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First-round NCAA tournament games can be a few things for the Connecticut Huskies. Mysterious is not one of them. As a No. 1 seed from 2007 to 2012, UConn's average margin of victory against No. 16 seeds was 43 points. So Saturday’s 105-37 drubbing of Idaho was expected.

When Geno Auriemma woke up on his 59th birthday Saturday, the Vandals couldn't have been a major concern. But if the Huskies coach was looking for a few gifts from his team, he got them.

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Cal Sport Media via AP ImagesThe 68-point victory by Bria Hartley and UConn were just six points shy of tying the NCAA tournament record for most lopsided win.

The Huskies went right after Idaho. Bria Hartley had a layup within four seconds of the opening tip. On the other end of the floor, there was a Stefanie Dolson block and then a Hartley steal and layup all inside the first minute. The score was 12-0 by the first media timeout, and the result was in.

But this one was more about the art than the science for the Huskies.

UConn didn’t merely rely on its enormously greater physical ability. The Huskies outhustled Idaho -- getting to more loose balls, rebounding with conviction on the offensive end -- from the first whistle. Auriemma wants execution at all times for this team to function the right way, even if the opponent is woefully inferior. Doing things the right way on days like Saturday becomes a habit when the opponents’ talent level gets significantly better as the tourney progresses.

The veteran coach got that early Saturday afternoon in Storrs. All the pregame talk of having to shift the starting lineup because of the absence of freshman Breanna Stewart (minor left calf injury) was just that -- talk. It was a meaningless footnote in a game like this because the Huskies never let the Vandals breathe and never took the foot off the gas.

Hartley's focus and aggressiveness set the tone early, and that had to be a welcome sight for Auriemma. The junior point guard seemed to lose confidence late in the season. Her turnover issues directly affected the Huskies' inability to beat either Notre Dame or Baylor (Hartley averaged nearly five turnovers in UConn's four losses).

On Saturday, Hartley attacked, made three of her first four 3-pointers, played 32 minutes and turned over the ball just twice. The Huskies can get to a sixth straight Final Four with Hartley just being average. They can’t win an eighth title unless she is very good, if not great. Saturday might have been a big step toward Hartley's getting there again.

Some updates after Saturday’s conference tournament games:

NOTABLE

• A reassessment of Duquesne and Charlotte has put the Dukes in the field and the 49ers out. With Duquesne's No. 36 RPI ranking, history says the Dukes have a great probability of a bid. RPI is not the end-all, be-all, but that is the way it has almost always worked out.

• The same rationale holds for Creighton, which is why the Bluejays, despite a loss in the MVC semifinals, stay in the field.

• San Diego State, Pacific and Toledo were all regular-season conference champs that lost in the tournaments. Each of them has some credentials that warrant some consideration. However, speaking of history, all have extremely poor strength of schedule (SOS) numbers. Their inclusion in the field would historically be unprecedented based on those numbers (San Diego State ranks at 146, Toledo's at 234 and Pacific 118).

• After another look, Purdue and Michigan State moved up the S-curve. Unfortunately for the Spartans, it wasn’t enough to change their seed. They are actually a natural No. 7, but had to be moved down one seed line to make the bracketing process work. That happened plenty in this bracket.

• Texas Tech was reevaluated and moved down to the natural No. 8 line, but had to be adjusted to a No. 7 for the same procedural reasons.

LAST FOUR IN

South Florida
West Virginia
Creighton
Duquesne

FIRST FOUR OUT

San Diego State
Charlotte
Pacific
Toledo

NEXT FOUR OUT

Ohio State
Florida Gulf Coast
Kansas
Florida

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN

Big East: 8
SEC: 7
Big Ten: 6
Big 12: 6
ACC: 5
Pac-12: 4
Atlantic 10: 3
MVC: 2

AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS

Baylor
Duke
Chattanooga
Gonzaga
Liberty
Middle Tennessee
Marist
Notre Dame
Princeton
Purdue
Stanford
Stetson
Tennessee-Martin
Texas A&M
Saint Joseph’s
Central Michigan
South Dakota State
Fresno State
Albany
Montana
Cal Poly
Hampton
Oral Roberts
Navy
Idaho
Tulsa
Prairie View

Some updates after Monday’s conference tournament games:

NOTABLE

• Top seeds around a host of mid-major leagues kept Sunday night's bracket projection intact. Marist, Middle Tennessee, Chattanooga and Gonzaga all completed regular-season title/tournament sweeps and officially secured spots in the NCAA field.

• Navy, a No. 2 seed in the Patriot League, remained on target for a berth by reaching the conference final against No. 4 seed Holy Cross.

• Favorites were also the order of the day in the two major leagues still playing. Unlike the Big Ten and SEC, the Big East and Big 12 have gone according to plan. In fact, Baylor completed its run to the Big 12 tournament title by trouncing second-seeded Iowa State Monday night.

• No lower seed in the Big East has won a single game in Hartford, leading to a much-anticipated third meeting between top-seeded Notre Dame and No. 2 seed Connecticut. The outcome of Tuesday's Big East final will not change either team's status; they are locked in as NCAA No. 1 seeds

LAST FOUR IN

South Florida
West Virginia
Charlotte
Creighton

FIRST FOUR OUT

Duquesne
Ohio State
Florida Gulf Coast
Kansas

NEXT FOUR OUT

Florida
Minnesota
Illinois
Arkansas

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN

Big East: 8
SEC: 7
Big Ten: 6
Big 12: 6
ACC: 5
Pac-12: 4
Atlantic 10: 3
MVC: 2

AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS

Baylor
Duke
Chattanooga
Gonzaga
Liberty
Middle Tennessee
Marist
Princeton
Purdue
Stanford
Stetson
Tennessee Martin
Texas A&M

Some updates after most of Sunday's conference tournament games (through games as of 7:30 p.m. ET):

NOTABLE

• Saint Joseph’s upset of top-seeded Dayton in the Atlantic 10 semifinals solidified the Hawks' place in the NCAA field, moving three spots above the Last 4 In on the S-curve.

• Dayton’s chances at a No. 3 seed disappeared with that loss. The Flyers remain a No. 4 seed for now.

