A true marvel: Here is the Dream Team of the women's Final Four

Going to the movies these days can seem a lot like watching the women's Final Four — there are a bunch of recurring characters in bright colors battling over colossal yet familiar stakes.

In the NCAA tournament's 40-year history, after all, only 44 teams have advanced to the Final Four, and Connecticut has now reached that level in the last 14 tournaments, and 19 of the last 22.

Just 29 teams have played for the national championship, and Connecticut (11) and Tennessee (eight) own nearly half of the titles, four of them coming against each other.

In the past 39 years, 12 championship games have featured matchups that occurred more than once; by contrast, in that same timeframe, the men's tournament has never had a title-game rematch.

And there's one more parallel between the women's Final Four and the grandiosely-named Marvel Cinematic Universe: Many of the participants have superpowers.

"I am often astonished at the level of athletic talent that is on display in these games," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said at the 2007 Final Four, where the Tennessee coach broke a nine-year streak without a championship. "But I try to teach my team, it takes more than talent."

It takes toughness and perseverance, the Hall of Fame coach meant, the mentality to use winning as motivation to work more, not less.

Presumably, that's the common bond between the greatest players in Final Four history, a collection of the sharpest shooters, greediest rebounders and precise passers in the game. Here's an attempt to assemble a dream team of the most superlative Final Four players in history, and the coaches who led them.

Don't be surprised if this year's Final Four in Minneapolis requires another worthy member be added. In this universe, there's always a sequel.

Bridgette Gordon, F, Tennessee

She was a little-known Floridian as a freshman and a four-year all-SEC superstar as a senior, and made a trip to the Final Four every season. Two of them ended in championships, Pat Summitt's first, and the athletic forward was instrumental in both. Her defensive intensity helped force 20 turnovers and hold Louisiana Tech to a championship-game record low of 44 points in 1987, and her 27 points, 11 rebounds and jump-shot marksmanship overwhelmed second-ranked Auburn in 1989.

Clarissa Davis, F, Texas

It was Cheryl Miller's last game for USC, and the Longhorns' chance to become the first unbeaten women's team in NCAA history. But a San Antonio freshman, who didn't even start on her senior-dominated team, whose minutes were limited by her asthma, overshadowed it all. "Nobody knew Clarissa Davis until she got here," Texas coach Jody Conradt said after Davis, who would go on to win two Naismith Awards, scored 56 points and collected 32 rebounds in two Final Four games to finish off a 34-0 season and the Longhorns' only championship in 1986.

Sheryl Swoopes, G, Texas Tech

She went on to win four WNBA titles, three MVP awards and three Olympic gold medals, but the legend of Air Swoopes started in her final game for the Red Raiders, the NCAA championship game in 1993. Swoopes dominated Ohio State with 16-of-24 shooting and 11-for-11 from the line, a 47-point outburst that still stands as the highest scoring title game performance.

Maya Moore, F, UConn

The former Lynx star is the winningest women's basketball player in NCAA history, going 150-4 over her four seasons with the Huskies, including four straight Final Fours. And while she powered back-to-back undefeated championship seasons in 2009 and 2010, Moore was arguably at her most unstoppable in the national semifinals, where she averaged 28.5 points in four games and owns two of the five highest-scoring games in semifinal history.

Arike Ogunbowale, G, Notre Dame

She wore Kobe Bryant's No. 24, talked about her Kobe-style "mamba mentality," and then lived up to her hero's legend with the most clutch Final Four performance in history. With the 2018 semifinal against unbeaten UConn tied in the final five seconds, Ogunbowale nailed a 22-foot jumper to send the Irish to the finals. Then she outdid those heroics and delivered the Irish's first title in 17 years by hitting a miraculous off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer of a tie game against Mississippi State.

Breanna Stewart, F, UConn

In the boxscore categories, Stewart's history at the Final Four ranks among the Top 10. But in the most important statistic, Stewart's records will never be topped: Four consecutive national championships from 2013-16, and four consecutive MVP trophies. "There just hasn't been a player like Stewie in the women's game in a long, long time," coach Geno Auriemma said of his star forward, who averaged 20.5 points in eight Final Four games, all victories.

Cheryl Miller, F, USC

Four straight California state championships in high school were only the beginning for the future Hall of Famer, who kept right on winning titles when she arrived in college. The sister of NBA star Reggie Miller led USC to an NCAA championship as a freshman in 1983, then repeated the feat as a sophomore, earning MVP honors both times. Miller's fame and success was instrumental in helping the women's tournament gain credibility in its early days.

Brittney Griner, C, Baylor

After blocking more shots by herself than any other NCAA team during her junior season, Griner and her 88-inch wingspan capped one of the most fearsome seasons ever by a women's player with 26 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks in a 2012 title-game victory over Notre Dame. Baylor finished 40-0, and Griner was Most Valuable Player in her second Final Four appearance.

