By Mel Greenberg

This item is going to be in Tuesday's print notebook but although the AP poll is hours from release the obvious continuation of the Connecticut-Stanford 1-2 run has produced the following from the Guru's AP poll history database.

The Connecticut-Stanford 1-2 punch since the start of the Associated Press poll in the preseason media vote is now the longest tandem 1-2 run in the 34-year history of the rankings.

Temple seems the only school in the city with a solid shot at an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament if the Owls don’t win the Atlantic 10 tournament for an automatic bid next month.

Coach Tonya Cardoza’s squad has a current Ratings Perentage Index ranking of 50 with a strength of schedule ranking of 88 at the CollegeRPI.com site that simulates one of the tools used by the NCAA selection committee to pick teams and seed the 64-team field.

Some of Temple’s early wins in nonconference have devalued since such as the triumphs over Illinois, Auburn, and even Rutgers to an extent despite the Scarlet Knights’ RPI of 20 and No. 1 ranking in strength of schedule.

Rutgers may be an RPI notable at the moment. However the Scarlet Knights are currently 13-10 overall and 5-4 in the Big East. The record is mainly attributed to Epiphanny Prince’s decision last summer to bypassed her senior season and go to Europe to prepare for the WNBA.

Coach C. Vivian Stringer’s squad has a chance to get on a roll with West Virginia the only major Big East opponent left on the conference schedule.

Rutgers needs to show momentum because wins alone at 18, for those who have been projecting, may not be enough in a sea of potential candidates with the same resume. A win over West Virginia would be helpful. The loss at George Washington is an obvious blot and narrow wins over a few others brings criticism. Furthermore some earlier wins such as at Pittsburgh have devalued and the win over DePaul will be worth something but not as much as it appeared at the time. A win over Syracuse to make up for the loss to the Orange on the road would also be helpful.

For example, last week at the NCAA mock selections for media and coaches, Rutgers was not picked to the field, while Temple, with a win over the Scarlet Knights got chosen, according to one source who participated. The group worked with the current data, which of course will change between now and the real selection weekend.

Other RPI rankings for area schools as of yesterday are: 71-Drexel, 105-Delaware, 115-Villanova, 124-St. Joseph’s, 242-La Salle and 327-Penn, while elsewhere Penn State is at 52.

The Big 12 has eight teams in the Top 35, while the Big East has seven.

The Guru had intended to run down to Maryland for the Virginia game but since a snow postponement has inserted a game much shorter down from here on I-95, the Guru will be at Delaware for the George Mason game, which follows the men's game at 3:30 p.m. The window between the CAA and ACC games is too narrow to make both.

But when was the last time Virginia and Maryland met without either team being ranked?

--Mel

By Mel Greenberg

NEWARK, DEL. -- Delaware Tina Martin was in a happier frame of mind Thursday night after the Blue Hens bounced back from Sunday's tough loss at Drexel with a lopsided 84-55 win over William & Mary in a Colonial Athletic Association game at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Things went so well that freshman Elena Delle Donne wasn't even the leading scorer for a change for Delaware (14-7, 6-4 CAA) -- she had 23 points in back of Tesia Harris' 26 -- and Martin was able to give her some rest at the end of the contest.

Taysha Pye had 22 points for the Tribe (10-11, 3-7).

"No heart stopping, no sweating -- it was a complete game," Martin said in reference to all four conference losses in the final seconds to date at the hands of the frontrunners.

"I thought that we came out and set the tone with our defense and then did a nice job overall," she continued.

"I told (her players) the Drexel game is over," Martin alluded to Sunday's loss to the Dragons in the final three seconds of overtime. "This team has gone through some heartbreaking losses.

"I said, `I want to see your character tonight. After you lose a game like that, sometimes there is a letdown. Sometimes there is that boo hoo I'm going to be sorry for myself.' I told them I did not want to see that. You come out here and show what kind of team you are.; We did some good things."

After Sunday's loss Martin said the first area improvement had to come was with an increased intensity at practice.

She said Delaware responded to that challenge right away.

"I think the freshmen are starting to speak up," Martin said. "And I think some of the older kids are buying into what we're trying to do. Specifically, Elena's starting to talk more, which is really good. We did something a little different. We put Elena on the non-starter team and we challanged the other starters when they played against each other and that picked up the intensity. We're looking for ways to heighten our intensity.

"But people have to remember, we're young -- six of our top eight players are freshmen and sophomores."

The crowd of 2,042 enabled Delaware to set a new season attendance record with four home dates remaining.

Besides Delle Donne, the 2008 national player of the year out of Wilmington's Ursuline Academy, Jacquetta May, Kayla Miller, and Jasmine Miller also have local ties near Delaware.