• South Florida pushed itself up the board with an impressive showing in a loss to Notre Dame in the Big East quarterfinals. The Bulls have no bad losses and, despite just two top-50 wins, seem safe at this point.

• Liberty became the fourth automatic NCAA qualifier with its 15th Big South tournament title in the last 17 years by beating Longwood.

• After winning the ACC tournament title, Duke is solidly the top No. 2 seed, but the Blue Devils are not in a position to overtake Stanford for the final No. 1 seed.

LAST FOUR IN

South Florida
West Virginia
Charlotte
Creighton

FIRST FOUR OUT

Duquesne
Ohio State
Florida Gulf Coast
Kansas

NEXT FOUR OUT

Florida
Minnesota
Illinois
Arkansas

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN

Big East: 8
SEC: 7
Big Ten: 6
Big 12: 6
ACC: 5
Pac-12: 4
Atlantic 10: 3
MVC: 2

AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS

Duke
Liberty
Princeton
Purdue
Stetson
Tennessee-Martin

Some updates after Saturday’s conference tournament games:

NOTABLE

• With the announcement that Wichita State won the tiebreaker in the Missouri Valley Conference and will be the top seed in the tournament, we will follow suit and move the Shockers back into the field as the automatic qualifier. Creighton stays in the field as the last team in.

• Wichita State's return to the field takes up another spot, and that, plus its quarterfinal loss to fellow bubble team Saint Joseph’s, cost Duquesne a spot in the field. The Dukes are now the first team out.

• UCLA’s huge and convincing win over California in the Pac-12 semifinals, coupled with Texas A&M’s victory over Tennessee in the SEC semifinals, mixed up the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds a bit. The Bruins and Aggies are both now No. 3 seeds. Nebraska (a loser in the Big Ten semifinals) and Dayton are now No. 4 seeds.

• Tennessee Martin became the first official entrant into the NCAA tournament field with an overtime win over Tennessee Tech in the OVC tournament final.

• Stetson became the second official automatic qualifier by upsetting Florida Gulf Coast in the championship game of the Atlantic Sun. The Eagles went unbeaten in regular-season conference play and won the league by four games over the Hatters, but Stetson is headed to the NCAA tournament.

• Princeton followed suit later Saturday to become automatic qualifier No. 3 by clinching the Ivy League with a win over Brown.

LAST FOUR IN

West Virginia
Saint Joseph’s
South Florida
Creighton

FIRST FOUR OUT

Duquesne
Ohio State
Florida Gulf Coast
Kansas

NEXT FOUR OUT

Florida
Minnesota
Illinois
Arkansas

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN

Big East: 8
SEC: 7
Big Ten: 6
Big 12: 6
ACC: 5
Pac-12: 4
Atlantic 10: 3
MVC: 2

AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS

Princeton
Stetson
Tennessee Martin

SEATTLE -- Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott is in the Emerald City this week, observing the new setting for his postseason women’s basketball tournament. He likes what he sees.

“This is certainly a big step forward,” Scott said.

After a dismal few years in Los Angeles, where tournament attendance lagged from its previous home in San Jose, Calif., things are picking up.

Friday night’s quarterfinal games, which featured both Washington and Washington State, drew 5,452 fans to KeyArena, home court of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. It marked the best attendance for the quarterfinals in the 12-year-old tournament's history.

The conference is working with the Storm’s marketing arm, Force 10 Sports Management, to boost interest and attendance.

“We are well ahead of where we were the last four years,” Scott said. “We feel like the event and student-athletes deserve to play in front of good-sized crowds, that’s important for us. I think the coaches and athletes feel like this is the caliber of the NCAA tournament.”

The Pac-12 has a three-year deal in Seattle, but Scott wouldn’t rule out staying longer.

"One of the things we like about this market is a strong fan base and interest in women’s basketball,” Scott said.

He addressed a range of topics related to women’s basketball, including officiating, the conference’s television network and whether he would actively advocate for the return of the Women’s Final Four to the West Coast. College sports’ premier women’s sports event hasn’t been on the West Coast since San Jose hosted in 1999. Last year’s Final Four in Denver was as far west as it has been since.

"Absolutely, it is something we would look at,” Scott said, adding that with changes at the NCAA, with Mark Lewis installed as the new head of championships, he is waiting to see Lewis’ evaluations of both the rotation of the Final Four and also the size of the venues that the NCAA will seek in the future.

“We would need some clarity going forward on whether we are playing in traditional basketball arenas or larger venues,” Scott said. “I think it would help in a macro way in terms of raising interest in women’s basketball in this part of the country.”

The commissioner also said he’s prepared to “tweak” the Pac-12 network’s televised schedule of women’s games, which included 60 games this season.

He said he is getting feedback from coaches and athletic administrators regarding start times and the current arrangement in which teams are playing their rivalry games twice in one week to condense the schedule.

“The coaches didn’t love that,” Scott said. “It will be one of the things that we look at.”

Some updates after Saturday's conference tournament games (as of contests through 8 p.m. ET Saturday):

LAST FOUR IN

West Virginia
Saint Joseph’s
South Florida
Creighton

FIRST FOUR OUT

Duquesne
Ohio State
Kansas
Florida

NEXT FOUR OUT

Minnesota
Illinois
Arkansas
James Madison

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN

Big East: 8
SEC: 7
Big Ten: 6
Big 12: 6
ACC: 5
Pac-12: 4
A-10: 3
MVC: 2

AUTO BIDS

Tennessee Martin
Stetson

Some updates after Friday's conference tournament games:

NOTABLE

• Texas A&M moved up two spots on the S-curve from 14 to 12 after its win over South Carolina in the SEC quarterfinals. That also elevated the Aggies from a No. 4 seed to a No. 3.

• South Carolina’s seed was unaffected by the loss to A&M, but the Gamecocks dropped from 13 to 16 on the S-curve, meaning they went from the top No. 4 seed to the final No. 4 seed.

• The advance by Texas A&M pushed Nebraska from a No. 3 seed to a No. 4 seed, despite the Cornhuskers' win over Iowa in the Big Ten quarterfinals. The Aggies moved up based on the quality of their win over a top-25 RPI opponent.

