 In March 2001, UConn had won their second national championship a year earlier, and was headed to the NCAA tournament as a number 1 seed.They had only lost two games during the regular season, once to Tennessee, and once to Notre Dame, each of whom were number one seeds in the tournament.However, the UConn squad had lost Svetlana Abrosimova, an All-American who would be drafted seventh in the WNBA draft, to a season-ending foot injury.