N.C. State's ACC season hasn't been going like the Wolfpack had hoped. But there was absolutely no way Shayla Fields and Khadijah Whittington were going to permit another disappointment Sunday. For the game, the Pack wore special pink uniforms designed by Nike. A number of schools are playing in pink during the "Think Pink" period, but the Wolfpack's had a twist. On the back of every jersey, the Pack players all wore the same name -- Yow. N.C. State started "Hoops" in 2006 after Pack coach Kay Yow suffered a recurrence in her breast cancer. The event has grown each year.

Kalana Greene didn't believe that she would not play another second this season for the UConn women's basketball team as she was being helped off the floor at Gampel Pavilion Dec. 17. She was still able to apply pressure on her right leg. To her, that was a promising sign. However, once team doctors Robert Arciero and Tom Trojian examined Greene in the training room, any sign of promise was emphatically smashed. The preliminary tests revealed damage to the anterior cruciate and lateral cruciate ligaments in her right knee. An MRI later confirmed that both were torn, effectively ending her season. "You never anticipate going into the game saying, 'I'm going to get hurt,' " Greene said. "So it happening the way it happened ... It happened so fast. Angry and sad at the same time. But I'm not going to sit there and ask any questions as to why it happened because it's an injury that happens all the time and a lot of people suffer it. I think it's a test that in the long run it's going to make me a whole lot stronger."

How to rate Big 12 women's basketball so far this season? It depends on what scale is used. If a grade was based on the respect the conference has built up among poll voters over the past decade, then it looks good. As of this week, there are six teams in the Associated Press rankings. But if the evaluation was about if any team has presented itself as a strong Final Four contender … well, then things are less rosy. Oklahoma is the only team that's displayed that kind of possibility thus far, but the Sooners lost both of their games against top-five teams.

Bryant also said it is crucial that the new coach/GM have a strong relationship with Jackson. Though Jackson wavered about returning to the Storm this summer, she has said she plans on fulfilling the final year of her three-year contract since the team announced it will play the 2008 season in Seattle. "(Getting along with Jackson) is really important," Bryant said. "You hope that whomever you select the players immediately recognize that this is someone with credibility, who has had a level of success at this level and somebody that they can buy into."

It will be the road trip nobody wants to make. The Bay Area has turned into the bane of Pac-10 women's basketball with No. 2 Stanford and No. 11 Cal awaiting those teams that come to visit. The Cardinal jumped three spots in the Associated Press poll with Saturday's 73-69 win over top-ranked Tennessee at Maples Pavilion. It is Stanford's highest-ranking since the Cardinal finished the 2004-05 regular season at No. 1, and it reinforces the Cardinal's status as the class of the Pac-10. Cal, meanwhile, assumed its highest ranking ever at No. 11 after defeating Kansas 74-41 on Friday. First-year Washington coach Tia Jackson will be one of the first to take on the dangerous duo, as the Huskies open Friday at Cal, while Washington State plays at Stanford.

For the first time in nearly four years, the UConn women's basketball team is ranked No. 1 again. The 9-0 Huskies had been ranked No. 2 in both the Associated Press writers' poll and the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll all season until this week, when they vaulted over defending national champion Tennessee into the top spot. UConn coach Geno Auriemma said he's not certain at this point in the season if the Huskies are the best team in the country, because they lost starter Kalana Greene to a season-ending knee injury last Monday. He welcomes the No. 1 ranking, however, because it affords his current players, none of whom have ever been ranked No. 1 before, a chance to experience it. "Before last Monday, I felt we were the best team in the country," Auriemma said. "Now that we are not intact, I'm not as certain. So being No. 1 is neither here nor there. Which is fine, since the goal at Connecticut never was, nor ever will be, to be ranked No. 1 in the polls in December.

Diana Taurasi had 26 points and seven rebounds to lead the U.S. national team to an 83-72 victory over top-ranked Tennessee in an exhibition game on Sunday. Lady Vols fans booed as the 6-foot guard-forward was introduced and cheered louder with each foul Taurasi drew in an especially physical game. Taurasi won three national championships with Tennessee rival Connecticut and helped the Huskies to a 7-2 record over the Lady Vols during her college career.

In all three games, Taurasi has been guarded by Detroit's Katie Smith. Smith is known for her scoring, but she's also one of the Shock's best one-on-one defenders. "Believe me, everyone around this league knows how good Katie is on defense," Shock captain Swin Cash said. "She's a very physical defender, and it is hard to play with someone in your face all of the time."

"It's all on us right now," Smith said. "We just have to rebound by committee, and whoever's in the area -- since we do play the rover defense -- needs to make a better effort to put a body on the big girls, box them out and get the rebounds. We know we can do it. "It's been like this all season. They're not the first team we've matched up against that's bigger than us. I mean … basically, everybody's bigger than us." Smith, like the rest of the Phoenix players, seemed confident despite the loss. They credited Detroit but also knew that Wednesday's performance wasn't the Mercury at their best. "We felt like we didn't play how we wanted to play, and we still only lost by eight and fouled at the end," Smith said. "We can fix the things that we need to fix."

Although the Phoenix Mercury have three players who can rule offensively, it is their democratic approach to power sharing that makes them intimidating. "We push the ball so quickly that everyone gets a chance to be open, if not this time down, then next time," Phoenix coach Paul Westhead said. Even after the Mercury lost Game 1 of the WNBA Finals to the Detroit Shock, the Mercury's Big Three of Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter and Penny Taylor are still at the heart of any discussion about how this series will evolve.