[8] Kristen "Ace" Clement came out of Pennsylvania, where she had broken Wilt Chamberlain's scoring record in Philadelphia of 2,205 with 2,256 points.

[9] The fourth freshman, Teresa Geter, was not as well-known, but was considered to be the best player in South Carolina, and had been named Miss Basketball, just like the others.

After an exhibition rout of US Armed Forces, the Lady Vols opened up the season unusually, with a conference game against Mississippi.

[11] The Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters were ranked second in the country and was expected to challenge Tennessee for the national title.

The teams played evenly for the beginning of the second half, before Louisiana Tech raised the lead to five with just over twelve minutes remaining.

[15] Down by one at the half, the Lady Vols played great defense in the second, allowing just five field goals and winning by 18.

[12] The Lady Vols next traveled to Portland, as part of Summitt's yearly effort to play at least one game near the hometown of each player.

[18] A rare New Year's Day game was played against SEC foe Arkansas, who was ranked just inside the top 25.

UConn led the series 4–3, but the Lady Vols had won the last matchup, and the undefeated Huskies wanted revenge.

Thompson-Boling Arena seated nearly 25,000 fans, an NCAA women's record, and, as an experiment, the game was played in four quarters instead of two halves.

Once again, the Vols ran a talented team into the ground, as they only allowed 18 first half points, ultimately winning by a score of 99–60.

[19] The Lady Vols returned home and resumed their SEC schedule against in-state foe Vanderbilt, who was ranked in the top 10.

Catchings was named the SEC Player of the Week for her role in the DePaul and Vanderbilt games, scoring 35 and 22 points respectively.

This game was followed up by a non-conference match against longtime rival Old Dominion, whom Tennessee had beaten in the previous year's national championship.

Holdsclaw took over the second half for the Lady Vols, scoring 24 points for an 85–61 victory, ODU's biggest loss in four years.

However, once again the team came out strong to open the second half, raising their lead and eventually had double State's points, with ten minutes remaining.

The Bulldogs cut the lead to eleven, but then Summitt put Holdsclaw back in, scoring eight in a row, giving Tennessee another victory, 74–52.

After a two-day rest, the Lady Vols resumed their season with three games in five days, starting with their final non-conference opponent, Memphis, on the road.

The final game of this stretch was the rematch with Vanderbilt, played on President's Day in front of a sellout crowd at the Commodores' quirky Memorial Gymnasium and a national television audience on ESPN.

[22] Tennessee started slowly and Randall picked up two early fouls, resulting in Ace Clement taking her place in the lineup where she scored five quick points and helped the team to a twelve-point halftime lead.

[23] The Regional Finals were not all that far away from Knoxville – the Lady Vols only had to travel a couple of hours, to Nashville, where they faced 5th-seeded Rutgers, who came in with a record of 22–9.

Rutgers had survived two close games to reach this point, defeating 12th-seeded Oregon, 79–76, in the first round, and then upsetting 4th-seeded Iowa State, 62–61 in the second.

[24] This game gave Tennessee their 36th win, breaking Connecticut's record of 35,[25] as the Lady Vols advanced to the Regional Finals.

Carolina was soon forced to start fouling the Lady Vols, who made their free throws and advanced to the Final Four, 76–70.

[12] Louisiana Tech knocked off NC State in their semifinal match, 84–65, making the national championship a match-up between the two teams that started the season ranked first and second.

Tech was not able to make a run until late in the second half, when they were able to cut the lead down to eighteen, only to see Kellie Jolly hit back-to-back three-pointers.

[29] Holdsclaw, who was named the Final Four MVP, her second consecutive, also won her seventh straight title (3 NCAA, 4 State).

After the game, Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Balmore proclaimed this Lady Vols squad to be the "best ever",[30] something Old Dominion Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman has stated back in February.

[31] However, not everyone was positive, as ESPN analyst Mimi Griffin stated that Tennessee's dominance was becoming a detriment to the women's game.

Connecticut would later match the Lady Vols' 39–0 mark in 2002, 2009, and 2010 before Baylor eclipsed the record in 2012 and tied by UConn themselves in 2014, as the only teams to win 40 straight games in a season.