Ncaa Preview Women's Top 25 Uconn On Top

Basketball Digest, Dec, 2000 by Carl Adamec

The Huskies, the reigning national champions, are our pick to repeat--but watch out for Tennessee

COACH GENO AURIEMMA TOOK the microphone to thank thousands of fans who braved snow and cold weather to attend the parade honoring his national championship Connecticut women's basketball team.

He didn't stop at thank you.

"We're going to be back here for a third one, I promise you that," Auriemma said.

The Huskies were head and shoulders above the competition during the 2000 NCAA tournament. Their overwhelming 71-52 win over Tennessee in the title game--it wasn't as close as the final 19-point margin--wrapped up a 36-1 season. With its top eight players back and the arrival of a highly regarded recruiting class, Connecticut is the prohibitive favorite to win its third national title in seven years.

"The goal is to go undefeated," Auriemma says. "If they think they had it tough last year, I'm going to make it tougher this year.

"But it just doesn't happen automatically. Look at Tennessee two years ago. They had everyone back from a 39-0 team and didn't get to the Final Four."

Tennessee returned to the Final Four a year ago. And the Lady Vols figure to be back in 2001. They, like Connecticut, return their starting line-up.

After the title game loss, coach Pat Summitt had a message for her charges.

"She said it's all about what you do over the summer," says senior forward Tamika Catchings, the consensus national Player of the Year. "We've got to come back. Everybody has to get better and we have to get stronger."

Will there be another Connecticut-Tennessee matchup for the national championship in St. Louis on April 1, 2001? Who are the contenders and the pretenders?

Here is a look at the preseason top 25 teams in the country.

1. CONNECTICUT

Who else can it be?

"The bottom line is that going into the season, we're the best team," Auriemma says. "That's not bragging. That's not being arrogant. That's just fact." The Huskies, stymied by injuries three straight years, stayed healthy a year ago. Injuries may be the only thing that can keep them out of St. Louis because they seem to have everything a team could want. They have two of the best players in college basketball in senior All-Americans Shea Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova. Center Kelly Schumacher came on strong late and set an NCAA championship game record with nine blocked shots. Sue Bird came back from knee surgery that limited her to eight games in 1998-99 and emerged as one of the nation's best point guards. Connecticut's bench is second to none. Auriemma also successfully recruited the high school Naismith Award winner, Diana Taurasi.

"When you have everyone coming back from a team that went as far as they could go, the tendency or the danger is to become complacent," Auriemma says. "We've tried to impress on our players how many teams don't win the next year. Other people work harder to raise their standards, and now you have to raise the bar. There's no doubt in my mind that we can be better."

2. TENNESSEE

Seldom do the Lady Vols get embarrassed as they were by Connecticut in the final. Tennessee was down after that game, but never count it out.

"One game doesn't mean your program is falling apart and you can't compete at this level," Summitt says. "We haven't won six titles by thinking that way."

It's the final go-around for seniors Catchings, Semeka Randall, and Kristen Clement, who helped Tennessee to title No. 6 when they were freshmen. In Catchings, the Lady Vols have the nation's best player. In Randall, they have, arguably, the nation's best defender and one of its most clutch performers. Her two baskets in the final seconds of a win at Connecticut--the Huskies' only loss--were stuff of legend. Clement has never been never able to get a firm grip on the point guard slot, her natural position. Improvement there would allow Kara Lawson to go back to her natural shooting guard position. Center Michelle Snow improves every day.

Summitt hopes her recruits--led by Ashley Robinson--give the Lady Vols the depth they need. Their lack of a bench was exposed in the title game. For sure, they'll be prepared for the postseason. Their schedule will, again, be the toughest in the country.

"It is loaded with challenges from the opening game," Summitt says. "It looks like mission impossible, but I think it will be really exciting."

3. GEORGIA

The Bulldogs won a school-record 32 games a year ago, have an All-American in Kelly Miller along with three other starters returning, and have Final Four experience from 1999. This team shouldn't sneak up on anyone, but with Connecticut and Tennessee getting most of the attention, they'll be able to.

Kelly Miller was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year over Catchings. But she wasn't Georgia's leading scorer. Twin sister Coco Miller was. Forward Deana Nolan and center Tawana McDonald also averaged in double figures, and many feel it was the emergence of Nolan a year ago that made Georgia successful.

But the Bulldogs didn't get back to the Final Four, losing to Rutgers in the West Regional final. That should make them more hungry this year.