"Now we have to keep it going as we head into the rest of CAA play."

If Delaware avoided a letdown, the same wasn't true of the winning team from Sunday's game.

Drexel (14-7, 8-2) was upset by Towson (10-11, 4-6) in Maryland, falling to the Tigers 53-48 despite Gabriela Marginean's 28 points.

It was a tough night at the top of the conference. James Madison won at VCU, 71-56, while Old Dominion escaped with a 61-58 win at UNC Wilmington.

The outcomes left ODU alone in first place with Drexel and VCU falling into second a game behind. JMU is in fourth a game ahead of Delaware. The top four teams get byes.

ODU once owned the conference enternally before last season and right now the CAA is like Russia after the Iron Curtain fell. However, the Monarchs, who had an atrocious non-conference record, are showing there's still room for threats from the old guard -- not to be confused with Ticha who has just signed with the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks.

Meanwhile the impending weather has already affected Delaware and Drexel's weekend plans. Drexel's road trip to James Madison was put back a day to Monday. The Delaware men's game was put back from Saturday to noon Sunday and the Blue Hens women, originally slated for that time, will now play 45 minutes after the men's game concludes.

"I know it's Super Bowl Sunday but that's at night. Come on out and make a snowman and see us as an appetitzer," Martin said on the Delaware radio postgame wrapup.

         Duke Victimized Again By Course of Events

   Remember last season when the NCAA women's committe managed to send Duke, then a No. 1 seed, up to Michigan State where Blue Devils coach Joanne P. McCallie once plied her trade.

   Needless to say, the second round was as hostile an environment as could be imagined considering McCallie's departure for Durham did not leave her with a bunch of well-wishers back in East Landing. The Spartans, who escaped Middle Tennessee in the opener, upset Duke in the second round  only adding to the controversy.

Well, Thursday night the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule makers, though unwittingly because who knew at the time, sent the Blue Devils into another place of bad karma.

Host Boston College added to the growing list of unranked team felling the non-UConn, non-Stanford, non-Notre Dame top of the AP poll, upsetting No. 6 Duke, while in another ACC upset, unranked Miami took down No. 9 North Carolina.

   The win by the Eagles outside Boston brought a happy ending on their side of the ledger because earlier in the day, substitute Ayla Brown's father Scott Brown, officially took his seat for the Republicans in the U.S. Senate following his upset to claim the late Ted Kennedy's long-held place for the Democrats.

  Elsewhere, Penn State, which had made its way a week ago for a brief return to the rankings for the first time since 2005, lost its third straight, falling to Michigan State. The Nitttany Lions slipped back to the rest of the pack after climbing to sole possession of second place in the Big Ten behind Ohio State.

In the Southeastern Conference, Georgia beat LSU, 49-46 in overtime in a game between two former residents of the AP Top 10, or as we'd like to refer to the list as the next nine or one plus eight, leaving UConn in a class by itself ahead of No. 2 Stanford.

And in another SEC encounter, Kelsey Bones' double double enabled South Carolina coach Dawn Staley to win at Auburn, whose Nell Fortner coached her in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

              Mock Bracket Time

   The NCAA Thursday and Friday is hosting its third Women's Mock Bracket in Indianapolis, where media, coaches, and other officials get to play the role of the committee simulating what happens on the final weekend leading to the announcement of the 64-team field on Selection Monday.

  According to one colleague who received an invite, only two print persons are on hand this time around, though many of the participants are former beat writers who have found refuge at web sites following buyouts, layoffs and suggested retirements with the newspaper industry in decline.

 For those of us who served, there's much to be happy about not being on the scene in Indy.

For one, there's the threat of being held hostage by the weather.

  Secondly, good luck with data that will become useless much quicker than the two previous sessions. In fact, considering what happened Thursday night with the upsets as well as last week with 12 unranked teams beating AP teams and other low-ranked teams beating high-ranked teams, it is probably a major mess finding the complete field, let alone seeding.

 A committee member said last week the bubble was going to be quite large this season, which the Guru believes should now be referred to as the dome.

   Two seasons ago, everything was pretty much cut and dried when we assembled and stayed that way other than Rutgers, almost annual way of making life harder in March than it should be for the Scarlet Knights.

  A year ago, with upsets, though not outlandish as the current stunners, happening, we knew reality would make what we did moot to the point that we didn't even ask for bodyguards when we managed at one point to have have Tennessee and Rutgers in the same quad headed by UConn at the top.

   The NCAA publication arm is blogging the event but we'll see if the media participants can apply for a freedom of information release.

 Based on what has been offered for now is like telling you where the game is without giving the score.

