The more things change, the more they stay the same. But Connecticut's recent champs are coming closer to their predecessors.
After the Huskies capped the 2008-09 season with a perfect 39-0 record to become the fifth unbeaten team in NCAA Division I women's basketball, we drilled the experts but came up with the same answer we'd gotten seven years earlier: The Huskies' 2001-02 team that went 39-0 remains the best in women's hoops history.
On Tuesday, UConn put the finishing touches on another undefeated season, beating Stanford for a -- no surprise -- 39-0 record. The victory marked the program's seventh national championship and fourth perfect season (1995, 2002, 2009 and 2010). The Huskies' two consecutive undefeated seasons are just the second time that has happened in NCAA Division I basketball, joining the UCLA men. The Huskies finished the season on a 78-game winning streak, just 10 short of John Wooden's Bruins and their NCAA-record 88-game streak from 1971 to '74.
This season's Huskies also had the nation's two best players on their roster. Junior Maya Moore won her second Wade Trophy earlier this month, while senior Tina Charles was named the Naismith and Associated Press player of the year. They also were both named to the 10-member State Farm All-American team.
So Â… with all those accolades and records and accomplishments, how does the 2009-10 Huskies' version of perfection rank against the five previous undefeated Division I teams -- Texas 1985-86, UConn 1994-95, Tennessee 1997-98, UConn 2001-02, UConn 2008-09 -- in women's college basketball history? The consensus sticks with the 2001-02 Huskies, but at least one of ESPN.com's contributors gives the nod to the new batch of dogs. And as it turns out, the 1997-98 Lady Vols and 1985-86 Longhorns aren't even in the discussion.