The first championship, 2000–2001

2000 – 2001

The season: The 2000–01 Irish finished 34–2 — and the season's shape is told by its three biggest games before the Final Four. On January 15, 2001, Notre Dame met Connecticut at the Joyce Center in a game between the country's only two unbeaten teams, before 11,418 people: the first sellout crowd in the program's history. Notre Dame won 92–76 — its first win over Connecticut, its first win over a top-ranked team, and its passport to the No. 1 ranking, which it took for the first time that week. The Irish won their first twenty-three games, a school record, before the season's first loss, at Rutgers on February 17: 54–53, on Tammy Sutton-Brown's three-point play with 28.1 seconds left and her block of Notre Dame's last shot. The second loss came in the Big East tournament final at Storrs on March 6, Connecticut 78, Notre Dame 76 — the Irish's regular-season conference title, shared, standing in place of the tournament crown Connecticut kept.

The semifinal: In St. Louis, on March 30, Notre Dame drew defending-champion Connecticut for a third time and fell sixteen points behind in the first half. The Irish came all the way back to win 90–75 — the largest comeback in a Final Four game to that date — making eight of eleven three-point shots, a Final Four semifinal record in the Congressional Record's tribute to the team. The win put Notre Dame in its first championship game.

The final: April 1, 2001 — Easter Sunday — at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, before 20,551: Notre Dame 68, Purdue 66, in a final between two Indiana schools. The Irish trailed by twelve in the second half. Purdue's Katie Douglas, who scored 18, put the Boilermakers ahead 66–64 in the last minute. Ruth Riley tied the game on a layup, was fouled with 5.8 seconds left, and made both free throws. Douglas's last shot, at the buzzer, hit the front of the rim. Riley finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds and 7 blocked shots and was named the Final Four's most outstanding player.

The honors that came with it: Riley was the Naismith and Associated Press national player of the year, the Big East player of the year, and the CoSIDA Academic All-America of the Year — a sweep no Notre Dame player of either sex had made. Ivey, the point guard, won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the nation's outstanding senior of 5-foot-8 or under, was a third-team Associated Press All-American and made the Final Four all-tournament team. McGraw was the national coach of the year in the Associated Press, Naismith and WBCA balloting. The championship was the first in the sport won by a Big East school other than Connecticut.

Sources:

1. Associated Press game accounts (fightingirish.com archive) — the January 15, 2001 Connecticut game and first sellout; the February 17, 2001 Rutgers loss, 54–53; the season's 23–0 start.
2. NCAA championship record and Congressional Record tribute — the March 30 semifinal comeback and three-point record; the April 1 final (68–66), Riley's line and most-outstanding-player honor, the 20,551 crowd.
3. University record book — the honors lists (Riley's national awards; Ivey's Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award and Final Four all-tournament selection; McGraw's 2001 coach-of-the-year honors).