• Eastern Illinois, the top seed in the Ohio Valley Conference, was upset in the conference tournament semifinals on Friday. As a result, Tennessee Tech, which meets Tennessee-Martin in Saturday’s final, is the OVC’s new representative for now.

• Creighton joined the field as the Missouri Valley’s automatic qualifier. The Bluejays are tied with Wichita State atop the MVC standings with Saturday’s regular-season finales to go.

• With Creighton in and Wichita State out, Saint Joseph’s moved into the field as the last team in.

LAST FOUR IN

West Virginia
Duquesne
South Florida
Saint Joseph's

FIRST FOUR OUT

Ohio State
Kansas
Florida
Minnesota

NEXT FOUR OUT

Illinois
Arkansas
Saint Mary’s
James Madison

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN

SATURDAY'S AUTO BIDS

• Ohio Valley, 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPN3)

• Atlantic Sun, 5:30 p.m. ET (ESPN3)

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- TCU coach Jeff Mittie was familiar with Big 12 play, because for years he scheduled nonconference games against that league’s schools. But after TCU’s first season as a member of the Big 12, Mittie acknowledges it’s a very different thing to go through the league season.

“We’ve played a tough nonconference schedule before,” Mittie said, “but now we’re doing this in the Big 12 nine weeks in a row, playing every few days. I believe the battle scars we’re getting this year will pay dividends down the road.

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Courtesy of Tara Bryant/University Daily KansanCarolyn Davis and Angel Goodrich are hoping to boost Kansas' NCAA tournament résumé.

“This league, other than Baylor, is maybe not as top-heavy as it’s been in the past, but there are a lot of good teams that can win some games in the NCAA tournament.”

Top-ranked Baylor went through its second consecutive undefeated conference regular season and is the overwhelming favorite to win the Big 12 tournament, which begins Friday in Dallas. From the standpoint of who’s going to win the championship, the Big 12 seems to have about as much drama as Daniel Day-Lewis versus “the other guys” in this year’s best-actor noncompetition at the Oscars.

Instead, the drama in Dallas will have to come from other story lines. Can Kansas, which ended an 11-season NCAA tournament drought last year, claw its way into the Big Dance this year? Can teams such as No. 2 seed Iowa State, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Texas Tech do much to improve their NCAA tournament seeding?

And how will the tournament be received in Dallas as a stand-alone event? For the first time since the conference’s formation in 1996-97, the women’s and men’s hoops tournaments are not in the same city on the same week.

Certainly, it’s an easy drive for Baylor Nation, about an hour and a half north from Waco on Interstate 35. The Lady Bears and the other top-six seeds have a bye into Saturday.

The new Big 12 school that’s even closer to the tournament site -- the American Airlines Center -- is TCU, which will drive about 45 minutes from Fort Worth. While the Frogs’ fans haven’t had much to cheer about this season, TCU still has a chance to play spoiler in this tournament, along with trying to set a positive tone for next season.

No. 10 seed TCU takes on No. 7 Kansas on Friday. The teams met in the regular-season finale in Lawrence on Tuesday, when the Jayhawks held on for a 74-67 victory. KU had to rally from a 22-point halftime deficit to beat the Frogs 76-75 when they met at TCU on Feb. 13.

TCU went 2-16 in league play, but those two wins were against Iowa State and No. 5 seed Oklahoma State. The Frogs have improved during this season, even if their record doesn’t show it.

“Physically, we’ve got to get bigger for this league,” Mittie said. “The Mountain West was such a motion [offense]-based league. Everybody could shoot the 3, from the center to the point guard. You didn’t have the rebounding that we’ve seen this year. With the exception of us, I don’t think there’s a bad rebounding team in this league.”

Kansas, at 17-12 overall and 8-10 in the Big 12, is on the wrong side of the bubble and -- as has been the case in previous seasons -- can look back at several woulda/shoulda/coulda games.

The Jayhawks must beat TCU again to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive. The winner of that game faces Iowa State. The other teams on that side of the bracket are Oklahoma and No. 6 seed West Virginia.

In this way, Kansas at least has a better chance of picking up more than one Big 12 tourney victory. The Jayhawks split with the Cyclones, Sooners and Mountaineers this season. In fact, all the teams on this side of the bracket have the advantage of not having to face Baylor until the championship game.

Friday’s other action pits No. 8 seed Kansas State versus No. 9 Texas to see which team has to slog through another loss to Baylor.

It has been a reorganizing year, if you will, at Texas under first-year coach Karen Aston. The Longhorns went 5-13 in the league, with some upheaval on the team getting used to the new staff. It will soon be time for Texas to turn its attention to next season, which is probably just as well.

Meanwhile, K-State has battled gamely this season despite being devastated by injuries. The Wildcats were able to upset Texas Tech at home March 2 and even stayed close to Baylor into the second half of their regular-season finale March 4 in Waco. Then Baylor ran away, Brittney Griner finished out a 50-point performance, and the Wildcats were left feeling there really just wasn’t much else they could have done.

You could say that for all the league’s schools in regard to facing Baylor this season and last. The Lady Bears haven’t had any real lulls during this dominance, and it’s unlikely you’ll see a let-up during the league tournament.

So the title game Monday might not be a thriller. But keep an eye on the other things that might happen in Dallas before then that could affect the rest of March Madness.

AP Photo/Phil SearsLeonor Rodriguez is one of five seniors on fourth-seeded Florida State.

Last year, Georgia Tech came achingly close to being the first team since Clemson in 1999 to break up the Duke/North Carolina/Maryland monopoly on winning the ACC women’s basketball tournament.

This year, is there anyone outside those three that can actually take home the trophy from Greensboro, N.C.? Probably not.

It looks like there will be five ACC teams in the NCAA tournament: Duke, UNC, Maryland, Florida State and Miami. The only road into the Big Dance for the other seven teams -- which all have losing records in the league -- is by winning the tournament and automatic bid, which seems extremely unlikely.

So then what is at stake in Greensboro? Florida State and Miami, both 11-7 in ACC play, would like to bolster their NCAA résumés a bit with at least one more win. North Carolina, the No. 3 seed, wouldn’t mind another shot at top-seeded Duke, which beat the Tar Heels twice in the regular season.

