Nashville, Tenn. - ESPN analyst and Washington Mystics guard Kara Lawson is a proud Tennessee alum who has a very strong relationship with her former coach, Pat Summitt.

UConn has a chance tonight to win a record ninth national championship. That would break the tie between the Huskies and the Lady Volunteers, and Lawson wouldn't feel it was bittersweet.

"I never look it at like that," Lawson said. "While Geno and Pat are so similar, the timing is so different. What Pat has done in this game, as much as it is about the numbers, her place in this game is not - (it's) her impact in the game. She was the only person that could've impacted the way that she did for that period of time she was in the game. The things that she did during that period of time nobody had ever done."

Summitt and Tennessee went 1,098-208 during their 38 years together and won eight national titles between 1987-2008.

Auriemma and the Huskies have won eight national titles from 1995-2013.

"There was an overlap (with Auriemma and Summit's careers)," Lawson said, "but now you look at what Geno is doing with his program, and what he's doing has never been done before. And there's not a person in the game that could've done it like he's done it in this period of time he's in the game. So that's how I look at it.

"I've never looked at praising excellence meaning that you have to choose one or the other. I don't think that's the case. I think, in it's own time, what's happening right now is a remarkable run."

He had Shabazz

The main attraction of UConn's "First Night" last October was a first-time intersquad scrimmage between teams coached by Kevin Ollie and Auriemma.

Auriemma was asked if he had drafted Bria Hartley or Breanna Stewart for "Team Geno."

"Well, unfortunately when we did that, that Midnight Madness thing, we didn't get to pick our teams," Auriemma said. "So, I was just assigned a team. And I thought I had it made. I had Shabazz (Napier), DeAndre Daniels. So, I thought there's no way we could lose. And we're down like 20 at halftime.

"(I) finally told them, I said 'that's one reason why I don't coach guys, you guys just don't listen. And then Shabazz scored like 30 straight. We won at the end."

They said it

• UConn's Stefanie Dolson on being the team that people dislike because of their success: "You get used to it, and you definitely embrace it because you just have to go out on the court with that confidence that we know no one wants to see us win ... so we're going to win anyway."

• Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw on Kayla McBride: "She is like an assassin. I think that she's willing to throw the dagger. She wants to give you the knockout punch."

• McBride on what makes playing UConn different than other teams: "I think a lot of people go in playing UConn, they see their jerseys and they've already lost the game. I don't think we're like that. I think we have a certain swag to us, and I think it's like that with any team."

• Dolson on being forbidden to go on social media during the season: "I think it's a benefit. I mean, it takes away from the distractions. I think social media is such a narcissistic thing. I think people do it for themselves and to kind of get themselves out there."

News and notes

Dolson was named the National Defensive Player of the Year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. The announcement was made during the WBCA's annual awards show on Monday night. The other finalists were Baylor's Odyssey Sims and Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike. Dolson enters tonight's championship game averaging 9.2 rebounds, tops on the team, and 7.1 defensive rebounds. She also has 90 blocked shots and 40 steals. ... Notre Dame's McGraw was awarded the WBCA's Pat Summitt Trophy as the National Coach of the Year for the second straight season.

n.griffen@theday.com