NASHVILLE - Vanderbilt just can't escape the towering shadow of its in-state rival - six-time national champion Tennessee.
The Commodores are busy preparing for their Midwest Region semifinal against Stanford on Sunday, but everyone keeps asking about the Vols.
The reason: a win over Stanford could set up a third game this season between Tennessee and Vanderbilt, and the second in three years with a trip to the Final Four on the line. The Vols play Baylor in the other game.
"We're surrounded by orange people all the time around our campus," senior forward Jenni Benningfield said.
"I'm still bitter about my sophomore year when they beat us in the Elite Eight to go to the Final Four. That's still in the back of my mind."
Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 68-63 in that Midwest Region final in 2002 in Ames, Iowa, in their only NCAA Tournament meeting.
But it usually does not matter where they play because the Vols lead the series 42-6 even though Vandy has a tradition almost as strong as Tennessee. This is the Commodores' 17th NCAA berth - behind only Tennessee (23) and Georgia (21) in the SEC - and their 11th time in the final 16 in the past 15 seasons.
These rivals, separated by 194 miles, have played three games in a season six times since 1994, and the possibility of a seventh is the biggest question facing the Commodores before leaving for Norman, Okla., today.
Coach Melanie Balcomb, whose Xavier squad beat Tennessee in the 2001 region semifinal, said she doesn't have to remind her players to concentrate on sixth-seeded Stanford (26-6).
"I have great senior leadership. We're excited to play Stanford and play in the Sweet 16. We're focused on this game and this game only," she said.
"We're taking this tournament one game at a time because that's what you have to do, or you're going to end up going home," senior guard Hillary Hager said.
The Commodores (26-7) are one of the hotter teams in the tournament, having won 10 straight. The streak nearly started Feb. 15 against Tennessee, but Tasha Butts scored a career-high 37 to give the Vols a 94-88 victory.
After that loss, Balcomb thought her Commodores might miss out on the postseason completely. They dropped to 16-7, 4-6 in the SEC.
Balcomb skipped one practice to take her team to see the movie Miracle. They haven't lost since.
NOT PASSING TIME: All season, Diana Taurasi has done her best to get everyone involved for Connecticut. Now it's time for her to take over.
So even if two more assists will make Taurasi the career leader for UConn, the two-time Naismith Award winner probably won't be passing up too many open shots.
That's just fine with coach Geno Auriemma.
"She understands that it's winning time now, and I think she understands it better than anybody," he said. "The kids recognize she has her game face on. Hopefully, they can feed off that."
The second-seeded Huskies, who play UC Santa Barbara on Saturday in Hartford, are two victories from becoming the first to reach five straight Final Fours.
AUBURN COACH RETIRES: Tigers coach Joe Ciampi retired, ending a quarter-century with a team he once led to three straight national championship games.
He is the 10th winningest coach (607-213), and he took Auburn to the NCAA Tournament 16 times. Ciampi, 57, retired two days after the Tigers lost 79-53 to defending champion Connecticut in the second round.
"I feel extremely fortunate that I've been able to coach at Auburn for 25 years, and now I feel it's time for a change," Ciampi said.
"It's time for family."
Ciampi recommended that the school hire assistant coach Joanie O'Brien as his replacement.
TCU COACH CHARGED WITH DUI: Horned Frogs coach Jeff Mittie has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, Newton, Kan., city prosecutor David Yoder said.
Yoder said that Mittie had a blood-alcohol level of .121 when he was arrested in Newton on March 17. The limit at which the state presume impairment is .08.
Mittie was arrested three days before the Frogs' opening game in the NCAA Tournament, but TCU officials said he was not suspended from the tournament because his personal and professional conduct were deemed exemplary before his arrest.
AD Eric Hyman said the school, which reprimanded Mittie on March 19 and allowed him to continue coaching, would not take further disciplinary action.
GRADUATED SCALE: Nine of the 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament have a higher graduation rate than that of the top squad still competing in the men's bracket, according to a survey released Thursday. Stanford graduated 93 percent of its players within six years of their initial enrollment, according to the annual study by Richard Lapchick of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Based on 2003 statistics, the Cardinal was followed by Vanderbilt (92 percent), Texas (88), Duke (87), Notre Dame (85), LSU (82), Baylor (80), and Minnesota and UC Santa Barbara (77). The Kansas men's team graduated 73 percent of its players.