And Maryland, which has won more ACC tournament titles than any program (10) will try to add to that total as the school’s time in the league nears an end. No matter how geographically and traditionally illogical it is, the Terrapins will be moving to the Big Ten. That’s expected to be in 2014.

The Terps held off Georgia Tech 68-65 in last season’s championship game. Despite injuries and graduation taking such a toll on the Terps this year, they’ve still earned the No. 2 seed.

“I’m obviously very proud of our team in terms of how we've battled through the adversity this season,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “Never using injuries as an excuse, just really playing to get better. Obviously [with] the play of Tianna Hawkins and Alyssa Thomas, we've been fortunate.”

The Terps lost twice to Duke -- the first time when the Blue Devils still had point guard Chelsea Gray, and the second after Gray had suffered a season-ending knee injury. Maryland also lost at North Carolina in early January, and at Florida State on Feb. 28.

That win was much-needed by the fourth-seeded Seminoles, who’ve been inconsistent. They have victories over the Terps and Tar Heels in their last eight games, but also losses to NC State, Virginia Tech, and Virginia. The Hokies are the last-place team in the ACC.

So what gives with the Seminoles’ highs and lows?

“I don't know exactly why that is,” Florida State coach Sue Semrau said. “But at the same time, I know that we're capable of a lot. That's a mystery to me and to my staff. Maybe it plays in a little bit to human nature.

“Certainly having five seniors going into the ACC tournament, this being their last chance at it, I think the excitement level is high.”

North Carolina’s program has nine ACC tournament titles, but the last was in 2008. That one was the fourth straight league tourney title for the Tar Heels, who’ve been pretty steady this ACC season. Their only ACC losses were the two to Duke, plus at Maryland, and at Florida State.

“These kids have really worked hard, and we are very balanced,” UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell said. “Our seniors have done a great job. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt is not really a point guard, but we've played her at point guard and she's accepted that role and just done a fabulous job for us. And I'm just so proud of her because this is the first time she's been healthy since she's been here at UNC.”

Ruffin-Pratt leads the Tar Heels at 14.8 points per game. Meanwhile, UNC’s Xylina McDaniel was named ACC freshman of the year; she averages 12.4 points and 7.2 rebounds.

Ultimately, though, this still seems like Duke’s tournament to win, despite the loss of Gray -- who was having an All-American season -- on Feb. 17 when she was hurt against Wake Forest.

The Blue Devils’ only ACC loss came at Miami on Feb. 28 to a Hurricanes team that really needed that win for their NCAA tournament hopes.

Duke has won the ACC tournament title seven times, two of those with Joanne P. McCallie as coach. The Blue Devils are hosting the NCAA tournament’s early rounds this year, and they seem pretty secure as an NCAA No. 2 seed regardless of what happens in Greensboro.

Of course, Duke would like another ACC trophy. But McCallie is looking at more the big picture for both the Blue Devils and the ACC. As in, getting a team to the Final Four. The last ACC team to make it that far was North Carolina in 2007; McCallie took her Michigan State team out of the Big Ten that far in 2005.

“The days of talking about the ACC and the Final Four are past days, not more the current ones,” McCallie said. “So I think it's extremely important that we get teams to the Final Four and the biggest stage.”

How they play in Greensboro might help in that process for the Blue Devils.

GU Athletics/Torrey Vail Sunny Greinacher and Gonzaga will be "a tough out for somebody," coach Kelly Graves says.

There were 60 teams from the six major conferences that did not advance as far as Gonzaga in the 2012 NCAA tournament.

There were 62 teams from those same conferences that averaged fewer fans per game than the Bulldogs drew to the Kennel, as the 6,000-capacity McCarthey Athletic Center is affectionately (at least to home fans) known.

We might be a long way from a mid-major No. 1 in women's college basketball, but there is at least equal distance between many, maybe most, supposedly major programs and the dynasties that rule the rest of the country.

As a freshman newly arrived from Germany a season ago, Gonzaga’s Sunny Greinacher had a rather visceral reaction to one of the best atmospheres in women’s college basketball.

“I just never experienced anything even close to that,” Greinacher said of the comparison to club games in Germany that she said might, on a really good day, draw a thousand fans. “I have to admit, the first couple of games [in the Kennel], I think I almost peed my pants I was so excited -- and a little bit scared, too. It just makes it so much fun.”

The men’s basketball team at Gonzaga this week ascended to No. 1 in the AP Top 25, the first time the school in Spokane, Wash., achieved that ranking and the first time since Memphis in the 2007-08 season that a school from outside the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 or SEC landed in the top spot. Such a grab for power is even less common on the women’s side, where the last non-BCS No. 1 was Louisiana Tech in March of 1996.

Few women’s mid-major programs have been as successful in recent seasons as Gonzaga, which reached at least the Sweet 16 in each of the past three seasons and had players selected in each of the past three WNBA drafts. But to Kelly Graves, the architect of all that success, the idea of a program like his reaching No. 1 in the near future remains dubious. Stars like Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins play four seasons in women’s basketball, teams have more scholarships and the depth of talent remains a work in progress just 40 years after Title IX.

“The landscape, I think, is a lot more conducive on the men’s side to something like our men ascending to No. 1,” Graves said.

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Torrey Vail/GU AthleticsGerman native Sunny Greinacher was so overwhelmed by Gonzaga's homecourt atmosphere that she "almost peed my pants" during her first few games.

And yet the final mid-major rankings of the season reveal a ruling class every bit as familiar as Stanford in the Pac-12 or Notre Dame and Connecticut in the Big East. Marist raced through another unbeaten season in the MAAC, Green Bay did the same in the Horizon and landed back in the Top 25. Dayton, Chattanooga, Middle Tennessee, Princeton -- all of these programs have been winning regularly through a number of senior classes.

They aren't catching Baylor, but neither are programs like Alabama, Cincinnati, Clemson, Indiana, Washington State or others making up any ground on them.

After losing Katelan Redmon and Kayla Standish to the WNBA draft after last season, that a year removed from losing Courtney Vandersloot to the draft lottery, Graves told peers this was the season to get the Zags.

