UConn-Notre Dame renew rivalry tonight

COLUMBUS, OHIO — It wasn’t long ago Geno Auriemma and Muffet McGraw were constantly on each other’s minds.

That’s what happens when you coach two of the nation’s best teams and play in the same conference. UConn and Notre Dame would play four times a season, heightening the intensity of one of the best rivalries in women’s college basketball.

Now with the two powerhouse programs in different conferences, the intensity has diminished. They play once a season, with a second meeting usually coming on the grand stage of the Final Four.

“The neat thing about it is after every game in December now I will say to her all the time, ‘I’ll see you in March. If I see you in March it will be in the Final Four, so that’s cool,” Auriemma said.

The unbeaten Huskies and Irish play tonight in the national semifinals in which all four top seeds advanced. The winner will face Louisville or Mississippi State for the title Sunday night.

There was a stretch between 2010 and 2013 when the two squads played 15 times. The Irish won seven times, twice knocking UConn out of the Final Four.

“I think now we only play them once a year, there is some distance to the rivalry,” McGraw said. “I think that it always, of course, will be a rivalry just because they’re the best team in the country right now. But I think it’s not that intensity that we had when we were in the Big East because you’re constantly watching in your

TODAY’S GAMES

■ Mississippi State vs. Louisville ,7 p.m., ESPN2

■ UConn vs. Notre Dame, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2 conference.

“Now we’re in the ACC, and we’re focused on that, and that’s the best conference in women’s basketball. We can’t really afford to be watching a lot of other teams. We really focused on that.

“So I think it definitely has lessened the intensity of the rivalry, but that could change tomorrow.”

Miss. State shooting for more history

Mississippi State wants to write some more history in the women’s college basketball world.

For now at least, the Bulldogs are best remembered as the team that ended UConn’s 111-game winning streak in last year’s national semifinal, knocking off the mighty Huskies in overtime on a buzzer-beater by guard Morgan William. It was the shot heard around world, overshadowing MSU’s loss in the final to South Carolina.

With virtually the same guard-strong lineup as last year, the Bulldogs are back in the Final Four seeking more. So of course are the ubiquitous Huskies, although the teams won’t meet again unless both are victorious in their national semifinal games.

Mississippi State (36-1) first has to be get by Louisville (362) in the first game tonight.“