Final pivots around Parker

Nobody would argue that Candace Parker’s name deserves a special place on a short list of the greatest players in the storied history of the Tennessee women’s basketball program.

Nobody but Parker.

Her reasoning is simple.

“All the greats at Tennessee won championships,” said the national player of the year. “That seals the deal.”

By that criteria, the 6-foot-4 sophomore from Naperville, Ill., could be only hours away from forging a personal sense of belonging alongside former Tennessee greats such as Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings and Bridgette Gordon.

Parker will lead the Lady Vols (33-3) against upstart Rutgers (27-8) tonight in Quicken Loans Arena in the championship game of the NCAA tournament.

Rutgers, which was seeded fourth in the Greensboro Regional and upset top-seeded Duke in the round of 16 en route to its first NCAA final, is trying to become the lowest-seeded team to win the title.

The Scarlet Knights’ coach, C. Vivian Stringer, has taken three schools to the Final Four -- Cheyney State and Iowa were the others -- but the third-winningest coach in women’s basketball history is trying to win her first championship.

She’s well aware that a title-driven Parker stands in her way. Stringer said that trying to figure out a way to stop the multitalented Parker had kept her up through the night Sunday after the Scarlet Knights had shut down Louisiana State’s 6-6 All-American, Sylvia Fowles, in a 59-35 semifinal victory.

“There’s nothing that she can’t do,” Stringer said Monday of Parker, who leads the Lady Vols in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots and is third in assists. “I think everybody’s always impressed with the beautiful athlete, the beautiful body. I mean, she can rebound, dunk, shoot the ball, play the point.

“I mean, how many players in this world can do that? None.”

Parker’s versatility is such that, in the Tennessee media guide, she is listed as a center, forward and guard. She averages 19.7 points and 9.9 rebounds.

Because of her ability, not to mention her grace, fluidity and photogenic good looks, she would seem to be a dream come true for the WNBA. It was widely speculated too that she might make herself available for Wednesday’s draft. Parker, in her third year at Tennessee after redshirting two seasons ago because of a knee injury, would be eligible if she proved that she was on track to graduate this year. But Parker has not fueled the rumors.

“I’ve talked about that as much as I can,” she said. “I’ve answered that 15 hundred different ways. It’s just, I love Tennessee, I love the university, I love wearing orange -- and why not wear it for another year? It’s just something I want to do.”

Of course, that left open the impression that she would leave after next season, but for now her No. 1 priority is ending Tennessee’s nine-year title drought.

“I want my legacy to be that we hung banners during my career,” said Parker, younger sister of former NBA guard Anthony Parker. “Most of us, if not all of us, came to Tennessee to win national championships, and we haven’t done that since 1998.”

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt won a recruiting battle for Parker by convincing her she could be a champion.

“She told me that our class was capable of cutting down nets,” Parker said. “I think that really sold me on the program. Obviously, I was going to be playing against the best players in the country every day in practice, pushing me to get better.”

Also pushing, she found out, would be ghosts of titles past.

“Candace knows that and understands that,” Summitt said. “And she said, ‘Don’t talk about Candace Parker along with Chamique and Tamika until Candace Parker’s part of a national championship.’

“I think that speaks volumes for who she is. She’s willing to put it on the line, right or wrong, that this is how people will most likely define her career.”

jerome.crowe@latimes.com

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TODAY’S FINAL

Rutgers (27-8) vs. Tennessee (33-3)

Time: 5:30 p.m.; TV: ESPN