uconn06

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and make the put-back
And win, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your winning streak;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Presidents--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all people count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With forty minutes worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be NUMBER ONE!

STORRS, Conn. -- There's no point in ridiculing the Pitt women here this morning. That would be piling on after their 95-42 loss to No. 1 Connecticut yesterday. Really, there's nothing to say that coach Agnus Berenato didn't mention in her postgame talk to her team. She went to each player, pointed at the front of her jersey and said they all "let down Pitt."

On national television, no less.

"I told them I need to write a letter of apology to chancellor [Mark] Nordenberg and [athletic director] Steve Pederson," Berenato said. "But I also told them I'm going to write in that letter that we will be ready for [Villanova] Wednesday night so they had better get on board behind me and be ready for what I'm going to throw at 'em in practice."

It won't be pretty.

Then again, it won't be anything like what Connecticut threw at Pitt.

Going in, Berenato called the matchup at Gampel Pavillion "a game that will show us where we really are at." An hour before tipoff, she said she truly believed the Panthers could compete, perhaps even win if everything went their way and Connecticut stumbled a bit. "Maybe I was delusional ... " she said afterward.

Maybe?

That's not so much a knock at the Pitt program, which has made remarkable strides under Berenato. Last week, it won at Rutgers for the first time. In December, it beat then-No. 8 Maryland by 29 points for a win against the highest-ranked opponent in school history. Last season, it went to the NCAA tournament's Round of 16 for the first time. The season before that, it made its first NCAA tournament appearance and earned its first win.

It's to the point that Pitt might be the second-best team in the Big East Conference. We'll know more about that after that game against Villanova at the Petersen Events Center.

But as far as Pitt has come, it has a million times that far to go to catch Connecticut. It's as if Connecticut plays one game at an extraordinary level and Pitt plays a different game, a lesser game. Connecticut is 25-0, has been ranked No. 1 since the preseason and has won its games by an average score of 87-54. It has won 24 in a row against Pitt by an average of more than 35 points.

And now 53?

In Year 6 of Berenato?

"They do that to everybody," Berenato said.

Not that it eases the pain, but ...

"I wonder how [coach] Sylvia Hatchell feels at North Carolina. UConn went there and won by 30," Berenato said. "I wonder how they feel at Oklahoma. They got killed by UConn ...

"UConn is just awesome. They're not going to lose to anyone. The only way they lose is if they overlook somebody or beat themselves."

Connecticut might be too good for the sake of women's basketball. By the first television timeout yesterday, ESPN2 must have been wondering why it was doing the game. Connecticut led, 18-3, and Berenato already had called two timeouts. "It was almost embarrassing," she said.

Almost?

"I think we hurt the women's game today," Berenato said. "We just didn't compete."

That's the real shame. The women's game is fighting to be accepted by a discerning sports public. Routs like this don't help. People want to see competition. This game offered none.

Same as almost all of the Connecticut games.

That doesn't mean the Connecticut excellence isn't amazing to watch. It might be the most athletic team in college basketball, men included. Pitt had no answer for the quickness of senior point guard Renee Montgomery, who joined such illustrious Connecticut names as Swin Cash, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi on the school's Wall of Honor in an emotional ceremony before the game. It couldn't deal with the strength of All-America candidate Tina Charles inside. It barely could get off a decent shot against Connecticut's relentless defensive pressure.

The afternoon's only drama? Would Pitt stay within 50 points? Ah, no. And would Connecticut score 100? Surprisingly, no. You have to think it could have rung up 125 if it had really pushed it.

"Seeing Connecticut in person, they're special," Berenato said. "You've got to recruit better players to compete with them and, even then, I don't know for sure. North Carolina has All-Americans. Oklahoma has All-Americans ...

"[Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma] doesn't recruit. He just reloads."

Now, Pitt must regroup. It will be interesting to see if it is up for the challenge against Villanova. Certainly, Berenato will be ready. Her enthusiasm is irrepressible. But what about her players? Where are their heads going to be? It isn't easy getting whacked by 53.

There is some good news, though.

Villanova is no Connecticut.

No team that Pitt will play the rest of the season is Connecticut.

Hey, on days like this, you take your comfort where you can find it.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With a 17-0 record and a margin of victory of 24.8 points a game, the Connecticut Huskies have done little to disprove that they are the No. 1 women’s basketball team in the country. On the other hand, with just one ranked opponent on the schedule to date, the Huskies perhaps had not faced enough challenges to provide a definitive answer.

So the annual match with North Carolina, ranked No. 2 and also 17-0 entering Monday’s game, was the first real test for Connecticut and an opportunity for the Huskies to show they belonged atop the polls.

Done.

And they made it look easy with a 88-58 blowout of the Tar Heels at the Dean E. Smith Center. Renee Montgomery scored 21 points and Maya Moore added 19 points and 11 rebounds for Connecticut. The Tar Heels never found a way to slow center Tina Charles underneath. She had 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Italee Lucas had 15 points for North Carolina.

