Dayton: UConn Casts Mighty Shadow

Say you're Ohio State coach Jim Foster and you've coached your Buckeye team to a 30-4 mark, capturing the regular season and tournament champions.

Or perhaps you're Sue Semrau, the Florida State coach, whose Seminoles shared the regular season Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title with Duke.

You'd think either coach would feel reasonably comfortable with their chances to reach the Final Four in San Antonio, given they received the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively in the Dayton regional.

That is, until they looked at the top of the bracket and saw who the No. 1 seed was, namely Connecticut. The Huskies' 72-game winning streak -- two of them against Florida State -- appear as daunting a challenge as any contender has faced since the 1999 tournament, when three-time defending champion Tennessee, fresh off an unbeaten 1998 season, entered the field as prohibitive favorites.

Bracket Analysis: Memphis | Kansas City | Sacramento | Dayton
Maryland, USC, Syracuse Among Those On Outside Looking in

The Lady Vols were knocked out that year in the regional final by Duke, and Ohio State and Florida State, not to mention Iowa State, the region's fourth seed, will need something miraculous to happen to take out Connecticut.

ShareThe Huskies begin defense of their title Sunday in Norfolk, Va., against Southern University, the Southwestern Athletic Conference champs, having won each of the 72 games in the streak by 10 points or more.

Regional Final Site: University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio

The Winner: You're kidding, right? Connecticut's failure to clear this region wouldn't be the biggest upset in women's college basketball history, but would certainly rank high on the list.

Bracket Buster: Florida State. It's hard to call a No. 3 seed moving through the bracket a surprise, but with Connecticut in the region, the Seminoles could qualify. Florida State has the inside/outside blend to give the Huskies a game ... for 30 minutes.

Ripe for the Taking: Ohio State. True, the Buckeyes come into the tournament as Big 10 regular and tournament champions, but Ohio State has received a top four or better seed in five of the last seven years, yet have only two Sweet 16 appearances to show for it.

The Matchup to Watch: No. 8 seed Temple vs. No. 9 James Madison. Right off the bat, the Owls-Dukes game will pit Temple's La'Keisha Eaddy, one of the country's best defensive point guards, against JMU's Dawn Evans, who led the nation for a time this year in scoring.

The Player to Watch: Ohio State sophomore Samantha Prahalis served notice in a bravura 32-point nationally televised performance at Michigan State that she will be one of the best point guards in the country in the next two seasons.

Bracket Notes: Middle Tennessee State's Alysha Clark has led Division I in scoring the last two years ... Temple held 20 of its 29 regular season opponents to 56 points or fewer ... No. 15 seed St. Francis (Pa.), the Northeast Conference champions, are winless in nine previous tournament games, the worst record among teams in this year's field ... Ivy League champion Princeton is one of five teams making its first appearance in the tournament.