Even such a good coach as Geno could not win an National Championship against Notre Dame in 2001 when Svet and She's were unavailable. If you were implying that a better Notre Dame coach could have won Tuesday night's game without Achonwa, I think that you are quite mistaken.
Very different circumstances. First off, Notre Dame crushed UCONN with Svet/Shea that season by 16 earlier in the season.
Second, Notre Dame played 1 week of basketball without Achonwa and lacked quality post depth to make up for it. UCONN was able to bring in Taurasi, Asjha Jones, and Swin Cash off the bench to replace Abrosimova/Shea. Reimer will be a very good player in the long run and Wright was great in the semifinals, both neither of them are suitable replacements.
I'll also point out, losing Tuck is not remotely comparable to losing Achonwa. Tuck was a solid role player averaging 7.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game before she stopped playing. A nice contributor who added depth but was not necessary for a title run. Achonwa was the team's leader who averaged 15 points, 8 rebounds and 2.5 assists as a center. She was Notre Dame's Stefanie Dolson, a physical big who helps direct the offense, passes well and finishes around the rim. Not to mention, she was playing the best basketball of her career (20+ points/10+ rebounds in the NCAA tournament) before getting injured. Her presence and skills were invaluable to her team and Notre Dame had just 1 week of practice without her.
All that said, I think UCONN would have won if Achonwa had played. After that championship performance, there's no denying that UCONN was a worthy champion and is one of the best teams ever. For all we know, with Achonwa maybe Notre Dame's attitude is different, maybe players other than McBride show up, and maybe they are able to slow down the post players for UCONN. We'll never know....but in the end, UCONN won the championship and proved to be a really great team.