“I honestly had no idea what we were going to be like,” Graves said. “Outside of the three guards, Jazmine Redmon, Taelor Karr and Haiden Palmer, two of whom started for me, everybody else was new.”

Consider that outside of the three guards Graves mentioned, Greinacher was the returnee who played the most last season, and she logged just 10.4 minutes per game.

Greinacher came to Oregon as a high school exchange student when she was a sophomore, where Graves saw her lead Willamette High School to a state title. Oregon State and Louisville both made trips to Europe to recruit her once she returned home, as did Gonzaga coaches (complete with a letter they showed her from all of the players on the team expressing their hopes that she would join them). She chose what she felt offered the best fit, both in terms of a style of basketball and a school wasn't so big as to be daunting.

“I knew that the Pac-12 was considered one of the biggest conferences and the [Big East], and that the West Coast Conference was more of a smaller conference,” Greinacher said. “I mean, one always thinks about if you’re going to get playing time the years that you get there. I didn’t think of the West Coast Conference as a bad conference at all, so it was more of what program would fit best for me than what conference.”

This season, the 6-foot-4 forward with deft passing skills and a face-up game is the third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder on a team that went 15-1 in what the RPI says is the seventh-best conference in the country. Next season, Graves predicts, is when "we see her really shine."

So it goes for programs that don't rise and fall so much as hold and restock. Of course, she'll have help from a recruit like 6-foot-5 incoming freshman Emma Wolfram, arguably the best prep player in Canada.

For Gonzaga, it's BCS-level recruits who want something different. For Green Bay, it's overlooked player from the hinterlands of the Upper Midwest. For Marist, it's kids who might be a step slow but are a thought ahead.

They do what they do better than most of their peers. And by their peers, we're talking about the rest of college basketball.

“They’re as mentally tough as any team I’ve had," Graves said of his current group. "And quite frankly, we’ve improved more than any team I’ve ever coached from the first day until now. So I’m really happy. I like this team. I don’t know how far we can go, but I really like the makeup. I think this is a team that, we’re going to get better.

“I think we’ll be a tough out for somebody.”

Now on to the final rankings.

1. Delaware (26-3, 17-0 Colonial)

The Blue Hens have one more game to play in the regular season Wednesday against Georgia State, in what is the third consecutive game to sell out in advance at the Bob Carpenter Center, but they finish right where they started in these rankings. The defense is better than it was a season ago -- better by field goal percentage, better by points per game and better by turnovers forced. Kayla Miller is healthier than last season, providing another steady backcourt hand. And Elena Delle Donne still posts an assortment of ridiculous numbers (like 92 percent free throw shooting, 48 percent 3-point shooting and 22 turnovers against 565 combined field goal and free throw attempts). The draw is huge, but this is a team that should get to the Sweet 16 and could play for a place in New Orleans.

2. Dayton (26-1, 14-0 Atlantic 10)

Jim Jabir has at least one vote for national coach of the year. By now, the story has been repeated enough times, but replacing four starters and seven seniors from last season and winning the first conference regular-season title with a perfect record is remarkable. The only down side is that it felt in recent weeks like the team perhaps peaked too soon. But this is not a fluke. The talent base is every bit as good as most of the supposed major teams ranked in the teens in the national polls. The Flyers have the size, rebounding, defense and depth of a legitimate Sweet 16 team.

3. Green Bay (24-2, 14-0 Horizon)

It happened quietly, but Green Bay is basically five points away from a perfect season, an overtime loss on a neutral court and a four-point road loss the only blemishes. The Phoenix don’t have the same kind of individual offensive assets they possessed in recent seasons with Kayla Tetschlag, Celeste Hoewish and Julie Wojta (although senior Adrian Ritchie is a shooter defenses lose track of at their own peril), but whether under Kevin Borseth or Matt Bollant, this was never a program built around individual numbers. Guard Megan Lukan is on a scoring run as the end of the regular season approaches. She scored 50 points in the past three games and hit 12-of-27 3-point attempts.

4. Chattanooga (26-3, 19-1 Southern)

It doesn’t matter what conference a team is in, it’s difficult to avoid letdowns somewhere along the way, so full credit to Chattanooga for winning its final 16 games in the Southern Conference after an overtime loss at Elon on Jan. 7. It’s still remarkable to think leading scorer Ashlen Dewart played just 16 minutes in the season-opening win against Tennessee because of foul trouble, but this team has depth. That win against the Lady Vols and an RPI in the 40s are the building blocks of this team’s NCAA tournament résumé, but it will be a close call if it comes to an at-large bid.

5. Gonzaga (25-5, 15-1 West Coast)

The Bulldogs automatically advance directly to the semifinals in the WCC tournament, but a potentially tricky game awaits against BYU (which would have to win its quarterfinal). Gonzaga won both regular-season games by double digits, but the Cougars are a team with postseason experience and quality talent.

6. Florida Gulf Coast (25-5, 18-0 Atlantic Sun)

The Eagles have yet to play a game in 2013 decided by single digits, with only a January game against North Florida even competitive in the final minutes. Sure, that says something about the Atlantic Sun, but perhaps also about a team that had pieces to replace this season hitting its stride at the right time. For all her accomplishments on the floor (she’s the league’s leading scorer and averages 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game), Sarah Hansen’s most impressive feat is winning the Atlantic Sun’s scholar-athlete of the year award twice in her first three seasons.

7. Toledo (26-2, 14-1 MAC)

The Rockets broke into the AP Top 25 recently, their first appearance in more than a decade. There’s no great secret to their success. Only five conference opponents reached even 50 points against Toledo. The numbers aren’t quite as stingy against the toughest competition, but Toledo still showed the versatility to beat Marquette and Charlotte and push Dayton in higher scoring games. One more key thing: The two players who handle the ball the most take care of it. Leading scorers Naama Shafir and Andola Dortch have 86 more assists than turnovers.

8. Marist (23-6, 18-0 MAAC)

Marist completed a perfect conference season in which it won 18 games by an average of exactly 20 points per game and didn’t place anyone on the all-conference first team. Figure that one out. The shooting numbers improved dramatically for the Red Foxes in MAAC play. Presumably that’s a function of both inferior competition and individual improvement on their part, but the degree to which it’s the latter will have a lot to do with this team’s potential to spring another trademark upset in the NCAA tournament (assuming it gets through the conference tournament).

