UConn women in a class unto themselves

UNLESS DUKE can pull off the unexpected and win the 2016 NCAA Tournament from a No.4 seed, the streak of not having a repeat champion for the men is going to extend to nine years.

Florida was the last team to repeat by winning in 2006 and '07.

Considering some of the powerful teams we've seen since 1980, it speaks to the overall balance of college basketball that only Duke and Florida have gone back-to-back over the last 35 tournaments.

This year the field is as wide open as ever with at least 10 teams being able to win without it being considered an upset.

After the first round, every team in the field will be considered vulnerable, and a couple will likely be upset in the opening games.

That will not be the case in the women's tournament.

While the quality of the women's game has improved with more schools than ever devoting resources toward building programs, it has not resulted in the parity normally associated with such actions - at least not when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. The women's field for the 2016 tournament was announced Monday and it's the usual suspects at the head of the class.

For the third consecutive season, Connecticut, Notre Dame and South Carolina received No. 1 seeds.

By comparison, the last school to get consecutive No. 1 seeds in the men's tournament was Duke in 2010 and 2011.

It's not just that Connecticut (32-0) is going for a record fourth consecutive women's championship and has won five of the last seven. The teams trying to stop the Huskies are the same ones as always. With UConn leading the way with eight, followed by Notre Dame with five, 29 of the 32 No. 1 seeds since 2009 have been split among just seven different schools.

The men's tournament has had 19 different schools get No. 1 seeds in the same period.

Most of that can be attributed to men's programs losing their best players to the NBA after their freshman or sophomore seasons while women's teams have their stars four full seasons before they can enter the WNBA draft.

In four of the last six tournaments, two No. 1 seeds have met in the championship game.

That has happened 12 times since the NCAA started the women's tournament in 1982 compared to just seven times ever for the men - six since it expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

The women never have had a tournament without at least one No. 1 seed in the Final Four. That's happened three times since the men's field expanded.

Simply put, if you enjoy unpredictability and the possibility of numerous teams being able to win a championship, the women's tournament probably isn't for you. Before the first game is played, I will predict with 99.9987 percent confidence that Connecticut will again win the championship.

The Huskies are trying to become the first program to win four consecutive women's tournaments, and there is no team with more than a marginal chance of stopping them - possibly maybe Notre Dame (31-1), South Carolina (31-1) or Baylor (33-1).

Connecticut is currently riding a 69-game winning streak, which is only the third longest in the history of coach Geno Auriemma's program.

UConn is 110-1 in its last 111 games and 145-5 since the start of the 2012-13 season. The Huskies have had double-digit margins in 116 of their last 117 victories. The last time they did not win by double figures was a 71-65 victory over St. John's on Feb. 2, 2013.

This season Connecticut has won by an average of 39.2 points.

Some might be tempted to say that is because the Huskies play in the American Athletic Conference, in which it is 63-0 all-time, but they won their 11 non-conference games, which included six Top 25 opponents, by 32.2 points.

UConn beat second-ranked Notre Dame by 10, third-ranked South Carolina by 12, No. 5 Maryland by 10, ninth-ranked Ohio State by 44, 17th-ranked Florida State by 24, and No. 23 DePaul by 16.

The Huskies beat AAC rival and No. 21 South Florida three times by a combined total of 62 points.

Frankly, it's shocking that the Huskies have been able to remain so dominant in an era in which there is so much talent spread around.

It's difficult to say when Auriemma's run might slow down. UConn will lose seniors Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck, who were ranked, respectively, Nos. 1, 2 and 6 in the 2012 high school recruiting class. But freshmen Katie Lou Samuelson and Napheesa Collier were ranked Nos. 1 and 6 in the 2015 recruiting class.

Next year the Huskies bring in Crystal Dangerfield, who is ranked as the No. 3 high school senior this year.

It gets repetitive saying it, but in women's college basketball, it is still Connecticut and everybody else.

smallwj@phillynews.com

@SmallTerp