                    UConn Alum Prevail at the End

       When good friends Tonya Cardoza and Jamelle Elliott spent many seasons as assistants on Geno Auriemma's coaching staff they could usually start thinking about postgame socializing spots early in the second half, or, in the case of this season, even sooner.

      Not so where they are running their own programs now with Cardoza in her second season at Temple and Elliott in her first season at Cincinnati.

      Still, it was a happy ending for both Tuesday night with Cincinnati beating NCAA-runnerup Louisville in overtime while Temple won another close encounter with St. Joseph's 58-56 at the Hawks' Hagan Arena.

         UConn, incidentally, was challenged the same night by West Virginia early in the second half before hitting the third stage engines to a dominating win at the finish.

         Temple trailed 54-50 late in the game with perhaps an end to the mythical curse over the Hawks who have now lost nine straight in the series with only one being lop-sided.

        The Owls, the only team with a good shot at an at-large bid to the NCAAs among Big Five schools, needed to recover after losing at home last Saturday to St. Bonaventure, though the Bonnies are a much improved outfit.

          "They are tough and the one thing about them is they don't quit," Cardoza said of St. Joseph's. "But we kill ourselves sometimes -- we miss so many easy shots and turn the ball over. But we had some players step up that normally don't step up."

        The game only counted in the Atlantic 10 standings. Temple next gets involved in both, visiting LaSalle Saturday at noon. A win gives the Owls soul possession of second place in the Big Five to 2010 champion Villanova. It will be the first time Temple does not have an outright City Series title or share one in six seasons.

           No word yet at least here whether the game might be pushed back to Sunday in light of the weather forecast.

         We'll update Friday afternoon.

         -- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

This week's Associated Press women's poll brought out a few notable occurrences led by Connecticut now taking single ownership of the longest run at No. 1. The Huskies have been ranked for 37 straight weeks dating to Feb. 18, 2008, snapping the 36-week, two-year wire-to-wire run by Louisiana Tech 1980-82.

The Techsters spent the first half in the final year of full participation in the former Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and the second half in the inaugural year of NCAA competition, winning national titles both times.

Nebraska, in moving up to No. 4, made its first-ever Top 5 appearance after cracking the Top 10 for the first time several weeks ago. Xavier reached a new high at seventh, while Oklahoma State made its Top 10 debut at No. 10, although coach Kurt Budke has been there before with Louisiana Tech.

West Virginia matched a high reaching No. 11.

Matthew Mitchell made his coaching debut in the poll courtesy of Kentucky's return to the rankings.

Georgia with 444 appearances needs five more rankings to move into second place all-time in appearances ahead of Louisiana Tech and behind Tennessee. Connecticut needs four more rankings to move into sixth ahead of Penn State which dropped out after a one-week return.

The ouster of Virginia enabled Ohio State Jim Foster to move into a three-way tie for eighth place with Virginia coach Debbie Ryan and the late North Carolina State coach at 326 appearances. The total is 10 behind former Penn State coach Rene Portland. Foster is one of a few coaches topped by Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer.

Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow, the sister of Kay Yow, was the first to achieve the triple feat, a milestone she constantly reminds the Guru of whenever he visit the Terrapins for games in College Park.

St. John's, which returned to the rankings this week, has been there under three different coaches -- currently Kim Barnes Arico, and formerly under Don Perrelli and Joe Mullaney Jr., who is now an associate head coach to Harry Perretta at Villanova.

Here is a catch-up look at overall conference performance in the NCAA era by currently existing conferences. The first ranking includes conferences whose current members have been ranked, and the second is a ranking of actual conferences whose members were current at the time of the ranking.

An example is the Atlantic 10, which is 11th with current members but seventh when Rutgers and Penn State and West Virginia are factored in at the time they were in the conference.

None of the current group of independents have ever been ranked, but independents are included in the actual group due to Penn State's limbo season between the Atlantic 10 and Big 10, as well as time served by Louisiana Tech and a few others.

Princeton has made it a rarity for the Ivy League, getting votes and maybe eventual support to take the Ivies out of the list of conferences to have never had a team appear. The others are Big South, Mid-Eastern Athletic (MEAC), Northeast and Patriot. The SWAC and Atlantic Sun have never had an actual ranking, but the SWAC's Jackson State was ranked in the AIAW era, while the same goes for the Atlantic Sun's Mercer.

Here is the ranking of conference appearance totals of current members.