9. Creighton (21-6, 13-3 Missouri Valley)

If there was an award for mid-major freshman of the year, and let’s just say that there is and this is it, Creighton’s Marissa Janning takes top honors. At 43 percent from the 3-point line, she could miss her next 15 attempts and still rank as the most accurate 3-point shooter in the Missouri Valley. And with the Bluejays needing all of them to stay in the conference title race, she scored 29 points in a 67-66 win against Drake on March 3. Dayton, Delaware and Green Bay are the only mid-major teams with better RPI numbers than Creighton.

10. San Diego State (22-5, 13-1 Mountain West)

The perfect example of a good schedule gone awry. San Diego State was down two points with 12 minutes to play against UCLA, six points with 14 minutes to play against Colorado, four points in the final minute against Oklahoma State and led Washington by nine points with four minutes to play. All went for naught, and the team’s best wins are instead somewhat blah results against Auburn, SMU and USC. But behind Courtney Clements and Chelsea Hopkins (15.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists per game in conference play), the Aztecs took control of what once looked like a tight league.

Next five: Princeton, Charlotte, Middle Tennessee, Albany, Quinnipiac.

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Penn State ran into an emotional senior night last Thursday at Minnesota … and the Gophers handed the Big Ten leader just its second league loss.

Penn State was in a similar situation Sunday in the regular-season finale at Nebraska. It wasn't just the seniors that the Huskers were bidding a fond farewell to (although they still have the Big Ten and NCAA tourneys to play, of course).

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AP Photo/Nati HarnikMaggie Lucas hit a career-high eight 3-pointers to score 34 points Sunday as Penn State beat Nebraska.

Nebraska was also saying goodbye to its longtime home, the Devaney Center. That will become the women's volleyball team's home next season; the men's and women's hoops team move to the new arena.

Add in that Nebraska was on a 10-game winning streak, and it seemed like the odds were stacked against Penn State. Which is just what Maggie Lucas loves.

The junior guard's career-high eight 3-pointers anchored a 34-point, nine-rebound performance in Penn State's 82-67 victory that secured the Big Ten regular-season title outright. Next stop: Chicago.

For just the second time since the Big Ten started its annual women's hoops tournament in 1995, the event will be held outside Indianapolis. The Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill., will host the league tourney starting Thursday. (In 2001, the tournament was held in Grand Rapids, Mich.)

There was a "league tournament" at Michigan State in February 1982, which was actually the season before the Big Ten officially sponsored women's basketball. The annual event didn't begin until 1995, and Penn State won the title that year and in 1996.

But Penn State hasn't taken the Big Ten tournament since then, so Lucas and her teammates have a goal in sight that has eluded the program for a long time.

Penn State's four losses this season all have come on the road: at Miami, at UConn, at Wisconsin and then at Minnesota last week. The Lady Lions could be facing the Golden Gophers again in their Big Ten tourney opener; No. 8 seed Minnesota plays No. 9 Ohio State in the first round.

Meanwhile, Nebraska reached the Big Ten tournament title game last year in the Huskers' first season in the league. They lost to Purdue, which has won more Big Ten tournaments (eight) than any other program.

This year, the No. 2 seed Huskers will open with the winner of No. 7 Iowa versus No. 10 Northwestern. The Hawkeyes and Wildcats just played Sunday, with 19-11 Iowa getting a much-needed victory to finish 8-8 in the league and feel a little more secure about NCAA tournament inclusion.

Purdue, the No. 3 seed, had a troublesome February, going 2-5 last month. But the Boilermakers opened March with a victory over Illinois on Sunday. And even if the league tournament isn't in Indy this year, Purdue's successful history in the event means you can't count out the Boilers regardless of their recent struggles.

No. 4 seed Michigan State is the last of the first-round bye teams, and the Spartans could face rival Michigan in the quarterfinals. In her first season in Ann Arbor, coach Kim Barnes Arico guided the Wolverines to the No. 5 seed; they'll open with No. 12 Indiana.

But Penn State definitely is the favorite. Since Coquese Washington took over as Penn State coach for the 2007-08 season, she has been rebuilding the program to it previous greatest heights, which include a 2000 Women's Final Four appearance.

Penn State bounced back strong from both of its Big Ten losses this year. Now, after back-to-back regular-season titles, Penn State hopes to grab hold of a trophy that hasn't been to State College, Pa., in a long time.

Tennessee's seniors had their moment Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn., when the Lady Vols clinched the program's 17th regular-season SEC title with a win over Texas A&M. Kentucky's seniors had their moment Sunday, when they defeated Tennessee in front of a packed Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky.

So which seniors will be the ones celebrating next Sunday in Duluth, Ga., at the conclusion of the SEC tournament? Those from Tennessee, Kentucky, or another school?

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AP Photo/James CrispDespite beating Tennessee on Sunday, A'dia Mathies and Kentucky remain the No. 2 seed in the SEC tourney.

Tennessee, which showed terrific resilience all this season, still goes in the favorite, regardless of Sunday’s 78-65 defeat. While there's no such thing as a game you don't care about losing, this loss really doesn't mean anything to Tennessee.

The Lady Vols already have the No. 1 seed in the league tourney, which gets underway Wednesday with the No. 12-13 game.

Tennessee, picked by the league's coaches to finish fifth in the SEC in Holly Warlick's first season as head coach, was tripped up just twice in conference play.

Their first league loss was to Missouri on Feb. 3, which you might call quite improbable considering the Tigers finished their inaugural season in the SEC 6-10. But, in fact, Missouri proved itself a dangerous team when it was hitting 3-pointers; the Tigers set a league record with 253 this season. The previous mark was 248 by South Carolina in 1994.

The Lady Vols regrouped after that loss, just as they did in a season-opening stumble at Chattanooga. Which, let's be frank, was a blow to their pride. But it was also a good lesson for the young Tennessee players that nothing was going to come easy this season -- and it hasn't.

Like countless other squads, the Lady Vols have been very much affected by injuries. Among them is sophomore forward Isabelle Harrison, who has missed eight games, including Sunday’s contest; she suffered another injury Thursday after being out almost a month.

