Much to her dismay, and likely disgust, few in the Madison area have any idea what's about to hit town this weekend. Wading through another affront to women's sports everywhere, Albright undoubtedly had to bite her lip when she made the plea.

"If I could, I'd like to ask for your guys' help on something - if you could just get the word out about Sunday," Albright said.

Sunday just happens to be the day the third-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols come to the Kohl Center to meet Albright's No. 22 Badgers. But more than a Top 25 clash or the fourth installment of what will surely be a classic battle in years to come, the contest Sunday serves up something far greater.

It is an opportunity of epic proportions for Wisconsin, players and fans alike, to witness the nation's premier women's basketball program. A ticket to this weekend's tilt offers to all in attendance the very real - and very rare - occasion to see a legend in person. It's a chance for people to see how good Wisconsin really is.

And no one knows it more than Albright.

"This is a really big week for our program," Albright said. "It would certainly be a great gift for these kids, because we've never had an official sellout at the Kohl Center. I think that a lot of people don't know about how big an opportunity this is for us to bring in the best program in the country, hands down."

Albright spoke graciously of Tennessee, assuming a tone of reverence reserved for only the greatest of teams.

Reserved only for dynasties.

Unmatched success

Simply put, there has been no more prolific a program in the history of women's college basketball. With 791 wins, the Lady Vols are the all-time winningest program in NCAA Division I women's basketball history. Since Pat Summitt took over the team in 1974, Tennessee has amassed 698 of those wins, and the Lady Vols have won no fewer than 22 games since 1977. En route to averaging 28 wins per season, Tennessee has won 30 games nine times.

But the most impressive number of all is in the single digits. Over the last 11 seasons, Tennessee has claimed an unheard of six national championships. Chamique Holdsclaw, now of the Washington Mystics, came close to winning a title in all four of her seasons in Knoxville before suffering an upset in last year's NCAA semifinals to Louisiana Tech.

Without question, they are the team opponents set their sights on year in and year out.

"When I first found out that we were playing them, I was so excited," forward Jessie Stomski said. "It's not exactly like a championship, but it's real big.

"I'm not awestruck by them, because I'd like to think that our team can be at a level like them by the time I leave. But still, I have a tremendous amount of respect for their program."

Just how good is the Tennessee program at any given time? This preseason, Tennessee put an exclamation point atop every other exclamation point they've ever written. Rallying from a 10-point deficit, the Lady Vols downed the U.S. women's national team, 65-64. The team, comprised of 10 current WNBA players, had won the previous two games of their college exhibition tour (against Stanford and UCLA) by an average victory margin of 50 points.

"It's like John Wooden and his Bruins"

Albright has a different perspective than most admirers of the Tennessee program, having once been a part of it as a graduate assistant from 1981 to 1983. She came to the budding program just prior to Summit's seventh season, and it's no wonder that Albright and Summitt became, and have remained, close friends. The two coaches are separated by just four years.

Is the math not adding up? It helps if you know that Summitt took over the Lady Vols when she was just 22 years old.

Celebrating her 20th anniversary at Knoxville in 1993, Summitt thought back to the shaky first days of her tenure.

"The only thing I had in my mind was to complete my master's, because I was here as a graduate assistant taking four classes and teaching four classes," said Summitt, a former national team player, Olympian and the only female coach ever to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated. "I wanted to survive a year, do a good job coaching, meet my academic requirements, and also train for the Olympic trials. My thoughts were divided at that time, but I wasn't thinking that 'I'm going to build a national powerhouse at Tennessee.' I thought, 'I have a one-year appointment to do a lot of things for myself and for the program.'"

Now in her 26th year of coaching and a four-time Naismith College Coach of the Year, the Basketball Hall of Fame honored Summitt in 1998 with the John Bunn Award, the most prestigious prize they hand out. Should the Lady Vols win tonight over defending national champion Purdue, Summitt will be going for her 700th career win Sunday against Albright.

"No other team has won six national championships," Albright said. "Its basically, if you're as old as me, its like John Wooden and his Bruins teams coming in. [Summitt is] the best coach in the country, hands down."

Sacrilegious, you say? In a survey of head women's coaches, Summitt was chosen as the person with whom they would most like to talk basketball with.

Wooden is second.

Recruiting Wars

Summitt is used to getting what she wants, particularly when it comes to talent. Over the last 26 years, the "Wizard of Knoxville" has recruited some of the top talent in the country, including Holdsclaw, Nikki McCray and Bridgette Gordon. In the recent past, Summitt has also brought in Tamika Catchings and this year's Naismith High School Player of the Year, Kara Lawson. A 5-foot-9 guard, Lawson played linebacker in youth football and can bench-press 235 pounds.

Miraculously, however, one got away from Tennessee's clutches when Nina Smith fell into the arms of Wisconsin. Smith was the biggest loss for Summitt since she let ex-Stanford alum and current Detroit Shock player Jennifer Azzi slip through her fingers.

Albright has said that 98 things out of 100 had to go right in the recruiting process for UW to snare Smith away from the Lady Vols. It appears that nearly 20 years later, the student is nipping the heels of the master.

"Jane and her staff did an excellent job recruiting her," Summitt said. "We thought Nina was very much like a Daedra Charles, who was an All-American for us. Without a doubt, she was the most skilled post player that we had recruited. It was a big loss for us. I have to credit Jane for the great job she did and convincing Nina that Wisconsin was the place for her."

Sunday's Challenge

Badger star Jessie Stomski felt uncomfortable guaranteeing a win this weekend, and justifiably so considering the adversary. But she nonetheless felt good about Wisconsin's chances, if not just for victory than for something less tangible. Simply another Top 25 tussle for Tennessee, this game serves as a benchmark for the up-and-coming Badgers. Who better to judge the growth of one's own program against than the standard of excellence in the field?

And yet, on the eve a tremendous opportunity, discontent still lingers. Still lacking reliable support at the Kohl Center, Badgerball is still pleading for attention.

"It's frustrating, you know?" Stomski pined rhetorically. "I don't understand why people won't support us. This is one of the teams in women's sports. And I don't know why people wouldn't want to come out and see - if not a great game -a team that has done so much for the sport. And obviously, Pat Summitt is the premier coach in the game. It's just a great opportunity for everyone, not just us."

But if Wisconsin has to do this on its own, so be it.

"We've all been thinking about this the whole season," Stomski said. "I can't say what it would mean if we beat them, but it would be unbelievable."