1. Southeastern 2,861 -- fueled by Tennessee, Georgia and Vanderbilt.

2. Atlantic Coast 1,962

3. Big Twelve 1,940

4. Big Ten 1,512

5. Big East 1,216

6. Pac-Ten 1,209

7. Western Athletic 511 (helped by Louisiana Tech)

8. Colonial Athletic Association 337 (helped by Old Dominion)

8. Mountain West 337

10. Big West 287

11. Atlantic Ten 247

12. Southland 239

13. Sun Belt 222

14. Conference-USA 146

15. Missouri Valley 95

16. Horizon 49 -- solely by Detroit (AIAW) and Wis.-Green Bay

17. Mid-American 43

18. Ohio Valley 36 helped by Tennessee Tech mainly in the Marynell Meadors era

19. Big Sky 23 all Montana

20. West Coast 20 San Francisco, Santa Clara and Gonzaga

21. America East 14 all Vermont

21. Atlantic Sun 14 all Mercer

23. Metro Atlantic 12 St. Peter's and Marist

23. Summit League 12 South Dakota State and Yow's one-week deal with Oral Roberts

25. SWAC 4 all Jackson State

25. Southern 4 all Tennessee-Chattanooga then coached by Sharon Fanning-Otis

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are the rankings totals that went to conferences at the time of the ranking

1. Southeastern Southeastern 2,579

2. Atlantic Coast 1,632

3. Big Ten 1,321

4, Big Twelve 1,125

5.  Big East, 1,045

6. Pac-Ten 926

7. Atlantic Ten 443

8. Sun Belt 434 once had Louisiana Tech and Old Dominion

9. Independents 263 helped by Penn State, Louisiana Tech and Cheyney under Stringer

10. Big West 238

11. Colonial Athletic Association 171

12. Southland 146

13. Conference-USA 135 some now live in the Big East

14. Mountain West 132

15. Western Athletic 104

16. Missouri Valley 51

17. Big Sky 33

18. Horizon 32 all Wis.-Green Bay

19. Mid-American 26

20. Metro Atlantic 21 La Salle, St. Peter's and Marist

21. Ohio Valley 20

22. America East 14 all Veromont

23.  Summit League 11

24. West Coast 6

25. Southern 4

More dynmaics to come

  -- Mel

(Guru's Note: Your Guru covered the Drexel-Delaware game for the print section and that story is elsewhere in the various regular sports locations on Philly.com)

By Mel Greenberg

 If Delaware with freshman star Elle Donne was competing in horseshoes instead of women's basketball in the Colonial Athletic Association, the Blue Hens might be heading for a high seed in the NCAA tournament.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, close is not worth anything in the hoops side of life other than the improvement Delaware (13-7, 5-4 CAA) has made in now being just two short of the overall win total  of a season ago.

The Blue Hens dropped a second straight overtime game to reigning conference champion Drexel Sunday despite Delle Donne's 31 points and 11 rebounds.

All four of Delaware's losses in the CAA have been at the finish against conference heavyweights. In the CAA opener at home in Newark, the Blue Hens rallied and then died on a missed layup at the buzzer, 60-59.

Next on the list is the thrilling double overtime game at home in which the Dragons (14-6, 8-1 CAA) twice rallied from four points down in the overtimes and won in the final minute, 70-67.

Delaware was on the verge of beating Virginia Commonwealth, an NCAA at-large participant last season, in Richmond until a three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left on the clock gave the Rams a 60-59 win.

On Sunday before the first-ever sellout crowd for the Drexel women (2,532), Marisa Crane hit a shot in overtime with three seconds left to give the Dragons a 60-58 win.

Drexel, locked in a three-way tie with VCU and Old Dominion for first, has been able to thrive in narrow outcomes while the Blue Hens have not.

The Dragons have the two wins over Delaware, a win against James Madison, an overtime win at Northeastern, and a win against Virginia Commonwealth in conference play.

Had Delaware been able to win those four CAA games the Blue Hens would be one of the "Wow" stories of the season.

The Blue Hens would be alone in first place in the CAA with a 17-3 overall record. They might even be at least 18-2 had Delle Donne not missed the Columbia game early in the season with an ankle injury that also had her absent in the loss to Colorado State the night after she got hurt in the tournament in the Rockies.

The other loss, which was to Princeton in her second career game, could be conceded, especially considering the Tigers might be one of the top under-the-radar stories.

One can even speculate with good reason that in a season where the non-UConn, non-Stanford, and, for the moment, non-Notre Dame and non-Nebraska world is loaded with vulnerable situations every night, the Blue Hens might even be holding a first-ever appearance in the Associated Press women's poll by now.

"It's good that we're close to these kind of teams, but we're not converting in the end and it's miserable to have these losses," said Delle Donne, who was the 2008 high school player of the year out of Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Del.

Drexel managed to double team Delle Donne in the second half for a while as the Dragons jumped to a 14-point lead before going into another cold spell.

"I was settling for jump shots, which is really stupid," Delle Donne said. "I'm kicking myself in the butt right now. I should have taken it inside when my shot was off and I got a little cold.

