The 2014 is a very special team. They were going into the season with a short bench to begin with. Then in the second game they lose KML and Tuck to injury. Both are out the next 8 games. KML comes back but her injury lingers and affects her shooting pretty much the entire season. Tuck plays a couple of games but is again dealing with injury. Banks is up and down after coming back from an amazing sophomore season where she ended up tearing her ACL. As a result this year she was trying to get her way back into game shape. She was doing fairly well, I thought, until the NCAA tournament where Geno barely played her. Chong hit the freshman wall, and again I was shocked Geno did not play her in the NCAA's.
Bria, Stef, and Stewie were the best players in their positions this year. One could make an argument that Jefferson's improvements this season were the most impressive and she is a key component to this years win. KML had she remained healthy all season would have made some big history this year. So in a season where she was out for 12 games due to an elbow injury and Mono, she had what was for her a sub-par season, which many players across the nation would have killed for as their total season stats. There are some players who cannot score 374 points in three seasons let alone 2/3rds of a season.
This team had a lot going for it... but the fact they were able to win with all the adversity. Losing players, injuries, illnesses, short benches, not getting into foul trouble, etc... it was very impressive.
However I am still very much partial to the 2000 team. Something about seeing BamBam going out a Champ!