Honestly, a lot of you need to work on your reading comprehension. The article basically does challange other teams to step up.
ND has done that to some extent, with 4 straight final fours and three title game apperances, but until they can recruit a couple of bigger players sizewise, they are going to continue to play second fiddle. It's not a coincidence that ND's only title came when they had a legitimate center in Ruth Riley; they haven't had that since, even with their recent success.
The scary thing is not the gap between UConn and the rest of WBB, it's that there's a gap between UConn and ND, and then another gap to everyone else.
I'm not sure that this year isn't an exception as far as ND being way ahead of everyone else. People have to remember, that even UConn doesn't win it every year and GA even alluded to the fact that last year we were probably not the "best" team. Moreover, UConn does not typically go unbeaten, even in several of the championship years. What really separates UConn is that unlike say, Baylor last year, when UConn is pretty much totally healthy, and have had the best team during the season, they don't lose. Further, even when UConn is not the "best" team and even when they have critical injuries, they are almost always legitimately in the hunt for the NC. The likelihood is that with an uninjured Nykesha ,an uninjured Svet and Shea, and, I admit I'm forgetting who won when a few other key players were out such as Kalana, Mel Thomas, and Caroline there would be a few more trophies in UConn's trophy room.
It's really rare that women are beaten or even given a scare by an unranked team, their losses almost exclusively coming to very good teams. That is what separates them. Obviously, the gap between the top teams and the rest of women's hoops is big, but some of the cast of characters changes a bit a times. The era of UConn excellence with periodic challenges from teams that come and go is extraordinarily long. Yes, Geno gets terrific players, but 5 or 6 other schools pretty regularly get several good players, and sometimes they might out perform a UConn team for a season here or there, but they don't sustain it. Tennessee sustained domination for a long time, and even post-Summitt they haven't gone into hiding, but we get to see what a regular difference a meticulous and demanding coach can make. If UConn's excellence screws up the interest of fans, there is only one solution I can think of without messing up UConn (or retiring GA just yet). The coaching just has to get better.
BTW, it seemed this year that, based on the tournament as a whole, the depth of quality over all wasn't that bad. A lot of competitive games. If the only thing that keeps fans interested is the potential to win an NC, then there is big problem if the measure is going to be the top team or the top 10-15 teams. I think the problem that exists today is the one that has existed forever in women's hoops. The fan interest in general isn't there unless the school has a very good team.(not that different in a lot of men's programs.) No doubt in my mind that if GA had never made a trip to Storrs for an interview, the level of interest in the program, assuming we stayed kind of like Providence or even a bit better, would be zilch. If there were a way to get fans in schools of 2 average teams to attend the games between them in decent numbers, the sport would be getting to a better place. They might be seeing a decent competitive contest, While unsuccessful coaches are being replaced somewhat more often than in the past, to me places like Georgia and Villanova, that have retained modestly successful coaches for decades in high level conferences shows either the difference in attitudes in college AD and presidents' offices between men's and women's hoops where you'd wsee 3 mens's coaches in the same time period,, or the resignation to the fact that they probably can't do any better with a replacement.
