Guard Play Will Determine the Championship

There is a common thread binding the Final Four teams gearing up to decide the 2002 NCAA champion in women’s basketball.

All of the teams--Connecticut, Duke, Oklahoma and Tennessee--are here because of outstanding guard play.

Mideast Region champion Connecticut (37-0) has a devastating duo in senior Sue Bird, the national player of the year, and sophomore Diana Taurasi, who can drive to the basket and shoot the three-point shot with equal aplomb.

Midwest Region champion Tennessee (29-4) is led by senior captain Kara Lawson, who is the extension of Coach Pat Summitt’s will and intensity on the floor.

East Region champion Duke (31-3) has its own brilliant sophomore in Alana Beard, whose combination of speed, vision and athleticism makes her as much a nightmare to defend as Taurasi.

West Region champion Oklahoma (31-3) has arguably the most experienced, savvy tandem in seniors Stacey Dales and LaNeishea Caufield.

So figure that the champion will come from the team whose backcourt has the best weekend.

Connecticut, which plays Tennessee in one semifinal, is the heavy favorite. Only one team (Virginia Tech) has stayed within nine points of the Huskies, who overran Oklahoma and Tennessee in the regular season.

The starting lineup of Bird, Taurasi, and forwards Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams has led Connecticut to a school-record for wins and its third consecutive Final Four. Two more victories and Connecticut will not only tie Tennessee’s NCAA standard of 39 regular-season victories, but lay claim to being the best team ever.

As dangerous as Taurasi can be, Tennessee must first stop Bird. A 14.4-points-a-game scorer during the regular season, she went wild in regional wins over Penn State and Old Dominion with 24 and 26 points, respectively. She also had 11 assists against Old Dominion.

Still, it’s fitting the Lady Vols have the first opportunity to stop the Huskies’ encroachment on their historical turf. Even though Tennessee was outclassed by Connecticut in an 86-72 loss on its home court in January, Summitt--who has six national championships and 780 wins--knows a thing or two about preparing teams for highly pressurized situations.

Summitt will need Lawson to rediscover her offense. Lawson stirred Tennessee’s defensive effort in wins over Brigham Young and Vanderbilt. But she had only five points in each game. That’s not enough from someone used to getting 15 points a night.

Duke, whose 22-game winning streak is the second longest in the nation after Connecticut’s, is the youngest team in the tournament (only one senior).

The Huskies, Lady Vols and Sooners can handle it if their top guards have an off game, but the Blue Devils cannot afford a bad night from Beard. So far she hasn’t been bad, the 24 points and seven assists in the regional final against South Carolina being typical of the kind of tournament she is enjoying.

Caufield and Dales work extremely well together.

Caufield, who scored 18 and 25 in the Sooners’ wins over Texas Tech and Colorado, knows Dales needs just a sliver of space to pass her the ball for easy scores, either on a fastbreak or in the halfcourt game.

Caufield has been looking for her shot all tournament; if she makes a couple of baskets early she becomes a huge defensive problem. If she misses early she can become discouraged.

Dales, who had 15 and 20 points in the two games, will produce points if needed and can be a three-point threat.

But Dales is most dangerous when she is directing the offense, either from the top of the key or inside the lane. Whoever defends her has to deny Dales the ball as much as possible. That will slow Oklahoma down to a walk.