"We made a tough comeback, but we need to start converting these losses or we're not going to win a championship."

Delle Donne said she was basically recovered from an injury on her right elbow Thursday night near the end of the first half at Delaware that sidelined her the rest of the way in the win over Towson after she had scored 18 points.

"It gets stiff here and there but I got hit in a nerve and my arm went dead," Delle Donne said.

She saluted Crane's ability to make the game-winner for Drexel.

"She just drove by us and made the correct read. She's a great point guard and always making those right reads."

Crane is a graduate of Emmaus High in suburban Philadelphia.

"Drexel has one of the toughest defenses I've seen in the CAA," Delle Donne said. "They're a fun team to play.

"It's miserable," Delle Donne said of the narrow setbacks. "It just shows we're not working hard enough in practice because we keep coming up short in games. We don't see this intensity at practice."

Meanwhile, for the moment, so much for the projections for Delaware after Delle Donne dropped into the lap of Blue Hens coach Tina Martin last May when Delle Donne opted to return to basketball after spending her true freshman season a year ago playing volleyball for the Blue Hens. That followed a decision to forego a scholarship from NCAA champion Connecticut to be closer to home.

Martin alluded to the environment in practice after citing an inability to make key defensive rebounds down the stretch and an overall total of 21 turnovers factoring into Sunday's loss.

"I don't know what it's going to take (to win close contests)," Martin said. "I've been harping on the team the last few days. Our intensity level in practice needs to go up as a whole team. To win games like this, to beat teams that are the tops in our league, the intensity level needs to be maintained to win games.

"In practice you have to battle every day. They'll get it eventually. Maybe you just need enough battle scars and eventually you get sick of losing games like this and you step up and get the big defensive rebound when you need it and don't give them second and third chances and take care of the ball when you need to," Martin added.

"They're a young group. I love this team. The sky is the limit for them. Maybe they just need some more battle scores. I really don't have an answer right now. It's tough to lose to the top team in the league in double overtime and overtime."

The game was televised regionally and, other than the loss, Martin thought the atomsophere was outstanding.

"Every single game has been like this, even when we dominated them," Martin said.

Drexel has won six straight after a long losing streak to the Blue Hens.

"The Delaware fans coming up here was great. Drexel did a lot of promotions for the game," Martin said. "To sell the CAA and put it on TV, you can't ask for a more competitive atmosphere, you can't ask for a more competitive game. The worst thing for us was being on the losing end. It was a great showcase. Great drama. Unfortunately we were on the losing end of that drama.

"Right now it's just going to be about making this team better and make them really for whomever is in front of us."

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

Delaware redshirt-freshman sensation Elena Delle Donne recovered sensation in her right arm and hand and shot at Friday's light practice but did not participate in contact drills, coach Tina Martin said.

The Blue Hens coach reported Delle Donne is likely to play in Sunday's major Colonial Athletic Association clash at Drexel at noon at the 2,500-seat Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Drexel officials reported 1,200 had already been sold in advance, largest ever for a women's game at the school.

The Dragons beat the Delaware in double overtime two weeks ago in an exciting game in Newark. Drexel is currently locked in a three-way tie for first with Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion in the CAA where the Dragons are defending champions. The Blue Hens are two games back tied with James Madison.

Delle Donne got hurt near the end of the first half of Thursday night's win over Towson and did not return after the break, reporting she had lost sensation after getting hit in the right elbow. She had scored 18 points in the first half.

She missed two games earlier this season after suffering an ankle injury in the first game of Colorado State's tournament.

Additionally, Eva Riddick, another starter, got sick at halftime and did not return but was feeling better Friday.

Tesia Harris, who missed the last two games with an ankle injury, was also cleared to play.

Drexel is coming from an overtime win at Northeastern Thursday night where Dragons star Gabriela Marginean scored 41 points, second most in the history of the program. She previously scored 47 several years ago for the record in the five-overtime win at Drexel over Northeastern.

If Delle Donne plays, it will be her first Philadelphia appearance since the days the Ursuline Academy graduate out of Wilmington played for Fencor AAU.
 

-- Mel

Guru's Note: (This post was assembled in the middle of the night going into sunrise Friday. The Delaware web site says Delle Donne is expected to play Sunday. An update here will come later Friday or earlier on the Guru's twitter account @womhoopsguru. Possibly Delaware will update as the day progresses.)

By Mel Greenberg

HARTFORD, Conn. -- As the top-ranked University of Connecticut women's basketball team continues to compile astronomical numbers along what is at the moment the second largest win streak to the Huskies' standing  NCAA record of 70 that lasted from 2001-02 until the Big East title game against Villanova in 2003, coach Geno Auriemma has been challenged to find moderation and graciousness in his postgame comments.

