Notre Dame’s second national championship in women’s basketball — one of only seven teams to ever win multiple titles — was a great accomplishment and capped a brilliant run started when Skylar Diggins led ND back to the Final Four in 2011 for the first time since 2001.
ND’s run the last eight seasons is second only to UConn — ND has amassed 275 wins, six final fours, five championship game appearances and one national championship. UConn has 292 wins, eight final fours, four championship games and four titles.
ND has lost just 27 games over the past eight seasons — 11 to UConn — for a winning percentage of 91.1%. UConn has won 95.4% of its games over the same period with just 14 losses — eight of the losses were to the Irish. So, ND is 8 and 11 against UConn and the rest of the women’s college basketball world is 6 and 281. Stanford (2), Baylor (2), Mississippi State (1) and St. John's (1) are the only other teams to beat the Huskies over the past eight seasons. Since the Big East imploded and ND joined the ACC, UConn has only lost three games -- 188 - 3 (98.4%).
In each of ND’s six Final Fours, the Irish have faced UConn — four times in the semis and twice in the final game. ND is 3 and 3 against the Huskies — with all three wins in the semi-finals.
After UConn’s eight trips and ND’s six over the past eight Final Fours, only Stanford (four times), Mississippi State, South Carolina, Louisville, and Maryland (each with two trips) have made multiple trips to the Final Four. The other six teams to survive to the final weekend only did it once each — Baylor, Washington, Oregon State, Cal, Texas A&M and Syracuse.
Only eight teams have made it to the championship game — ND (5 times), UConn (4), Mississippi State (2), and Louisville, South Carolina, Baylor, Texas A&M and Syracuse (once each).
Baylor is the biggest surprise. The Lady Bears played in only one Final Four and one championship game, which they won behind Brittany Griner, in 2012. Despite matching ND’s 275 wins over the past eight seasons and winning 92.6% of its games, Baylor has managed just one trip to the Final Four. The Lady Bears have captured two titles in three total Final Four appearances all time.
UConn, ND and Baylor are the only teams to reach the Final Four over the past eight seasons to win over 90% of their games over that time span. Only three other teams to reach the Final Four have won more than 80% of their games over the past eight seasons including four time Final Four participant Stanford (83.8%), Maryland (83.5%), and South Carolina (80.7%).
After UConn with 11 titles and Tennessee with 8, ND joins just four other teams who have captured two national championships: Baylor (last in 2012), Stanford (last in 1992), Louisiana Tech (last in 1988) and USC (last in 1984). Given the sustained dominance of UConn and Tennessee, only thirteen other teams have won a title since the NCAA began holding the women’s championship in 1982 — and eight have only done it once.
Finally, only four teams have more Final Four appearances than ND. UConn now leads with 19 surpassing Tennessee whose last appearance of 18 total was in 2008. Stanford has advanced to 13 Final Fours and Louisiana Tech to 10 — the last in 1999. Next comes ND with eight. No other team has more than three.