Is parity slipping into women's basketball?

By DOUG FEINBERG

Goodbye Tennessee. So long Duke. See you next time North Carolina.

Thirty-two games into the NCAA women's basketball tournament and three of the powerhouses have already been bounced. Throw-in LSU, which had made the previous five Final Fours and it would be easy to see a transformation under way.

"I just think it points toward the parity in women's basketball with so many different teams doing so well. I think it's a good sign in some ways for basketball that they aren't in the Sweet 16," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, whose team advanced to the Berkeley Regional semifinals. "But there is more talent spread around. I think it's exciting. You're looking at the future of women's basketball. Of course, as long as Stanford's in there, I like it."

Still even with those perennially Final Four teams out of the mix, it might be a little too soon to claim complete equality in the sport.

Sure all four No. 1 seeds won't be playing in the second weekend for only the second time since 1999 with Duke's loss to Michigan State on Tuesday. And yes, there certainly was a buzz after Ball State knocked out the two-time defending champion Lady Vols.

But let's look at the facts.

There is a lot of championship experience left with UConn, Stanford, Baylor and Purdue still playing. Those four teams have combined to win seven of the past 10 national titles. No mid-major team made it to the second weekend as all 16 teams left come from power conferences. The Big 12 and Big East each have four teams, the Pac-10 and Big Ten are sending three. The SEC and ACC only have one representative each.

"Three Pac-10 teams in the Sweet 16, I think that's making a pretty good statement that basketball as alive and well in the West," VanDerveer said. "Unfortunately we had to eliminate some West teams to get here," she said, referring to UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State."

Of the major upsets that happened so far in the tournament none is more talked about than Ball State's victory over Tennessee. The shock of it put the women's tournament on the front page the next day.

Any other season it might have been considered the greatest upset of all time, surpassing top-seed Stanford's loss at home to Harvard in 1998.

But the Lady Vols were already suffering through the worst year in Pat Summitt's career. With all five starters gone from the two-time defending champs and the team being inconsistent all season, the Lady Vols were vulnerable to see their unbelievable streak of making it to the regional semifinals every season come to an end.

"I think when you watch teams like Ball State, you can't help but get excited," Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said. "The mid-majors are catching up and you can't predict as much as you did before and it is good for the game because it spurs the interest of everyone across the country."

Now if Connecticut had lost to Vermont in the opener, that would have been something.

Yet the UConn express keeps rolling as the unbeaten Huskies (35-0) have shown no signs of weakness routing both Vermont and Florida in their first two games.

"As much as everyone focuses on Connecticut. There are going to be some great stories coming out of the tournament," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. "The tournament is just become an unbelievable event for these kids. There are no guarantees. We want to get a lot better this week than we were this weekend."

The Huskies are well on their way to completing the fifth undefeated season in the history of the sport. Next up is California on Sunday in the Trenton Regional.

It will be UConn's first tournament game away from home as it has played the first two rounds at Gampel Pavilion. The NCAA tournament decided to go back to 16 host sites this season to try and boost attendance. While those numbers may be up, it forced a few top seeds to play on or very near to opponents home courts.

Seventh-seed Rutgers benefited from playing at home to knock off No. 2 Auburn. Yet Tigers coach Nell Fortner refused to use that as an excuse. The Scarlet Knights had been playing well heading into the NCAAs. They gave UConn its closest game of the season to finish off its Big East schedule in early March. Rutgers then went on to fall in double overtime to Louisville in the conference tournament quarterfinals.

"That was the best basketball we had seen them play in watching all the games scouting them," Fortner said. "My hats off to them and I fully expect them to get to the Final Four."

It seems as though the Scarlet Knights are finally on the same page after an inconsistent season and may yet make another run to the Final Four. The rollercoaster ride of this season is similar to the 2007 team that lost to Tennessee in the national championship game. That squad was highly ranked in the preseason before struggling early on. They finally put it together, winning the Big East tournament before the NCAA run.

Not all home teams had success in the tournament. LSU saw its streak of 12 straight NCAA tournament victories at home end with Louisville's victory Tuesday night. This will mark the first time that the Tigers aren't going to be playing in the final weekend of the NCAAs since 2003.

"I really, truly feel — I was thinking to myself — this is our time," Louisville star Angel McCoughtry said. "I really feel that. I mean, all these other programs — Baylor, they had their time. LSU, they had their time. UNC, all of them. I feel like, it's time for a different program to step up and get some new faces up in the Final Four — and we need to be one of the new faces."