There were no barbs tossed in the direction of Rutgers after the Scarlet Knights took their seat on victims row as No. 59 with a 73-36 thrashing in Tuesday night's conference meeting here at the X:L Center.

In fact the most revealing moments came after Auriemma's podium comments to a smaller group of reporters about how he has to temper things now that he is also the coach of the United States national women, anticipated to be aka as the UConn alumnae association, through the 2012 Olympics.

In that regard, the interweaving between the two roles since his appointment in April continues Wednesday morning less than an hour from here at the Mohegan Arena, actually the Wolf's Den at the casino complex. That's where the WNBA is expected to announce the pro women's league's annual mid-summer classic will be a format simmilar to the 2004 contest at Radio City Music Hall in New York with the nationals matched up against remaiuning WNBA stars.

There were no word whether snacks at the event will be served in Auriemma's restaurant at Mohegan down the road in Uncasville.

While there was no official acknowledgement Tuesday night of the purpose of Wednesday's event, officials from the WNBA and USA Basketball were in the house on press row.

Officials from the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame were also on the scene, an indicitation that some future event sponored by the institution housed in Knoxville, Tenn., will also involve the Huskies, whose former star Rebecca Lobo will be among this year's inducatees in June.

Auriemma's only noteworthy jab occurred right after his media session at the podium ended and he quipped to UConn's regular beat writers, ``See you guys Saturday in Pittsburgh. Oh, that's right, most of you don't travel any more," a reference to cutbacks across the nation in the newspaper industry because of economic hardships.

 To maintain interest during the second half after the Huskies roared to a 40-15 lead at the break, glamour bets were being made along press row as to the final point total of yet anothe opponent who couldn't score consistently once the Huskies defense put the clamps down as they had against such other notables as Notre Dame, North Carolina, Duke and Stanford.

On game nights, there are now two ways to define concession stand. The traditional description is a place where food and souvenirs can be purchased. The new one is the answer to the question, `Where do you find UConn opponents offering postgame comments?'"

"They are a great team and I do not believe they are given enough credit for their defense," Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said in her postgame comments following the the first-ever matchup between two Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductees in a women's contest.

Stringer joined Auriemma in the Naismith Hall,  headquartered in Springfield, Mass., last September. Both are previous inductees to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

"I have watched many UConn teams and I believe this is the best UConn team," Stringer said after her up close and personal experience against the 2009-10 edition that follows the unbeaten NCAA titlists of last season. "I do not know if this is the deepest team but it is like a well oil machine."

Perhaps the best news for the Scarlet Knights was Rutgers won't have to deal with the Huskies again at home in Piscataway, N. J., in the wake of the Big East offseason reshuffle of home-and-home opponents. This season, Connecticut was moved to a two-game matchup against Notre Dame which returned to No. 3 after a one-week dip following the Huskies thrashing of the Irish two weekends ago down the road on campus in Storrs.

However, if Rutgers lands on the wrong side of the Big East tournament seedings, the Scarlet Knights could meet Connecticut in this building in the conference semifinals in March on a night that the Huskies could be going after record-breaking victory No. 71 in the streak.

If anything has surprised Auriemma, it is the magnitude of defense Connecticut has played. It is far above the expectations he had heading into the defense of last season's title.

After the Huskies had completed their perfect run in St. Louis in April, Auriemma looked ahead briefly to this season and referenced what the 2002-03 group had to face after four seniors graduated and the mainstay was one Diana Taurasi.

"I would never want next year's team (2009-10) to go through what the 2003 team had to endure," Auriemma referenced the lineup that had inherited the win streak at the time.

Yet here we are two-thirds of the way through the regular season and now the focus is on whether the Huskies can add a new chapter to their illustrious history.

So what has enabled this group to allay the worst of Auriemma's fears in maintaining UConn's perfection to date in lop-sided numbers that even the 2001-03 squads didn't achieve defensively?

"It's a little bit different in that team had one battery source -- Diana Taurasi (now with the defending WNBA champion Pheonix Mercury)," Auriemma said. "So they plugged into her and said, `OK, whatever we need to be done, you do it.'

"And what was difficult was some nights she didn't have it and it was very difficult, day after day after day," Auriemma continued. "Because it's impossible for one person to do it every day.

"Whereas this year what has happened is, they kind of feed off of each other a little bit," Auriemma explained. "So it's made it less stressful. Every night has been different. Every night has been somebody stepping up and playing really well. And having somebody like `D,' still made it a three-ring circus because she drew so much attention.

"This is more of a collective effort. It's much more of a team effort."

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

It was a wild night Thursday in the Colonial Athletic Association as incumbents all held firm or rallied at the finish.

