The gulf in the once-prominent rivalry between Connecticut and Tennessee, the most storied programs in Division I women’s college basketball, has never been wider. But right in the heart of Lady Vols country, at least one player of state renown is all in on the Huskies’ bid for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Division I national title.

That player’s wonderful basketball name is Crystal Dangerfield

, who happens to be the first UConn recruit from the state where coach Geno Auriemma’s teams have, for two decades, been largely reviled, if grudgingly respected.

“I’m hearing everybody say they can get it done,” said Dangerfield, a 5-foot-6 point guard who recently completed her career at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, after committing to UConn as a junior. “Maybe they’ll slip up, but I’m psyched, can’t wait to see them make history.”

It is difficult to gauge whether Dangerfield’s position is less a home-state sacrilege now than it would have been a decade ago, when Tennessee and UConn were the annual main event of the women’s college game. It nonetheless is a statement.

“I think now what this shows is where Connecticut has gone in the sport, which is where Tennessee used to be,” said Monte Hale Jr., the sports editor of The Murfreesboro Post, who has covered what he calls the best girls’ basketball district in Tennessee for 20 years. “Crystal is an unbelievable point guard. It used to be if there was an elite player in Tennessee, it was a given that she’d play for Pat Summitt.”

Tennessee has not played UConn since Summitt, the former coach, ended the regular-season series in 2007 after questioning UConn’s tactics in recruiting Maya Moore. The chances are Tennessee will not survive long enough to confront UConn in the tournament, given its No. 7 seed in the Sioux City region, while the undefeated Huskies are the top seed in the Bridgeport region.

Illustrative of Tennessee’s recession since Summitt retired in 2012 after she was found to have Alzheimer’s disease, the Lady Vols fell out of the Top 25 in February for the first time in 31 years and, with a 19-13 record, wound up with their lowest seeding ever.

Auriemma’s team, conversely, is the favorite to claim its 11th national title, adding to his record. The recruitment of Dangerfield — a McDonald’s all-American who was recently named Miss Basketball for the second consecutive season in Tennessee’s Class AAA division — is probably no more than a locational coincidence, given Auriemma’s need to replace his electric senior point guard, Moriah Jefferson.

It still was a blow, at least symbolically, to the rabid Tennessee fan base that has begun to wonder about the team’s direction under coach Holly Warlick, the longtime Summitt assistant who replaced her.

In a telephone interview, Dangerfield’s mother, Davonna, said she did not want to say anything “that would be inflammatory in any way” to the Tennessee fan base. There had been a fair amount of chatter on social media when Crystal announced her decision after visiting UConn early in her junior season.

In fact, Davonna Dangerfield said, the family has lived in Tennessee (Murfreesboro is about 2 1/2 hours from the Tennessee campus in Knoxville) “for all of Crystal’s life.”

“So, of course, we would have loved for her to play here,” she said. “But we didn’t steer her; we followed her. And her desire to fulfill her dream was strong.”

Interested in music and in a possible career in medicine, Dangerfield, her mother said, “did her academic research because she knows basketball isn’t going to be forever.”

It will, no doubt, be her indoctrination into the UConn culture — and at the mercy of Auriemma, who is notoriously tough on point guards.

“That will be interesting to see, something to watch, how Crystal can deal with Geno,” said Tom Insell, who coached Dangerfield with the Tennessee Flight, a premier club program. “Crystal is the best recruit he’s got coming in, but she’s not a Maya Moore, a Breanna Stewart.

“She’s small but can really jump, is lightning quick and can shoot the 3. But she likes to handle the ball, and, you know, Geno expects his point guards to distribute, play a certain way.”

Insell knows Auriemma, as two of Insell’s former players, Stefanie Dolson and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis — neither from Tennessee — played for his club before starring at UConn. He does not believe that Dangerfield will set a precedent of Tennessee’s best fleeing northeast. And while he thought Warlick “would have taken” Dangerfield, her most recent backcourt recruits might have created a logjam, understating Tennessee’s push.

“Tennessee has talent,” Insell said. “They’ll continue to draw talent. And next year, with Stewart and Jefferson gone, things will get interesting.”

Auriemma and Warlick have reportedly had informal chats about renewing the Connecticut-Tennessee series, with nothing promised. One of Dangerfield’s high school teammates, Meme Jackson, is a Tennessee freshman. A city rival, Anastasia Hayes, outscored Dangerfield, 28-19, as Riverdale High recently upset Blackman, the defending champion, in the state tournament. Hayes, a junior, will probably be high on Tennessee’s want list for 2017.

If anything is crystal clear, it is that if the rivalry — once viewed as the women’s game’s best marketing tool — ever gets renewed, it will need fresh story lines. Without suiting up for UConn, Dangerfield has fired an enticing shot.

© 2016 The New York Times Company