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By my count, only 8 teams have achieved what I call a “power decade” during the modern era of women’s basketball . What is a power decade? Ten or more consecutive years of reaching the Sweet 16.
The fans of the truly elite programs may think this to be a very minor achievement because Geno has an ONGOING Triple Power decade of 32 consecutive years; and Pat had 28 straight years ( including 2 years from the AIAW) that ended in 2008. Nobody else has achieved a sweet 16 streak of over 14 years.
Duke had an 11 year “power decade” from 1998-2008 and is the only team to obtain such achievement without winning a national title during their streak. They did play in two national championship games during the period, but alas, no Cheerwine corks were popped.
Notre Dame is the only program that earned only one title during their steak of ten years from 2010-2019. ( Muffet won one before the power decade began). However, they did earn their way into the title game 5 more times during their power decade. A dubious honor? Only to UConn fans.
SCar has the only power decade other than UConn that is still active at this time. Dawn’s “decade” began in 2015 and has reached eleven this past year. Like the other programs with power decades, they have won 3 NCs ( and a runner up) during theirs. Can they reach 12 consecutive Sweet 16s this year? The talent is there again but they have been pushed by their last two sweet 16 opponents. Upsets happen. We’ll see.
Louisiana Tech had one of the most interesting 12 year “decades” beginning with their three straight final four ( including a runnerup and a championship) in the final years of the AIAW era under coach Sonja Hogg. During the next 9 NCAA tournaments, the program would Win another championship under co -coaches Hogg and Leon Barmore . After Coach Hogg returned to coach high school ball, Barmore won the program’s 3rd championship alone -though with the help of his point guard and future assistant, Kim Mulkey. There were two runner ups during the power decade and two more under Barmore afterwards.
Kim also had a 12 year “power decade” at Baylor from 2009 until her resignation in 2022 to move to LSU. Yes, she won 3 championships and never lost a championship game at Baylor. Can she produce another Power Decade at LSU? We’ll see, but she entered rarefied air when she won her 4th personal championship at LSU.
Finally, let’s look at Stanford, perhaps the program that’s toughest to win at due to academic standards. Tara VanDerveer strung together 14 consecutive years of Sweet 16s there from 2008 to 2022 - the year before her retirement. Tara had one championship and two runnerups during her power decade. She also had two other championships prior to the power decade.
Okay. End of Sunday History Lesson
The fans of the truly elite programs may think this to be a very minor achievement because Geno has an ONGOING Triple Power decade of 32 consecutive years; and Pat had 28 straight years ( including 2 years from the AIAW) that ended in 2008. Nobody else has achieved a sweet 16 streak of over 14 years.
Duke had an 11 year “power decade” from 1998-2008 and is the only team to obtain such achievement without winning a national title during their streak. They did play in two national championship games during the period, but alas, no Cheerwine corks were popped.
Notre Dame is the only program that earned only one title during their steak of ten years from 2010-2019. ( Muffet won one before the power decade began). However, they did earn their way into the title game 5 more times during their power decade. A dubious honor? Only to UConn fans.
SCar has the only power decade other than UConn that is still active at this time. Dawn’s “decade” began in 2015 and has reached eleven this past year. Like the other programs with power decades, they have won 3 NCs ( and a runner up) during theirs. Can they reach 12 consecutive Sweet 16s this year? The talent is there again but they have been pushed by their last two sweet 16 opponents. Upsets happen. We’ll see.
Louisiana Tech had one of the most interesting 12 year “decades” beginning with their three straight final four ( including a runnerup and a championship) in the final years of the AIAW era under coach Sonja Hogg. During the next 9 NCAA tournaments, the program would Win another championship under co -coaches Hogg and Leon Barmore . After Coach Hogg returned to coach high school ball, Barmore won the program’s 3rd championship alone -though with the help of his point guard and future assistant, Kim Mulkey. There were two runner ups during the power decade and two more under Barmore afterwards.
Kim also had a 12 year “power decade” at Baylor from 2009 until her resignation in 2022 to move to LSU. Yes, she won 3 championships and never lost a championship game at Baylor. Can she produce another Power Decade at LSU? We’ll see, but she entered rarefied air when she won her 4th personal championship at LSU.
Finally, let’s look at Stanford, perhaps the program that’s toughest to win at due to academic standards. Tara VanDerveer strung together 14 consecutive years of Sweet 16s there from 2008 to 2022 - the year before her retirement. Tara had one championship and two runnerups during her power decade. She also had two other championships prior to the power decade.
Okay. End of Sunday History Lesson
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