Here in Philadelphia, George Mason pushed reigning Drexel all night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center but the reigning conference champions rode Gabriela Marginean’s 26 points to a 59-51 win over the Patriots (8-9, 1-5 CAA).

Incidentally, on Sunday in the win over Delaware, Marginean passed Michael Anderson to become Drexel’s all-time men’s and women’s scorer.

Kamile Nacickaite scored 12 points Thursday night for the Dragons (11-6, 5-1).

“There’s not a lot to say about this one,” Drexel coach Denise Dillon reflected on her team’s inability to move ahead for a solid lead after finishing the first half with a flurry for a 28-21 lead.

“Just move on to the next.”

The next happens to be a noon battle here Sunday against Virginia Commonwealth, the team Drexel turned aside here down the stretch of last season to take sole possession of first place and then advance into the conference tournament with a first-ever CAA crown.

A win will put the Dragons into a first place-tie minimally with the Rams or a three-way tie depending on the outcome of Old Dominion’s game Sunday at Towson.

Both the Rams and Monarchs escaped at the finish Thursday night in their contests as did James Madison, which was in a tie for third with Delaware.

Old Dominion (7-9, 5-1) hit foul shots in the closing seconds to beat visiting Georgia State, 58-54, and stay within a game of VCU.

On a night that Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne set three school records, the Biue Hens (11-6, 3-3 CAA) were aced at the finish by the Rams (13-5, 6-0) when D’Andra Moss nailed a three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left for a 60-59 victory.

The good news for Delaware is the Blue Hens are back from a two-year hiatus showing the ability to compete with anyone in the conference.

The tough part is Delaware would really be making news instead of being on the verge of being almost out of the regular-season race for the title barring a mass scramble by the other contenders.

How narrow are the losses? Old Dominion was saved by a missed layup at the finish while Delle Donne missed a short shot Sunday that might have beaten Drexel in the second overtime.
Then came Thursday’s loss at VCU.

Delle Donne had 27 points for the second straight game and has shattered three freshman season records. Her 379 point total passes Danielle Leyfert’s 358 total set in 1997-98. She now has 34 three-pointers topping the freshman mark of 33 by Liz Hayes (2003-04), now the Blue Hens’ director of basketball operations. Delle Donne has also connected on 32 straight foul shots, breaking the record of 31 set by Linda Cyborski in 1990-91.

Meanwhile, James Madison trailed Northeast all night before rallying at the finish.

Penn State Returning From the Wilderness?

Don’t look now but the Nittany Lions are the best of the rest not named Ohio State in the Big 10 conference.

Coach Coquese Washington’s group emerged with a major road triumph Thursday night, beating Wisconsin 54-43 as Tyra Grant scored 14 points and Villa Maria graduate Julie Trogele had 13 points.

Penn State is now alone in second place ahead of the Badgers at 14-4 overall, the best in Washington’s three seasons, and 6-2 in the conference.

Earlier in the week, the squad sat down with the dominating three-time national champion volleyball team in Happy Valley to discuss what it takes to be a winner.

Upsets Nationally

No. 8 Georgia took down No. 3 Tennesseee, the Bulldogs’ SEC rival, at home in Athens as Ashley Houts had 12 points in the 53-50 win.

Georgia had not beaten Tennessee in eight games, last winning in the 2004 SEC tournament.

Duke had plans of breaking Maryland’s long home win streak when the two meet in College Park Sunday night at 8.

However, Miami beat the Blue Devils to notoriety, beating the Terrapins, 80-77, to end the 48-game run at the Comcast Center.

That’s it for now.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

   PHILADELPHIA _ The Wire is the name of a popular dective series on television that takes place in Baltimore.

In women's basketball the wire is a place where Temple and St. Joseph's always seem to land whenever the two local rivals clash in concurrent Atlantic 10 and Big Five competition.

   In continuing the trend of recent seasons, the Owls and Hawks battled to the finish, and in this instance beyond, early Saturday night with Temple emerging with a 58-55 victory in overtime at the Liacouras Center.

   The name of the winner is also nothing new, though St. Joseph's coach Cindy Griffin can recall a time before the millenium arrived when she played for the Hawks (8-9,  1-1 Atlantic 10, 1-2 Big Five) and they beat the Owls (12-5, 2-1 A-10, 1-1 Big Five) consistently.

   Since then it's been nothing but frustration for the most part in the series for Griffin though second-year Temple coach Tonya Cardoza had plenty to grit her teeth over from Saturday's defensive battle.

   "This was a tough game for us," Cardoza said. "We did a lot of things bad and hopefully it was just one of those days. But those guys (St. Joe) came and out and were physical and pushed us around and we started getting besides ourselves and not playing good basketball and just got lucky in being able to pull out a win."

