Sporting News has revived the perennial debate over the greatest teams in women’s college basketball with a new SN 140 ranking that both celebrates historic dynasties and casts a fresh spotlight on the program currently chasing perfection. The list — compiled as part of Sporting News’ 140th anniversary coverage and weighted by factors such as average margin of victory, performance in national championship games and WBCA Coaches’ All-American selections — places Geno Auriemma’s 2001-02 UConn squad at No. 1, while also noting that the 2025-26 Huskies could soon add another entry to an already dominant legacy.
What makes the timing of the list especially resonant is that UConn’s 2025-26 team arrives at the Women’s Final Four with an unblemished 38-0 record and needs two more victories to finish a perfect 40-0 season. Sporting News underscored the program’s historical breadth by including six unbeaten UConn teams among the top 15 all-time — a concentration of perfection few programs approach. UConn’s 2001-02 team — led by Sue Bird, Swin Cash and a young Diana Taurasi — is ranked the best single-season roster in the sport’s history on the list, described by SN as the closest thing to a college basketball “Dream Team.”
The SN 140 ranking also highlights the sustained excellence of other programs and coaches. Pat Summitt’s Tennessee appears twice in the top selections, including her only perfect 1997-98 team at No. 2, while Dawn Staley’s South Carolina has two teams on the list, including the 2023-24 Gamecocks at No. 4 — a team that closed an undefeated campaign with an 87-75 championship victory over Iowa in what Sporting News notes was the most-watched women’s national title game ever. Kim Mulkey also features on the list both as a standout player and as a coach, reflecting her unique dual impact on the modern game.
Sporting News’ methodology gives weight to statistical dominance: several of the teams on the list posted staggering average margins of victory. UConn’s 2015-16 squad, ranked No. 3, tops the list in that metric with a +39.7 margin and a fourth consecutive national title, while other undefeated teams from Baylor (2011-12), Texas (1985-86) and UConn’s multiple championship seasons populate the upper tiers. The list spans eras, from Old Dominion’s 1979-80 AIAW champion led by Nancy Lieberman to Louisiana Tech’s inaugural NCAA-recognized title in 1981-82.
Sporting News also pointed out that the past decade’s NCAA champions all made the SN 140 list, underlining a continuity between recent dominance and historical greatness. South Carolina’s 2021-22 squad — which finished 35-2 and featured Naismith winner Aaliyah Boston and nine future WNBA players — is another example SN highlighted as close to perfection, its two losses coming by a combined three points.
The release of the list comes as UConn edges toward what would be one of the sport’s rare 40-0 seasons. If the Huskies secure the two wins at this year’s Final Four, they will not only cap a singular season but also reinforce a claim that Sporting News’ ranking frames squarely: few single-season teams in women’s college basketball history have matched the breadth of talent and statistical dominance that select UConn squads — past and present — have produced.