UNC junior Nikki Teasley tried and tried Saturday, but she still couldn't match MJ's wingspan. Regardless, Teasley did help the Tar Heels win their eighth consecutive first-round NCAA Tournament game.
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Player of the day:
Oklahoma senior Phylesha Whaley dropped in a season-high 33 points to become the Sooners' all-time career leading scorer. She went 12-for-20 from the field in 40 minutes. Runner-up: Tulane's amazing Grace Daley, who scored 30 to help the Green Wave hold off Vermont.
Bracket buster:
How many of you users had UC Santa Barbara headed to the Sweet 16? After all, the Gauchos had won 26 consecutive games and 25 straight at the Thunderdome?
Sorry to see you go:
Maybe it's because we hosted Summer Erb in chat and thought she was cool, or because we love to see the 6-foot-6 center work the paint, but either way, we'll miss seeing that kind of heart on display.
Food for thought:
We're all tired of seeing La. Tech walk through the Sun Belt Conference (with the exception of that final vs. Western Kentucky). But consider this: Tech is headed to the WAC next season, the same league that includes Rice and Southern Methodist, two teams that on Saturday pulled off the tournament's biggest upsets thus far. Now that's whack!
Fearless prediction:
Sorry, Sue, but we're picking Stephen F. Austin to take LSU in a second-round game in the East Region.
User Message of the Day:
"Bye bye Pac-10. Tonight was the last Pac-10 team victory you will see in this year's tourney ... going, going, GONE!!! Georgia and Tennessee will wreak havoc with the West Coast plodders!!!" -- rturnips on our message boards.
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(Over)time and again
 | | Lynn Pride scored 17 points Saturday. | |
For all those folks who complain that the women's game doesn't have enough upsets or flashy endings, try this one on for size: Vanderbilt needed not one but two overtime periods to put away Kansas on Saturday.
Still, as Jayhawk junior Jennifer Jackson and ESPN.com's Mechelle Voepel point out, a double-overtime game is nothing compared to what they have seen. And after all, Voepel adds, playing 50 minutes for the privilege to face top-seeded Louisiana Tech ain't what it's cracked up to be, either.
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| JAY BILAS BREAKS THEM DOWN: |
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On Vanderbilt: The Commodores will come up with a difficult matchup defensively when they play Louisiana Tech, which has by far the quickest guard in the country in Tamicha Jackson. And Betty Lennox is no slouch herself. She is outstanding in getting her own shot, very smart. It will be a tough task defensively to try and guard these two.
On Texas Tech: The Lady Raiders have really exploited their dominance inside and in transition. When Plenette Pierson has gotten the ball inside, she has scored. And Aleah Johnson is a lefty who's so athletic and quick that she'll put some points on the board.
On North Carolina: UNC has struggled all year with its defense and was one of the worst teams in the ACC defensively. The Tar Heels don't get back into transition as well as they should given the athletes they have. But, UNC can be a very dangerous team in this tournament because they've got great breakdown ability off the dribble.
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TOURNAMENT CHALLENGE
Nearly 50,000 folks joined the women's Tournament Challenge. And as we roll out an updated version of the Tournament Dish each game day, we'll continue to provide an inside look at how the users filled out their brackets.
• 21.5 percent expect to see Penn State in Philly
• 9.4 percent picked Georgia to win the NCAA title
• Less than 1 percent picked Purdue to repeat
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Bio Rhythms: UT's Randall
| |  | | As a freshman, Semeka Randall helped the Lady Vols win the 1998 NCAA title. |
To give fans an inside look at the personalities behind March Madness, ESPN.com asked more than 20 players to share information about themselves. Look for the Tournament Dish's "Bio Rhythms" -- a fun and humorous look at the athlete by the athlete -- throughout the women's NCAA Tournament.
The series continues with a look at Tennessee junior Semeka Randall, who says her first performance in front of Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt wasn't exactly a smashing success.
"I wrecked my car on the way to the gym," Randall says. "I played terrible so it was a good thing I had already signed with Tennessee."
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