Connecticut, Stanford in Classic Matchup : Women’s basketball: No. 1 Huskies trying for perfect season. Georgia, Tennessee meet in other semifinal.

From the West comes a young, deep, racehorse women’s basketball team to challenge undefeated, top-ranked Connecticut today in a national semifinal game. It’s a matchup that would have worked well in a national championship game.

Stanford, 30-2 and gunning for its third NCAA title in six years, has won 17 straight and has worn down all but two of its opponents by playing as many as 13 players. Its always-fresh offense often resembles a 400-meter relay team.

UConn (33-0) isn’t nearly as deep or as fast, but the Huskies’ coach, Geno Auriemma, says he wouldn’t trade his first seven players for anyone else’s. His team is trying to become only the second unbeaten national champion.

Texas, 33-0 in 1985-86, was the first.

In the second semifinal in sold- out Target Center, which seats 19,000, surprising Georgia (28-4) plays Tennessee (33-2). The winners meet Sunday afternoon.

UConn was ranked No. 1 the last 10 weeks of the season, and the Huskies’ apex came Jan. 16 at home when they knocked off Tennessee, No. 1 at the time, 77-66.

Auriemma, the Associated Press coach of the year, groused a bit this week, saying his players could go 35-0 and still find Husky knockers.

“We could go all the way, and some would say, ‘Yeah, but they got there by getting four tournament games on their own court,’ ” he said. “Or, ‘Yeah, but they play in a bad league.’ ”

There is more to the latter knock than the former.

UConn, like Tennessee, had home-court advantage in the early tournament rounds and was host for a regional.

As for the Big East Conference, which had two teams in the tournament, no one should confuse it with the Pac-10, which had five, or the Southeastern, which had seven, two of which made the Final Four.

Then, after saying it, Auriemma said he wouldn’t listen to any of it, if it happened.

“We’d be 35-0 and no one else could say that,” he said. “We’ll have a piece of history, no matter what anyone says.”

Auriemma, however, seemed clearly concerned about Stanford’s depth.

“I heard someone say Stanford didn’t have much depth a year ago,” he said. “What’s that mean--they only had 10 high school All-Americans? If we can keep the game at a pace suitable to us, then Stanford can go ahead and use 10 or 11 players and we’ll still be OK.

“But if we don’t control the pace of the game, then it won’t matter.”

UConn signed a high school All-American last year, 6-0 Nykesha Sales, who is Auriemma’s first sub. She’s shooting 46% from three-point range, averages three assists and just under 12 points.

Stanford brought in its “six trees” last fall, a recruiting class rated by most as Coach Tara VanDerveer’s best in her 10 seasons there. All six were 6 feet or taller, and two of them, 6-2 Kristen Folkl of St. Louis and 6-3 Naomi Mulitauaopele of Seattle have become big-timers as freshmen.

Folkl, star of Stanford’s NCAA championship volleyball team last fall, has come on with a rush, making the all-tournament team at the West Regional tournament last week. She does everything well, and is making three-point shots at a 46% clip.

Mulitauaopele, the major surprise of the team, is shooting 59% from the floor and rebounding with authority.

VanDerveer’s senior mainstays are 6-5 Anita Kaplan, 6-3 Rachel Hemmer and 5-8 point guard Kate Paye.

Those three will be asked to shut down UConn’s big three, 6-7 Kara Wolters, 6-4 Rebecca Lobo, the national player of the year, and 5-5 Jennifer Rizzotti.

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt, in her 21st season, is in her eighth Final Four, a record.

Tennessee-Georgia is an SEC rematch of a game at Knoxville won, 83-61, by Tennessee on Feb. 25. Tennessee went 11-0 in the SEC, Georgia tied Vanderbilt for second at 8-3. Vanderbilt then beat Georgia and Tennessee on consecutive days in the SEC tournament.