The women's basketball rivalry between the Lady Volunteers of the University of Tennessee and the UConn Huskies of the University of Connecticut is one of the fiercest rivalries in college basketball, and perhaps the only one to reach national consciousness out of the women's game. The matchup features two long-tenured and media savvy coaches generally acknowledged among the top five ever in their sport, over two dozen players who went on to play in the WNBA, and two programs that have combined for 19 national championships. Their head-to-head matchups were consistently the top-rated games in the college women's field. Until the 2006-07 season, the two programs met annually in winter at one or both of the schools, but the rivalry is unique for having a third of its games occurring in the women's NCAA tournament. Four times, the national championship has been on the line. The schools started playing each other in 1995. UConn leads the series 16-9, including 5-2 in the tournament and 4-0 for the title. On the day of every meeting during the rivalry series, both schools have ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press rankings, until 2023 when Tennessee was not ranked for the first time in the series. In AP Poll history, Tennessee and UConn have the two longest appearance streaks in women's college basketball. Tennessee had a 565-week run spanning 32 years and UConn currently has a more than 500-week run covering almost 30 years. In addition, UConn has the most No. 1 appearances with 246 with Tennessee in second at 112. The two schools halted the regular-season series after the 2006-2007 season, and didn't play again for 13 years. The next season, both teams made the 2008 Final Four, but Stanford defeated UConn in the semifinals. Tennessee won the championship. In 2018, a home and home series was announced with the next meeting at UConn on January 23, 2020. Thirteen years after the series halted, UConn beat Tennessee in the rivalry rematch, 60-45. The coaches In its heyday, the rivalry was notable among team sports in that it almost unerringly focused on the sidelines rather than the floor. The two coaches were far and away the best known and best paid in their sport, with both being in the Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Between them, they account for over 2,000 wins. On the Tennessee side