  Temple is now 14-1 against the Hawks dating back to the 2003-04 season and the lone St. Joseph's victory occurred on Hawk Hill with a 65-64 result on January 27, 2006, when Hillary Klimowicz scored at the buzzer.

    Eight of the last nine games have been decided by seven points or fewer, the exception being Temple's home win and second of the season against the Hawks a year ago when the Owls won the second encounter 60-48.

     The two will meet again at the Hawks' Hagan Arena on Feb. 2.

     In Saturday's game, St. Joseph's missed some critical shots in the closing minutes of regulation, the same situation that occurred a year ago when the Hawks hosted the Owls at Philadelphia University's Gallagher Center during the renovation of their regular home.

      Kristen McCarthy gave Temple a lead in the overtime it never relinquished by hitting two foul shots and then with 2:53 left in the extra session nailing a three-pointer for a 57-52 advantage that both coaches said was the key play of the night.

   "It was a guard-to-guard switch and we didn't switch out fast enough," Griffin said. "That was probably the biggest shot that comes to mind without looking at the film."

   Lakeisha Eaddy returned from a two-game absence due to a concussion and scored 17 points for the Owls, though she shot 6-of-17 from the field. McCarthy, who was 3-for-15, scored 10 points, as did Shaqwedia Wallace.

      Jasmine Stone grabbed 11 rebounds and Cardoza noted that statistic as a major overall key to the win.

       Ashley Prim and Mariame Djouara each scored 13 points for the Hawks, while Ashley Logue scored 10 points.

       "We showed a lot of heart and lot of hustle, the kids did that, but we also just did some bonehead things," Griffin said. 

       The game was a statistical nightmare on both sides.

       Temple shot 29.4 percent from the field and Cardoza cited the Owls' scoring just 58 points off 68 field goal attempts. St. Joseph's wasn't much better, shooting 31.6 percent. Both teams committed 21 turnovers, while Temple committed 51 personal fouls compared 39 by the Hawks.

        "We put them on the line shooting the bonus way too early," Cardoza said.

         Griffin spoke of the the problems the Hawks have encountered.fine

         "Right now, we're scoring from certain positions and others we're getting goose eggs," she said. "It's fine if you're getting stops at the other end  -- defensively we did a great job holding this team to 29 percent shooting -- and that's pretty darn good. But on the other end, we're shooting 31 percent."

          Griffin said there's nothing that can't be adjusted before the next time the two teams meet.

           Cardoza, meanwhile, winced at what almost was a lost opprtunity to get on a roll after having recently suffered three competitive setbacks in a row to nationally-ranked teams.

           "The last thing you want to do is when you have a stretch and you play three Top 25 teams and you're in the game and then you start your A-10," she explained. "That's why you play those Top 25 games -- to prepare for the A-10. And then you start the A-10. If you were doing those things that were supposed to be preparing you and then you get to these games and you don't do the things you did in those games, then it was pointless to play them."

        St. Joseph's next hosts Dayton, another conference frontrunner, on Wednesday  while Temple travels to meet Rhode Island on Tuesday.

         Although Temple's string of five straight Big Five titles or shared crowns ended last month when Villanova swept  the round robin, the Owls can finish second outright by beating Penn in McGonigle Hall next Saturday and winning at La Salle on February 6.

            Bonus Shots: St. Joseph's had a presence of sorts in the Big East battle later Saturday night between No. 3 Notre Dame and top-ranked Uconn at home in Storrs. The clash contributed to history when ESPN moved its Game Day location to a women's site for the first time. Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma was once an assistant to Jim Foster (now at Ohio State) on Hawk Hill while Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw is a Big Five Hall of Famer who played for the Hawks and also spent time at her alma mater as an assistant.

          La Salle (5-13, 0-3 A-10) fell to No. 14 Xavier (12-3, 2-0) at home in the Tom Gola Arena as Amber Harris had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Musketeers. Chelsea Conner had a career-high 11 points for the Explorers.

        Rutgers (11-7, 3-1 Big East)) got 13 points from Brittany Ray and 11 points from Camden Catholic's Rashidat Junaid in an ugly 44-33 win at home at the Louis A. Brown Athletic Center against conference rival Cincinnati (8-8, 1-3), which is under first-year coach Jamelle Elliott, a former Connecticut star and assistant coach. Shareese Ulis had 10 points for the Bearcats.

        Villanova (10-6, 0-4 Big East ) fell 71-54 to Marquette (12-6, 3-2) in a conference game at home at The Pavillion.  The Wildcats shot a season-high 13 three pointers with red-shirt freshman forward Emily Suhey scoring 15 points -- all in the first half off five treys.

         -- Mel