Updated: June 29, 2006, 6:33 AM ET

The best-ever WNBA champ?

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By Nancy Lieberman and Melanie Jackson
Special to ESPN.com

As the WNBA turns 10 this season, ESPN.com needs your help.

We've done the hard work. Now it's your turn to determine the greatest championship team in the league's history. Yes, we know each former champ was special. But which one is the best of the best? Which one stands out above the rest?

To get us started, Nancy Lieberman already has seeded the past champions (talk about a tough job). But when first-round voting begins Friday, will the ESPN analyst's top seed, the 1998 Comets, stand up to your scrutiny, or will one of Houston's other three championship teams secure your vote? Just how far will more recent champions such as the 2003 Shock or 2004 Storm go? Where do the Sparks' back-to-back title teams fit in? Will the 2005 Monarchs make the cut?

GREATEST WNBA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM EVER?
ROUND 1
QUARTERFINALS
SEMIFINALS
FINAL
(1) '98 Comets
(8) TBD
 
 
 
 
 
(4) '01 Sparks
(5) '97 Comets
(2) '99 Comets
(7) '05 Monarchs
 
 
(3) '02 Sparks
(6) '03 Shock

Before then, and in an effort to make sure no one gets left out, we've decided to tip off the bracket with a "play-in game" between the eighth and ninth seeds.

So take a look at the breakdown below of the 2004 Seattle Storm championship team and the 2000 Houston Comets squad. Then cast your vote to see which former champ moves on.

WHICH TEAM SHOULD ADVANCE?
(8) 2004 SEATTLE STORM (9) 2000 HOUSTON COMETS

The only WNBA champion with double-digit losses in the regular season, the Storm (20-14) rode Lauren Jackson (20.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg that season) and Sue Bird (12.9 ppg, 5.4 apg) -- both of whom recently were named to the WNBA All-Decade Team -- all the way to Seattle's first major professional sports championship in 25 years.

But in addition to having Jackson (above), the 2003 WNBA MVP, and home-court advantage, the Storm also had the good fortune of having a key player get hot at the right time. Betty Lennox, who had totaled 13 points in two previous games against the Sun that season, exploded for 23.3 points per game (which more than doubled her regular-season scoring average) and shot 50 percent from the field in the WNBA Finals.

In the end, Seattle gutted it out to overcome a talented -- and probably favored -- Connecticut team that had five starters averaging double figures. Unsung heroes like Kamila Vodichkova and great team defense -- let's face it, the Storm that season weren't great individual defenders, but they rotated very well and played good help defense -- also were key.

But Jackson, Bird and Lennox were simply unstoppable. Lennox just got confident and hot at the right time and put on a show. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Someone had to be No. 9, and somewhere, Van Chancellor is probably grimacing. "You want to ask me which one is the sweetest? It's this one, no question," the Comets coach declared back on Sept. 2, 2000, when Houston became the first U.S. pro basketball team to win four consecutive titles since the Boston Celtics won eight straight (1959-66).

The 2000 Comets (27-5) finished with 11 straight wins, including a 6-0 playoff run, and went 17-2 at home. Sheryl Swoopes (20.7 ppg), Cynthia Cooper (17.7 ppg) and Tina Thompson (16.9 ppg) combined for 72 percent of Houston's offense.

It was the first time Cooper (above) didn't lead the team in scoring, but the then 37-year-old was tops in the WNBA Finals, earning her fourth series MVP award. Her three-point play with 26 seconds remaining sealed a 59-52 Game 1 win over the Liberty, and a Cooper 3-pointer with 21 seconds left forced overtime in Game 2. Cooper scored nine of Houston's final 18 points in regulation, then added six in OT to finish with 25, while Swoopes added 31 on an injured ankle.

The Comets had a target on their back that season like you wouldn't believe, but Chancellor kept it all in check -- the drive for four, the emotional hangover from Kim Perrot's death the year before, the personality conflicts between his stars and a Houston backcourt played by committee. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Remember, check back Friday to cast your vote on the first-round matchups. Voting for the all-time best WNBA championship team will wrap up before the July 12 All-Star Game.

Nancy Lieberman, an ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. Contact her at www.nancylieberman.com. Melanie Jackson coordinates ESPN.com's women's basketball coverage.