WOMEN'S HOOPS Final teams have variety

UConn, Tennessee, LSU and Minnesota have advanced to New Orleans.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- From the familiar to the unexpected, from a team making history to the local favorite, this women's Final Four comes fully loaded.
Prefer front-runners? Go with Connecticut and Tennessee, who between them have won seven of the last nine national championships. Connecticut is the first school to make five straight Final Four appearances and is seeking its third straight title, something only Tennessee has accomplished.
LSU comes from just up the road for its first Final Four, bringing one of the nation's brightest young stars in sophomore Seimone Augustus and a fill-in coach who's handling herself like a veteran.
Then there's the underdog. Anyone who says they had Minnesota in their Final Four bracket is either incredibly prescient, naively optimistic or lying. The Gophers made it for the first time and arrive as a No. 7 seed, the lowest in six years.
Newcomers vs. veterans
So it will be the newcomers against the veterans in Sunday night's semifinals at the New Orleans Arena -- Minnesota (25-8) vs. Connecticut (29-4) and LSU (27-7) in an all-Southeastern Conference match-up with Tennessee (30-3).
None of the four won its conference tournament season and Tennessee is the only No. 1 seed. In that sense, this gathering near the banks of the Mississippi reflects a regular season in which upsets occurred weekly and the No. 1 position in The AP poll was in constant flux.
The final No. 1 team, Duke, didn't even make it, dumped by Minnesota in the Mideast Regional final.
"The game has changed," said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who is seeking her seventh NCAA title but first since 1998. "The parity we have all hoped for and used to question, we no longer need to question. It is here to stay."
Parity
It seems odd to talk parity around Connecticut and Tennessee. UConn is going for its fourth title in five years and fifth since 1995. Tennessee is in its eighth Final Four in 10 years and 15th overall.
Yet neither had it easy this season and both face strong, confident opponents on Sunday. If UConn and Tennessee meet in Tuesday night's title game for the second straight year, they will have earned it.
Connecticut lost to Villanova and Boston College late in the regular season and was beaten by Duke and Notre Dame 10 days apart in January. The Huskies didn't even make the finals of the Big East tournament, which was played in Hartford.
"It has been one tough year," said Diana Taurasi, UConn's two-time All-American. "Looking back on it, that's made us a lot stronger and a lot more confident, knowing that when things aren't going our way, we know how to fix them."
Only one close game
The Huskies look to be in prime shape now. They've had only one close game in the NCAA tournament, and they rolled over top-seeded Penn State 66-49 in the East Regional final.
And Taurasi has been brilliant, just as she was in UConn's title drive last year. After slumping late in the regular season, Taurasi has averaged 20.8 points in the run-up to the Final Four, including 27 against Penn State, and has carried the Huskies through every critical situation.
"The bottom line is, every team in this tournament wishes they had Diana, especially if the game's tied in the last five minutes," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.
Have a pair
Minnesota doesn't have Taurasi, but the Gophers do have guard Lindsay Whalen and 6-foot-2 center Janel McCarville. Both could be a problem for the Huskies.
Whalen has come back strong from a broken right hand that kept her out of the last seven regular-season games and McCarville has been unstoppable. She had 45 points and 33 rebounds in the two East Regional games, blocked seven shots in the semifinals against Boston College and had six assists in an 82-75 victory over Duke.