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Tennessee Lady Vols: Five things that happened since last facing UConn

By Caleb Calhoun

TAMPA, FL - APRIL 08: The Tennessee Lady Volunteers celebrate with the trophy after their 64-48 win against the Stanford Cardinal during the National Championsip Game of the 2008 NCAA Women's Final Four at St. Pete Times Forum April 8, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - APRIL 08: The Tennessee Lady Volunteers celebrate with the trophy after their 64-48 win against the Stanford Cardinal during the National Championsip Game of the 2008 NCAA Women's Final Four at St. Pete Times Forum April 8, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images /

5. Tennessee Lady Vols won national championships in 2007 and 2008.

It’s so long ago we forgot about it. But the last time the UT faced the UConn Huskies, they had been in the midst of what seemed like an unprecedented drought at the time. Pat Summitt’s program had not won a national championship in nine years, dating back to the undefeated team led by Chamique Holdsclaw.

Candace Parker was the star of this program, but while the Lady Vols were still ahead in all-time national championships, UConn was catching up. The last time they met, in January of 2007, UT won 70-64. They would only suffer two losses that year, falling at home to the Duke Blue Devils and then being upset in the SEC Title game by the LSU Tigers.

However, behind Parker, they went on a tear in the Big Dance, highlighted by a huge comeback to upset the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Final Four before dominating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the national title. A year later, with Parker once again leading the way, they had a last-second shot to beat LSU in the Final Four and dominated the Stanford Cardinal to win the title.

In the midst of those two titles was that infamous story of the late Don Imus using an offensive name to describe the Rutgers players after watching them lose to the Lady Vols for the national title. So lots of things went into this run, but Parker was the highlight of it all.