Connecticut ended North Carolina’s 76-game home winning streak against nonconference opponents dating to 2001. The Huskies also gained a bit of revenge against a Tar Heels team that had won three of the four previous meetings between the teams, including a victory in Chapel Hill in 2007. Connecticut won last year’s meeting.

The margin of victory was even more surprising given the Huskies were without the starting shooting guard Caroline Doty, who sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in a victory against Syracuse on Saturday and is out for the season. Doty, a freshman, was averaging 8.6 points a game and had scored 17 points in the first half against Syracuse before the injury. She will have surgery Thursday.

Lorin Dixon, starting in Doty’s place, had 14 points.

The Tar Heels were not at full strength, either. North Carolina lost the 6-foot-3 starting forward Iman McFarland with an ankle sprain. McFarland, who was averaging 5.1 points and 5.6 rebounds, was in uniform but spent the game on the bench.

Connecticut started quickly, building a 15-4 lead four minutes into the opening half. North Carolina chipped away at the advantage but never managed to overcome it. The Tar Heels closed to 6 points behind before the Huskies pulled away to a solid double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

Ahead by 46-30 at the half, Connecticut used a 12-4 run to start the second half to push the lead to 24 points.

TAMPA, Fla. --- The future for the UConn women's basketball team looks bright given the wealth of returning talent and the impressive recruits coming in.

The most difficult part of Sunday night's loss to Stanford in the national semifinals, according to coach Geno Auriemma, was the heartbreak senior Mel Thomas felt after the game.

With the team struggling to make shots, Thomas -- the Huskies' best perimeter shooter -- squirmed on the bench, She wore a pained expression on her face that was more heartfelt than the one she showed in Syracuse in January when she found out she had torn her ACL and that her season was over.

Anxious and restless throughout Sunday's game, she was one of the more emotional players in the postgame locker room.

It was difficult for her to watch her team struggle and not be able to help, but she composed herself afterward to explain she wouldn't have wanted to spend the last four years anywhere else regardless of how things ended for her.

“You can't look back and regret everything,” Thomas said. “I can honestly say that I gave it everything I had. I didn't even get to play at the end of this year, but there's nothing I could've changed. I gave it everything I had every single day

“I don't even know how to put it into words what it's meant to play here. I think I've grown as a person. I've learned so much and it's just been an experience that I'll never forget. Being with your teammates every single day, they're like my family. Even people that graduate, they're still part of it. You can come back and it's still like you're a part of this family. So it's going to be hard to not be around that every single day.”

Kalana Greene took the loss harder than she thought she would, because she felt helpless, as well, but she also knew that unlike Thomas she has two more years at UConn.

“When you are sitting there and you are watching and there is nothing you can do about, it's the worst thing,” Auriemma said. “You sit there and it just tears you up. Mel doesn't have any more opportunities, and it is a shame it has to happen that way. For Kalana, I told her we will be back.”

A look ahead: Thomas' college career may be over but her playing career likely is not. Her immediate plans are to rehab until the fall and then play overseas to boost her stock as a WNBA player for next summer.

She may not have to wait that long, however.

Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault said that Thomas is a good enough shooter, that WNBA team might actually take a chance on her in this year's draft in the third round.

The draft is Wednesday afternoon in Tampa.

Swanier's rise: UConn senior Ketia Swanier may have played her way into the WNBA with the last third of the season she had. Her growth as a player has also positioned her to be drafted late or at least earn free agent invitations to teams that need a dependable backup point guard

“I'm excited,” Swanier said. “I feel like who wouldn't be excited to be able to get that opportunity. I just feel real blessed.”

Houston uncertain: Charde Houston's athleticism and offensive skills could make her better suited for the pros than college. In a draft deep with power forwards, however, her inconsistencies may cause her to slip into the second or third round, but she is expected to get drafted.

Houston said Sunday she wasn't sure if would return home with the team or remain behind for the draft. She wanted to talk to her parents before deciding what to do.

Hunter finished: Brittany Hunter said that while she might be able to continue playing professionally, she has dealt with her knee problems enough and wants to move on. Even if she gets drafted, she won't play next season. Instead, she plans on being a player agent. She already has started a partnership with several lawyers based in Hartford and will stay around Connecticut the next few years to help grow the agency and develop contacts.

Recruits on the way: Next year's recruits Elena Delle Donne and Tiffany Hayes were both in town to play in the WBCA High School All-America game, and both said they have already enrolled in the first summer session of classes at UConn.

Delle Donne, a 6-foot-5 guard from Wilmington, Del., and the No. 1 recruit in the nation, said she will be in Storrs by June 2 for the first day of classes. Tiffany Hayes, a 5-10 guard from Winter Haven, Fla., will be there June 4 because she doesn't graduate high school until June 3.

“I'm real excited,” Hayes said. “I'm going to have great teammates next year. I can't wait. I'm willing to come in and do whatever my team needs me to do. And I'm really ready to play.”

Delle Donne said she is ready for the college experience to begin.

“I definitely worked on my strength and my speed and things I'm going to need a lot more in college,” Delle Donne said.

The two other members of next year's recruiting class are Heather Buck, a 6-5 center from Stonington High, and Caroline Doty, a 5-10 point guard from Fort Washington, Pa.