INTERACTIVE: Fill out your NCAA Women's Bracket
INTERACTIVE: Fill out your NCAA Men's Bracket
Connecticut's path to another perfect season could include a renewal of the most heated rivalry in women's college basketball.
The undefeated Huskies earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA women's basketball tournament Monday night and will open against Southern in Norfolk, Va.
Geno Auriemma's Huskies have won an NCAA record 72 straight games, but none of them have come against Pat Summitt's Lady Vols. The two pre-eminent teams in the sport broke off their annual matchup in 2007 in a testy split.
The two teams could meet in the national semifinals in San Antonio if both come through their regions.
"I'm not surprised that they would line us up with Connecticut if we both come out," said Summitt, whose team earned a record 20th No. 1 seed. "They want to see that matchup. We're a long way from thinking about that matchup."
Auriemma isn't focusing on that game -- yet.
"I would venture to say that after that game is over, if we are fortunate enough to win it, I think there will be a lot of coaches and players on our team that will be smiling a little bit," Auriemma said.
Ten teams have entered the NCAA tournament unbeaten; only five have emerged victorious. UConn and Auriemma have done it three times, including last season.
Stanford and Nebraska earned the other No. 1 seeds.
The Cardinal, the last team to beat Connecticut, earned their first No. 1 seed since 1998. Tennessee earned the No. 1 seed a year after getting bounced from the tournament in the first round. And Nebraska has its first No. 1 seed in school history after winning its first 30 games this season. The Cornhuskers lost their only game of the season in the Big 12 tournament semifinals.
The Huskies (33-0), too, have run through their opponents this season, winning by an average of 35 points. In search of its seventh national championship, UConn is looking to become the fifth team to win consecutive titles. Tennessee last did it in 2007 and 2008.
Awaiting the Huskies in the second round could be former assistant Tonya Cardoza and the Temple Owls.
* NORTHERN COLORADO IN CIT FIELD: Northern Colorado, George Mason and Harvard are among 16 teams in the College Insider.com tournament.
George Mason (17-14), which made a captivating run to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in 2006 under coach Jim Larranaga, will host Fairfield (22-10) in the first round tonight.
* OREGON STATE BACK IN CBI TO DEFEND 2009 TITLE: Defending champion Oregon State is back in the College Basketball Invitational, despite a losing record.
Coached by Craig Robinson, the brother-in-law of President Barack Obama, the Beavers (14-17) open the tournament at home Wednesday against Boston University (19-13), which lost at Vermont in the championship game of the America East Conference tournament.
The 16-team CBI bracket was released Sunday night and is made up of schools that were left out of the NCAA tournament and the NIT.
* KANSAS CLOSES AS THE UNANIMOUS NO. 1: Kansas was on top of the preseason poll and the Jayhawks were in the same spot in the season's final Top 25.
The Jayhawks, the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, were a unanimous pick Monday, their 15th week this season on top of the rankings. That matches Kansas in 1996-97 and Illinois in 2004-05 for the most weeks at No. 1 in a season since Duke ran the table in 1991-92.
Kansas (32-2) received all the first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel and was on top for the second straight week. The Jayhawks were No. 1 in the preseason poll and for the first eight weeks of the season until losing at Tennessee. They had another four-week stretch at No. 1 ended by a loss at Oklahoma State.
* LUTZ, LICKLITER AND SPERAW PINK SLIPPED: Charlotte has fired basketball coach Bobby Lutz after his 12th year was marred by a late-season collapse.
Also, Iowa has fired basketball coach Todd Lickliter after a third straight losing season.
And Kirk Speraw is out after 17 years as Central Florida's basketball coach.
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