But with the steady improvement of freshman Bashaara Graves and sophomore Cierra Burdick (when she was healthy), the unrelenting competitiveness of junior Meighan Simmons, and the senior leadership of Taber Spani and Kamiko Williams, Tennessee has overcome a multitude of challenges. Spani and Williams, who left Sunday's game with an ankle injury, will be going for their fourth consecutive SEC tourney title. No program has ever won the event four times in a row.

The Lady Vols, who won their 17th SEC tournament last year, will open play at noon ET Friday against the winner of No. 8 seed Arkansas versus No. 9 Florida.

Kentucky is the No. 2 seed, and on Friday will face the winner of No. 7 Vanderbilt versus No. 10 Missouri. A'dia Mathies, who helped Kentucky make the Elite Eight as a freshman in 2010 and as a junior last year, went out of Memorial Coliseum for the last time as a winner, scoring 16 points Sunday.

The Wildcats were picked to win the SEC, but instead were second at 13-3. Their losses were at South Carolina (by five), at home to Georgia (by four), and at LSU (by four).

So might any of those three teams challenge for the SEC tournament title? And how about Texas A&M, which is in its first year in the league?

We'll start with No. 3 seed Georgia, the "home" team, so to speak, with the tournament in the Peach State. The question is, will Georgia bring its offense along on the hour's drive west from Athens to Duluth?

The Lady Bulldogs don't need a lot of points, as they are most comfortable with games in the 50s and 60s. But they can't afford a freeze-out like they endured at Mississippi State, with a 50-38 loss last Thursday. Georgia's last SEC tourney title came in 2001.

Texas A&M is the No. 4 seed, but the Aggies have been in a slump to close out the regular season, losing four of their last five. South Carolina, the No. 5 seed, got stung by a huge game from Missouri's Bri Kulas in a 65-58 loss last week. The Gamecocks, who have never won the SEC tournament, are 3-3 in their last six games.

The hottest team in the league is No.6 seed LSU, which has played its way into the NCAA tournament field with six wins in a row. Last year, LSU was the No. 4 seed and made it to the SEC final.

Tennessee won that matchup 70-58 and went on to the Elite Eight, where it fell to eventual NCAA champion Baylor.

The SEC tournament has been the domain of the Tennessee teams the last nine years, with either the Lady Vols or Vanderbilt winning. Will Tennessee's seniors make history with four in a row? Or are there a few upsets brewing?

Considering where they were picked, the Lady Vols have already overachieved this season. But with that program's history, that's not how they'll see it. They want yet another SEC tourney crown.

Youngstown State AthleticsBrandi Brown leads Youngstown State with 19.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.

In his short time as a head coach, Bob Boldon has already done something few of his peers would dare attempt.

And we're not talking about keeping a straight face while selling the virtues of calling oneself a Cotton Blossom or Penguin.

With the regular season still winding to its conclusion, Youngstown State has safely clinched a winning season, its first since 1999-2000. That is an impressive enough achievement for a coach in his third season at the school and who was himself only three years out of college when the Penguins last had more wins than losses. But that alone is hardly unique. Plenty of coaches turn around programs that didn't win many games.

Not so many turn around programs that didn't win any games.

A team doesn't put up a 0-30 record on bad luck alone. The 2009-10 Penguins lost a game against Loyola by four points and two other games by nine points. That's as close as they came all season to a win. They lost every other game by double digits, often by 20, 30, even 40 points. On a road trip through Indiana in the middle of February, they lost by a score of 82-36 against Butler, then turned around and lost 80-28 at Valparaiso.

Let's just say Butler and Valparaiso weren't exactly Connecticut and Stanford that season.

That was what Boldon technically traded up to when the Ohio native left an assistant's job at Florida Gulf Coast to rebuild Youngstown State (his head coaching experience came in two seasons at Division II Arkansas-Monticello, the aforementioned Cotton Blossoms, and one season at NAIA Lambuth).

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Youngstown State AthleticsThe season before coach Bob Boldon arrived, the Penguins went 0-30. They now are second in the Horizon League standings at 8-3 behind league-leader Green Bay.

And immediately, with the wave of a basketball wand, the Penguins took flight.

All right, not exactly. Getting Penguins to fly probably would have been easier.

Youngstown State improved in its first season with Boldon, but a 6-24 record wasn't exactly cause for a parade. I remember being in Youngstown that season when league power Green Bay passed through town. Boldon's team put up a surprisingly good fight against a team that eventually advanced to the Sweet 16, but the entire evening, from the first-half struggles to the sparse, skeptical crowd, hardly gave off a vibe of unbridled enthusiasm.

A coach can look at tape, see the deficiencies and mistakes and try to correct them. It's more difficult to gauge the toll that 0-30 record took on players for whom basketball became about as fun as an afternoon with Eeyore.

"I don't think I did a very good job; I don't think I realized the biggest obstacle was the mental side," Boldon said. "I spent too much time trying to fix the physical side of it, and it took me probably a year to figure it out. That's probably the biggest mistake I made my first year. Coming off an 0-30 season where you lost every game by an average of 25 points is, in the sports world, traumatic. It made game days not very exciting for them, as you can imagine, going into the game when they're expected to lose, and not only expected to lose, but expected to lose pretty significantly."

One of the more remarkable aspects of the rebuilding underway in the northeastern corner of Ohio is the fact that a player now arguably the best in the Horizon League, a player voted the preseason conference player of the year a season ago ahead of eventual Green Bay All-American Julie Wojta, was part of that winless team. Brandi Brown started all 30 games and averaged a double-double for that team, but she did so as an undersized post. Boldon's staff took one look at her stroke and decided they had a shooter to work with. She didn't attempt a single 3-pointer as a freshman. The following season she attempted 131 of them.

Brown still boards (she averaged better than nine rebounds per game as both a sophomore and junior and averages 11.5 this season), but playing on the perimeter opened things up for her to become a dominant scorer.

"She never showed an ounce of resistance," Boldon said. "She came in every day with a willingness to learn. She has become a good 3-point shooter, has become a great driver from the top of the key, while still doing a good job of finishing around the basket."

