences for what was still a largely overlooked sport at the time. The two sides were perfect foils, too, specifically when it came to their coaches, with Auriemma playing the role of the brash, bombastic Yankee and Summitt being the steely southerner. Auriemma once referred to Tennessee as “the evil empire.” In 2007, when the Lady Vols announced they were discontinuing the series against UConn but not providing a reason why, Auriemma stated it was because Summitt “hates my guts.”
Since Tennessee’s national championship in 2008, the gap has widened significantly between two programs that were once alone atop the sport’s hierarchy.
The Huskies have inarguably become marquee program in the sport, with seven national championships since 2009. The Lady Vols, meanwhile, are title-less since that 2008 championship, haven’t earned a top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament since 2015 and haven’t made it past the Sweet 16 since 2016.
This year, the chasm separating them has been as noticeable as ever. UConn enters its Final Four matchup against South Carolina on Friday as the overwhelming favorite to win the event, with a 38-0 record and a 54-game win streak that included winning last year’s NCAA championship. Tennessee, meanwhile, completed a turmoil-filled second season under coach Kim Caldwell that ended with a 16-14 record, the lowest single-season win percentage in the program’s proud and lengthy history.
The story of how we got here ties in part to the ridiculous run the Huskies are currently enjoying.