Huskies admire past, not compete with it

Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma and associate head coach Chris Dailey swear they don't say this as any kind of motivational ploy to boost their current Huskies. But when you ask about the best UConn team ever, they still return to a decade

ago.Before the injuries to Shea Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova, the consensus of the Huskies' brain trust -- and typically also of UConn's legion of fans -- is that the 2000-01 team, intact, was the best ever.But because those injuries did happen, the mantle goes to UConn 2001-02, the 39-0 team of future WNBA champions/Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Swin Cash, plus fellow WNBA first-round draft picks Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams."The best-ever starting five" is how Dailey describes that team, the group so good that UConn couldn't help but think that as long as the Huskies arrived at the correct arena for each game, they were going to win. Nothing short of an evil plot to trick them into going to the wrong place was going to result in a defeat.Now, though, as the 2009-10 UConn team stands one game away from winning the program's seventh national championship, finishing a second consecutive undefeated season and extending its victory streak to a 78 games, that confounded "ranking question" comes up, of course.

If Connecticut beats Stanford on Tuesday (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET), where does this group of Huskies rank on the almighty UConn totem?
"It's flattering for us to be compared, but I could never see myself on the same playing field as them," Huskies senior Kalana Greene said of the 2002 team. "Coach always says, 'We're trying to be better than the next team we play.' So [Tuesday], we're trying to be better than Stanford. Last night, we were trying to be better than Baylor.
"So who cares if we're better than the 2002 team? You know? I didn't come here to be better than the 2002 team. I came here to win a national championship. And that's the only thing I think about. I've done it once, but it would feel great to do it twice."
'A certain amount of perfection in your effort'
"Who cares?" is actually a perfect answer from Greene about this whole ranking business. UConn 2010 will never play UConn 2002. Or UConn 2000. Or UConn 1995. Although, Greene does like to joke -- undoubtedly to tease Huskies alums such as Rebecca Lobo and Kara Wolters -- that she'd feel pretty confident taking on the '95 undefeated squad.