Chamique Holdsclaw, F, Tennessee

"We like to run," observed Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore after the Vols trampled his team in the 1998 championship game, "but Holdsclaw likes to fly." Her graceful speed carried the New York native to three straight NCAA titles at Tennessee from 1996-98, two of them with her as MVP, and allowed her to score 479 points in her four-season NCAA tournament career, more than any other woman.

Tracy Claxton, F, Old Dominion

Few players were as intense on the court as the Connecticut native, and that intensity helped the Monarchs, twice a champion in the AIAW days, to their first NCAA title in 1985. "You better get on the bleeping boards," Claxton reminded center Medina Dixon during their title-game win over Georgia, "or we're going to lose this bleeping championship." Claxton lived up to her words, grabbing 20 rebounds, 12 of them on the offensive end, and scoring 17 to earn MVP honors.

Candace Parker, F, Tennessee

After winning MVP honors en route to the 2007 NCAA championship, Parker dislocated her left shoulder in the regional finals a year later. But Parker strapped a brace around her shoulder at the Final Four, ignored the pain, began driving to the basket rather than taking outside shots, and grabbed 15 rebounds in the semifinal win over LSU. In the title game, she scored 17 more and became a champion, and MVP, for a second time.

Rebecca Lobo, C, UConn

Having grown up about 25 miles from Storrs, Lobo turned down dozens of scholarship offers to attend UConn, and it's worth asking whether the Huskies' women's hoop dynasty would have happened if she hadn't. Lobo was the centerpiece of Auriemma's first champion, leading an unbeaten UConn to the 1995 Final Four at Target Center in Minneapolis. In the title game against Tennessee, Lobo ignored foul trouble, hit tough shots, and rallied the Huskies from a nine-point deficit with 11 second-half points to earn the first of UConn's 11 national championships.

Diana Taurasi, G, UConn

Auriemma once summed up his team's three straight national championships from 2002-04 very succinctly: "We have Diana and you don't," the coach said, and never was that more true than in the Final Four. One of the best passers and outside shooters in the game, Taurasi scored 54 points at the 2003 Final Four and also contributed a game-clinching steal on the final play of the Huskies' semifinal win over Texas; a year later, it was a critical assist, a blocked shot and 34 points to capture the 2004 title.

Geno Auriemma, UConn

His Huskies are only 11-10 in national semifinals games, so what's the big deal? Well, two things: Those 21 semifinal games have come in the previous 30 tournaments, including 13 in a row — now 14. And even more incredible? Auriemma is a spotless 11-0 in championship games, his teams dominant when the pressure is greatest. The Italian-born 68-year-old coach, now in his 37th season at Connecticut, is the most successful coach in basketball history, having posted six undefeated seasons, six more with just one loss, and winning streaks of 90 and 111 consecutive games. The Final Four is obviously his biggest challenge — UConn has lost four straight semifinal games — but if the Huskies reach the finals, they're unstoppable, having won their 11 titles by an average of 15.6 points.

Pat Summitt, Tennessee

Not many coaches win the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but that reflected the effect that Summitt had on her blossoming sport. For all the games and championships the Lady Vols won under her leadership, Summitt said she was most proud of her players' achievements off the court: Every one of them who completed her eligibility graduated with a degree. Summitt's 18 Final Fours and eight national championships seemed untouchable until UConn's emergence. And a rivalry, sometimes caustic, grew between them, fueled by Auriemma's four title-game victories, the first coming in Minneapolis in 1995, against the Lady Vols. But Summitt, who died in 2016, went 21-10 in the Final Four and never failed to make the NCAA tournament.

Tara VanDerveer, Stanford

After leading Ohio State to four straight 20-win seasons, VanDerveer made a mistake, several peers told her, in accepting a job at Stanford in 1985, and when neither of her first two seasons with the Cardinal included a winning record, it appeared the critics were right. Five years and two national championships later, there were no more doubts. But VanDerveer, who owns more wins than any coach in women's college history but is 8-11 in the Final Four overall, endured 10 straight Final Four appearances without another title until a breakthrough last April, when her 29-year-wait ended with a 31-2 season and a thrilling 54-53 win over Arizona.

Leon Barmore, Louisiana Tech

Born and raised in Ruston, La., Barmore was happy coaching high school basketball at his alma mater until Sonja Hogg, who had created the Lady Techsters program in the mid-1970s, asked him to become an assistant. Barmore helped Hogg and Louisiana Tech win the first women's NCAA tournament in 1982, and reach the title game, falling to Cheryl Miller and USC, in 1983. When Hogg left for Baylor a couple of seasons later, Barmore was promoted to head coach and won 86.9 percent of Tech's games over the next 16 seasons, at the time the highest winning percentage in basketball history. Barmore reached seven Final Fours, going 5-6 and rallying his team from a 14-point deficit against Auburn to win the 1988 national championship.