Taurasi & Bird Lead 2002 UConn to No. 1 All-Time with 94-45 Trashing at UVa

 The greatest professional woman's player of all time Diana Taurasi her six fellow future WNBA players inclding four of the top six picks that year led the 2002 UConn team to a 94-45 demolition of the 2018 UVa team in Charlottesville. 

In our all-time rankings, which are almost the same as www.kenpom.com expect we reward 3 extra points to the winning team and cap the "perfect" Game Score at +25, UConn 2002 passes Pat Summitt's 1998 Tennessee team as the top college women's team of all time.

Here is our new all-time Top 10 teams with their rating to the far right - these three teams are all at least four points better than the next best team so far.

 

Rank	Team	Year	Before	New Tournament Result	W	L	Rate
1	Connecticut	2002	15.5	won at 2018 UVa 94-45 (GS +25)	2	0	17.4
2	Tennessee	1998	18.4	won at 2009 Auburn 69-52 (GS +9)	5	0	17.2
3	Tennessee	2007	14.7	won at 2013 Delaware 76-42 (GS +25)	2	0	16.8
4	Texas	1986		at 2003 Purdue, needs 29pt win for +25	1	0	12.5
5	Louisiana Tech	1982		at 2012 Penn St, needs 21pt win for +25	3	1	12.4
6	South Carolina	2024		at 2021 AZ, needs 30pt win for +25	1	0	12
7	Connecticut	2016		at 2005 LSU, needs 28pt win for +25	1	1	10.8
7	Connecticut	1995		at 2012 Stanford, needs 24pt win for +25	1	0	10.8
9	Notre Dame	2018		at 2007 UNC, needs 23pt win for +25	3	1	9.9
10	Connecticut	2010		at Long Beach St, needs 22pt win for +25	2	1	9.3

Coming into this new 64-team tournament, the 1998 Vols were 4-0 and had a rating of +18.4, meaning we calculated the would beat teh average team in the game by 18.4 points. However, they got a scare traveling to play 2009 Auburn team and teh 69-52 win fell well short of expectations and lowered their new rating to 17.2. 

The 2007 Tennessee team won more impressively with a 76-42 win over Delaware to improve from 14.7 to just below the other two teams at 16.8, just 0.6 points behind the 1998 Vols.

 

But UConn 2002, which is the team to ever put seven future WNBA playres on the roster besides the 2016 UConn team (which had eight) then rolled into Charlottesville and scored on their first seven possessions and went from the starting 20-20 score to 35-22 and never looked back. Here are the stats.

 

Pos	UConn 2002	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Season stats
1-PG	Sue Bird	21	3	4	4	4	2	2	0	3	5'9	14.4 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 5.9 Ast, WNBA
2-SG	Swin Cash	17	0	6	5	6	7	2	1	2	6'2	14.9 Pts, 8.6 Reb, 2.2 Ast, WNBA
3-SF	Diana Taurasi	19	1	8	0	0	3	1	0	1	6'0	14.5 Pts, 4.1 Reb, 5.3 Ast, WNBA
4-PF	Asjha Jones	5	0	2	1	2	9	1	0	2	6'2	14.0 Pts, 6.6 Reb, 1.7 Ast, WNBA
5-C	Tamika Williams	9	0	4	1	1	5	1	2	1	6'2	10.1 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 1.3 Ast, WNBA
Pos	Reserve	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Season stats
1-PG	Maria Conlon	8	0	2	4	6	1	0	0	3	5'9	4.1 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 1.8 Ast
2-SG	Ashley Valley	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	5'9	2.9 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 1.1 Ast
3-SF	Morgan Valley	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'0	3.6 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 0.9 Ast
4-PF	Ashley Battle	6	0	2	2	2	5	1	0	1	6'0	5.4 Pts, 4.7 Reb, 1.3 Ast, WNBA
5-C	Jessica Moore	5	0	2	1	4	5	0	0	1	6'3	5.4 Pts, 3.9 Reb, 0.8 Ast, WNBA
		94	4	32	18	25	39	8	3	16
Pos	Virginia 2018	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Season stats
1-PG	J'Kyra Brown	8	0	2	4	4	2	1	0	4	5'11	9.5 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 2.4 Ast
2-SG	Dominique Toussaint	4	0	1	2	2	2	1	0	5	5'9	11.4 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 3.7 Ast
3-SF	Aliyah Huland El	7	1	2	0	0	4	0	0	1	6'1	10.1 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 1.4 Ast
4-PF	Jocelyn Willoughby	6	0	2	2	2	6	1	1	2	6'0	9.6 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 1.0 Ast, WNBA
5-C	Felicia Aiyeotan	2	0	1	0	0	3	0	3	1	6'9	7.4 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Pos	Reserve	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Ht	Season stats
1-PG	Brianna Tinsley	10	0	3	4	4	2	0	0	3	5'7	4.1 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 1.5 Ast
2-SG	Khyasia Caldwell	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	5'5	0.9 Pts, 0.1 Reb, 0.1 Ast
3-SF	Mone Jones	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'3	0.5 Pts, 0.4 Reb, 0.4 Ast
4-PF	Lauren Moses	2	0	1	0	0	4	1	0	4	6'2	7.2 Pts, 4.8 Reb, 0.9 Ast
5-C	Lisa Jablonowski	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'3	2.3 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 1.2 Ast
		45	1	15	12	12	26	4	4	23

Here are the scoresheets at the beginning and end of the campaign.