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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Uconn’s Stakes Are Cut Above Others Huskies Attempt To Become Second Team In History To Finish Season Undefeated

Associated Press

Tennessee, Georgia and Stanford are trying to win a national championship in the NCAA women’s Final Four this weekend. For Connecticut, the stakes are even higher.

“We’re playing for a piece of history,” coach Geno Auriemma said Thursday.

Auriemma’s No. 1-ranked team goes into Saturday’s national semifinal game against Stanford with a 33-0 record. Only one team in the previous 13 years of NCAA women’s basketball finished the season unbeaten, Texas winning the 1986 national championship with a 34-0 record.

“If any of the other three teams win the national championship, they win the national championship with a record of blank-blank,” Auriemma said. “Connecticut wins the national championship, they are the undefeated national champion.

“So when they talk about it, they’ll talk about Texas and Connecticut. That’s different than the other 12 or 13 or 14 teams that have won it.”

But if the prospect of making history is putting additional pressure on Auriemma, it wasn’t apparent Thursday. While the three other Final Four coaches remained secluded with their teams, Auriemma strolled into the press room of a downtown hotel to hold court with 25 or so reporters at an impromptu news conference.

He talked about what so far has been a magical season that has made his team the toast not only of New England, but of the national media. After Connecticut beat Tennessee in mid-January to become No. 1, a week hasn’t gone by without Connecticut or Auriemma or All-America forward Rebecca Lobo being profiled in some national publication.

Yet Auriemma still feels his team has its detractors.

“Even if we win the national championship, in some people’s minds, it will still be yeah, but they didn’t play anybody,” Auriemma said. “Or yeah, but they played in a bad league or yeah, but they played four home games in the NCAA Tournament to get here.

“There are just some people that it doesn’t matter what we do, they’re always to have their questions, their doubts.

‘If we’re fortunate to win the next two games, we’re going to be 35-0 and we’ll be only the second team in NCAA history to do that.”