Tennessee needed time and toil to find a toehold in one of women's basketball's biggest matchups.

CLASSIC BEGINNING

Sunday's inaugural Jimmy V Women's Basketball Classic, which includes Connecticut, Duke, North Carolina State and Tennessee, couldn't debut with a better lineup. Not only does the first game -- Duke vs. Tennessee -- feature the country's top two ranked teams, but three of the squads appeared in last season's national semifinals. Each of the past five Final Fours, in fact, has included at least one of these teams, which have combined to make 12 Final Four appearances since 1996. Adding to the prestige of these four programs, N.C. State coach Kay Yow was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame just 1½ months ago. Tennessee coach Pat Summitt was inducted in October 2000. The annual early-season doubleheader will be played at RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C. Duke takes on Tennessee at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2, followed by Connecticut-N.C. State at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit The V Foundation for Cancer Research. ESPN and the late Jim Valvano established The V Foundation in 1993 at the inaugural ESPY Awards. Valvano, who won an NCAA title at N.C. State in 1983 and later joined ESPN as an analyst, died April 28, 1993, at the age of 47 after a 10-month battle with cancer. Since it's founding, The V Foundation has raised more than $24 million and funded more than 160 research grants nationwide. The eighth annual Jimmy V Men's Basketball Classic, which will include N.C. State, Gonzaga, Cincinnati and Oregon, will be played Dec. 17 (ESPN). The Wolfpack will make their first appearance in the Classic on the 20th anniversary of N.C. State's run to the NCAA title. -- ESPN.com

Now you can hardly budge the Lady Vols from games like Sunday's tipoff against Duke at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C. ESPN2 will televise the game.

It's a matchup of the top two ranked teams in the women's game. It's also the feature attraction of the inaugural Jimmy V Women's Basketball Classic.

Connecticut and North Carolina State play in the second game of the doubleheader.

This will be the 36th game in women's hoops history matching the top two ranked teams. No. 2 UT (1-0) will be making its 20th appearance and its 18th in the last 23.

"When people talk about our program, the thing that amazes me is the consistency,'' Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. "It speaks volumes to the players we've had. You don't do that without great players.''

You don't win national championships without great players, either. It's no surprise that Tennessee's heightened presence in this chronology began with the 1986-87 season. The Lady Vols won the first of their six national championships that season.

Before that, Tennessee could only aspire to its current role. The Lady Vols played in just two of the first 13 one-versus-two games. The Lady Vols were learning the hard way, taking their lumps from Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech, Southern Cal and Texas.

"We played the best to understand what it means to be competitive at that level,'' Summitt said.

The Lady Vols' first appearance in a No. 1 versus No. 2 game was a 68-53 loss to Old Dominion in the 1980 AIAW national championship game. A year later, they lost to Louisiana Tech 76-59 in another such game for the AIAW crown.

Summitt recalled great difficulty in simply inbounding the basketball against Tech, let alone running any semblance of an offense.

No matter, she recalled telling former Louisiana Tech coach Sonja Hogg: "I'll stay in the game until we beat you.''

The Lady Vols kept trying and the rest is history. In particular, Summitt believes that Sunday's game reflects their willingness to play a tough schedule. Tennessee has finished with the top RPI in every season but one since 1991.

Tennessee's big-game history reflects women's basketball history. With Connecticut (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today; No. 6 AP), the defending national champions, you have three top-10 teams playing on Sunday in a new event. That's no coincidence.

"That tradition was established,'' UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "In order to grow the game, you have to put the best product on the floor. You can't shy away from it.''

Big games create television opportunities and attract fans. The potent mix, in turn, draws recruits like bees to a flower.

"I think players want to play for the best and they want to play the best,'' Summitt said. "They go to one of the top programs in the country and they want play the top programs.''

Tennessee and No. 1 Duke, which opens Friday against East Carolina, will be playing for just the fourth time. It will be the third time in four seasons that they have played a special-event game on a neutral floor. That's about to change. Summitt said that a home-and-home series with the Blue Devils is in the works.

"They're one of the most-competitive teams in the country,'' she said. "They're ACC. We don't play anyone in the ACC. It's a natural.''

Tennessee will be traveling to national-runnerup Oklahoma next season in return for this season's State Farm Tipoff Classic encounter at Thompson-Boling Arena on Nov. 10.

Summitt also said that UT will be resuming a series with Notre Dame, which won the national championship in 2000.

As Tennessee's schedule evolves, the degree of difficulty should remain the same. No matter where the Lady Vols go or who they play, there're bound to be big games.

"I think players enjoy matchups that will challenge them,'' Summitt said. "What's better than one versus two?''