Boldon spoke while on a bus as Youngstown State made its way from Milwaukee to Green Bay (the former NAIA coach would normally have been driving his team in vans or having to follow up a big win by washing the uniforms himself). He was under no illusion as to the work that remains this season and beyond. And a day later, after his team put up a good fight in the first half against the league's unbeaten powerhouse, a 60-46 loss reinforced such reality.

None of which takes away how remarkable it is that a team so recently the worst in college basketball, maybe one of the worst ever, could win 20 games this season.

"That first recruiting class, I got hung up on more than I got talked to," Boldon said. "A lot of kids, when we were coming off the 0-30 season, they didn't want anything to do with it. And to be quite frank, I understood. I wouldn't have went to a school that was 0-30, so that made good sense to me."

It's easier to sell kids on becoming Penguins these days. Everyone likes a winner.

An updated mid-major top-10 rankings, through games as of Tuesday.

1. Delaware (23-3, 14-0 Colonial)

The Blue Hens have yet to lose since a Dec. 20 setback against Maryland, Elena Delle Donne's second game of the season and first back after a month's absence. There are plenty of remarkable numbers when it comes to Delle Donne (seriously, a lot), but one that jumps out is that she has turned over the ball just 17 times in 20 games this season. For all the attention she receives from two and even three defenders, for all the times she has the ball at the end of the shot clock, and given that she's attempted 348 field goals and 127 free throws, 17 turnovers is otherworldly. Home games against James Madison and Drexel and a trip to Hofstra are remaining hurdles.

2. Dayton (22-1, 10-0 Atlantic 10)

Things aren't getting any easier for the Flyers, but they keep winning. The most recent result, a 58-57 win at home against A-10 contender Duquesne is a good example. Dayton won each of its first five conference games by at least 26 points, including games by 39, 43 and 48 points. The five wins that followed came by an average of eight points. Andrea Hoover, who might be the most valuable player on a team whose balance is its greatest asset, came up with 20 points in the win against the Dukes, while freshman Kelley Austria is averaging 12.8 points per game over the past four games. The regular-season finale against Saint Joseph's is the obstacle in the pursuit of A-10 perfection.

3. Green Bay (21-2, 11-0 Horizon)

With five games remaining on its schedule, Green Bay is three games clear of any other Horizon League team, meaning another conference title (the Phoenix have won at least a share of one in every season since 1997-98) is all but a formality. One interesting note in Kevin Borseth's first season back at the helm is the current group is limiting opponents to 35 percent field goal shooting. None of Borseth's earlier teams, which still managed to do quite well for themselves, came anywhere close to a percentage like that (38.5 the best any of them managed). It's not the same defense they played under Matt Bollant, but the players he recruited are still winning because of defense for Borseth.

4. Chattanooga (23-3, 16-1 Southern)

Does the SoCon season ever actually end? The Lady Mocs continue to maintain a good pace in that particular marathon. Limited by fouls in the first half, Ashlen Dewart was unstoppable in the second half of a potentially tricky road trip to College of Charleston over the weekend, putting up 20 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes on the court. She followed that with 24 points and 13 rebounds in a win Monday at Georgia Southern. Maybe it's as simple as having Dewart rolling and fellow post Faith Dupree back, but Chattanooga is shooting noticeably fewer 3-pointers over the past nine games than it did prior to that.

5. Princeton (16-5, 7-0 Ivy)

You might think a weekend when a team wins home games by 12 points and 16 points is pretty good. And in Princeton’s case, it was a successful homestand against Dartmouth and Harvard. But those also represent two of the smaller margins of victory in home conference games in the past four seasons for the Tigers. Such is the level of their domination in the Ivy League. In four games since the last rankings, Niveen Rasheed averaged 20.3 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.0 steals per game, which helps explain why she has never lost a conference game.

6. Florida Gulf Coast (22-5, 15-0 Atlantic Sun)

This isn't quite the version of Florida Gulf Coast we saw a season ago. This group doesn't shoot the ball as well from the 3-point line or overall and doesn't rebound as well, but tell it to the rest of the Atlantic Sun. The Eagles have yet to win a conference game by anything other than double digits. The next two games are against teams in (distant) second and third places, beginning with a weekend trip to Stetson and a home game next week against Mercer.

7. Gonzaga (22-5, 12-1 West Coast)

All of a sudden, there isn't much of a race in the WCC. The Bulldogs are two games clear of BYU and Saint Mary's with only three left to play in the regular season. They evened the series against Saint Mary's, the only team in the league to beat them, with a 69-54 win at home on Valentine's Day. Gonzaga began the week ranked No. 12 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, joining Green Bay (No. 5), Florida Gulf Coast (No. 8), Princeton (No. 10) and Dayton (No. 19) in the top 20 among the mid-major teams found here.

8. Toledo (22-2, 10-1 MAC)

The Rockets return to the rankings on the strength of 10 consecutive wins since opening MAC play with a loss against Central Michigan. Toledo began the week 15th nationally in scoring defense, behind only Delaware and Green Bay among teams in these rankings. The weekend brings a trip to Central Michigan and a chance to split that series. It's the only game remaining against a team with a winning record (although Ball State is 8-3 in conference play).

9. Marist (19-6, 14-0 MAAC)

Welcome back to the Red Foxes, who recently clinched at least a share of the MAAC title for the 10th season in a row. Marist has picked up its shooting pace a bit in conference play, but it appears unlikely it's ever going to get to 30 percent from the 3-point line. So how does Brian Giorgis' bunch keep dominating the league? Defense. Six opponents in a row have failed to reach 50 points, and Connecticut, Kentucky and Purdue are the only teams to score more than 70 points against Marist this season.

10. Creighton (18-6, 10-3 Missouri Valley)

The Bluejays tumble to No. 10 after a lost road trip two weeks ago, losses incurred at Indiana State and Illinois State, but they salvaged this spot with a win against league leader Wichita State. That result, against a team that dominated Creighton earlier this season, means just one game separates the two in the Valley. In a critical win, sophomore reserve Alexis Akin-Otiko picked a nice time for a breakout performance with 13 points, eight rebounds and big play after big play down the stretch.