May 20, 2004 - The Houston Comets won four in a row. The Los Angeles Sparks then won back-to-back titles as well. Are the Seattle Storm next? If we learned anything from the Detroit Shock last season, it is that repeating as champions is not as easy as it used to be.

The Seattle Storm surprised many experts by winning the 2005 WNBA title, the city's first professional championship since 1979. They outlasted the Connecticut Sun, another surprise Finals participant. Many had predicted a Shock repeat, but they finished 17-17 with a first round playoff loss.

Betty Lennox is one of three starters back for the Storm Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images

Meanwhile, the Storm finished with the second best record in the WNBA and one of only two 20-game winners (L.A. won 25). And once the playoffs began, it was clear the Storm were on a mission. With last year's experience under their collective belt, plus the returning nucleus of 2003 WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson, First Team All-WNBA guard Sue Bird and 2004 WNBA Finals MVP Betty Lennox, the Storm know how to win. Plus, coach Anne Donovan is now the veteran of two Finals (she also coached the Charlotte Sting to the WNBA Finals in 2001).

"The second is tough, though, because everyone is gunning for you," Hall-of-Famer Ann Meyers said. "You have to play your best every night because you have a target on your back and everyone is going to come out playing you. When you go to play Houston, Los Angeles or Detroit and now Seattle, teams get up for those games and there is extra motivation there."

With the core of young veterans, the past, present and future seem to be in Seattle's favor. Of course, the Shock had the history on their side as well. Not only had every previous WNBA champion repeated, but Shock coach Bill Laimbeer' won back-to-back NBA titles as a player with the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990.

"I think it is easier to repeat than to win the first one," Detroit Shock head coach Bill Laimbeer said before the 2004 season. "The experience of winning makes the mental part easier. Sustaining championship level for three or four years becomes more difficult, but to repeat, I think, is easy."

Even though the Shock returned their entire starting lineup from the 2003 squad, it turned out not to be as easy as Laimbeer predicted. And the Storm are paying attention.

"In some ways, repeating is more difficult than winning a championship the first time," Sue Bird said. "Everyone will want to beat the previous champion and a bull's eye will definitely be on our back. Our roster is completely different this year and so I think it is a little bit different, but it still says Storm on the front of our jersey so I'm confident it can be done."

The Storm are indeed a different team than they were a season ago. Sure, Bird, Jackson and Lennox are back, but several other key players are gone. 2004 starting center Kamila Vodichkova, the last original Storm player, signed with the Phoenix Mercury in the offseason. The other starter to leave, forward Sheri Sam, signed a free agent contract with the Charlotte Sting this winter as well. One of the team's top reserves off the bench, point guard Tully Bevilaqua, also left town and headed east to Indiana.

In place of the departed Storm, several newcomers join the team. Australian center Suzy Batkovic will fill the void left by Vodichkova's departure. Batkovic was drafted by the Storm in 2003, but has yet to play an official WNBA game, but obviously knows Jackson well because of their international experience together. Tanisha Wright is a talented first round pick out of Penn State who plays solid defense and will be an integral part of the rotation. Russian forward Natalia Vodopyanova played with Bird in Moscow this offseason, evidence that Bird was also doing some scouting and recruiting for the Storm while overseas.

Lauren Jackson's health is critical to the Storm's chances in 2005. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty Images

Oddly enough, it might have been key newcomers that put Seattle over the top last season. Lennox was acquired in the Dispersal Draft from the disbanded Cleveland Rockers while Sam and forward Janell Burse were traded from Minnesota prior to the 2004 season.

Burse, Alicia Thompson and Simone Edwards were all a part of the championship team who might be called on to perform a greater role in 2005. The biggest question for Donovan has been what to do at the 3. But whoever fills in, the team's chemistry alone should carry them to the playoffs.

"I think that we are really excited," Bird said. "As a team we are really confident and we have a great core group coming back as well as the coaching staff. The pressure is going to be on us, we'll have a target on our back. We won one championship and it will be even sweeter to have two."

So what can they do to prevent a letdown?

"I think we have to do the same preparation, but we have a confidence," Jackson said. "Winning the championship last year gave us a quiet confidence that we can do it and that it really is an achievable goal. We can do it again. Just like any team in the league can."

Winning a championship only bolsters that confidence and makes them hungry for more.

"We are definitely the team to beat until someone takes it away from us," Jackson said.

For every other team in the WNBA, the goal is to do just that - take it away from them. Playing the defending champions is not just another game. Players get up for it, fans come out to see it and the media pays more attention to it.

"I think everyone was sort of gunning for us anyway," Jackson said. "We definitely have targets on our backs and other teams will come in thinking they have to beat us. But I'm not really worried. I think this year will be fine for us."