We all watched Monday night’s NCAA finals between Kansas and Memphis. We saw Memphis play well enough to win, even if they missed crucial free throws down the stretch, and most of us shouted when Jayhawks guard Mario Chalmers hit the off-balance clutch three-pointer to send the game into overtime.

What most of us missed, however, was the best college basketball game of the weekend: the women’s final played the following night between No.1-seeded Tennessee and No.2-seeded Stanford, won 64-48 by the Lady Vols. The women’s championship game had it all: the Final Four controversy, the marquee superstar versus superstar match-up and, in the end, one of the most fluid team basketball performances in recent memory.

It is impossible to talk of Tuesday game in Tampa’s St. Pete’s Times Forum without first mentioning the women’s Final Four, played last Sunday. Traditionally criticized as a tournament that only the top few teams can win, the women’s version of March Madness had two more non-No.1 seeds in the Final Four than the men’s. That did not stop most analysts, however, from picking a final of Tennessee-Connecticut, the women’s hoops juggernauts that have created a rivalry like the Yankees-Red Sox, both in the on-court play and the off-court antics.

The most recent chapter in the saga came earlier this year, when, as a response to her ongoing feud with UConn coach Geno Auriemma – Auriemma has said that Tennessee counterpart Pat Summit needs to lighten up, while Summit has repeatedly stated her desires for Auriemma to act more maturely and “respect the game” – Summit refused to schedule the Huskies during the regular season, denying the sport and its fans what has perennially become women’s basketball’s most anticipated game. The feud between the two coaches was further exacerbated this year when controversy arose over Auriemma’s recruitment of Maya Moore, the 2006 and 2007 Naismith Prep Player of the Year, which Summit viewed to be both unethical and in violation of NCAA policy.

Excitement over a finals meeting between the two teams was officially terminated on Sunday, when Stanford ran all over the Huskies in a convincing 82-73 win, becoming the first team to score over 80 points on Connecticut all season. The star in that game, as she had been all season for the Cardinals, was Candice Wiggins. The senior All-American guard scored 25 points against UConn, while adding a game-high 13 rebounds.

Tennessee’s Candace, senior forward Candace Parker, was equally impressive in the Lady Vols’ semifinal match against No. 2-seeded LSU. Though slowed by a severely separated shoulder suffered in the team’s regional final versus Texas A&M, Parker led her team with 13 points and 15 rebounds, and added an assist on the game’s final play, a game-winning shot from senior guard Alexis Hornbuckle.

Compare those two games with the men’s Final Four – a blowout victory for Memphis over UCLA and Kansas-UNC contest that was close for approximately three minutes – and already the women’s final was shaping up to be a better matchup. Heading into the championship game, the national media latched onto two key themes, the two teams’ coaches, and the two stars.

For Summit, the chance to coach against Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer was a welcomed relief, and the Lady Vols’ coach spent much of the day before the finals speaking about her respect for her Cardinals opposite. It quickly became clear, however, that Summit’s praise of VanDerveer was more than just her admiration for Stanford’s coach, and that all of Summit’s words were, whether intentional or not, subtle jabs at Auriemma.

The battle of Candice (Wiggins) versus Candace (Parker), was undoubtedly the biggest story. Acquaintances since the two used to play against each other in high school, Parker and Wiggins became close friends after spending a summer training the United States national team – it was with the national team that Parker created the two girls’ nicknames, Ace and Ice, a necessity in telling the two apart (Candace and Candice simply would not suffice). All season they were amongst the best teams in that nation.

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