ESPN Search

WNBA commissioner Laurel Richie hopes the U.S. women's basketball team winning gold means more eyes will be on her league in the second half of the season and into the playoffs.

Lindsay Whalen is one of the oldest players making her Olympic debut; Maya Moore is the youngest. But together the two Minnesota Lynx teammates hope to bring home yet another title.

After a career largely defined by the stars alongside her, Tiffany Hayes stepped up, put Connecticut on her back and helped lead the Huskies back to the Final Four.

As her UConn teammates struggled in the first half against Stanford on Monday, freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis rose to the occasion -- just like another former Huskies player who once wore No. 23.

How quickly UConn is able to move into the post-Maya Moore era might depend on whether Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson can translate their freshman potential into sophomore success.

For 40 minutes on Sunday, UConn was the team it had been accused of being. And even Maya Moore couldn't change that.

Big plays -- and not just from Maya Moore or Skylar Diggins -- will determine Sunday's winner. Notre Dame senior Devereaux Peters and Connecticut freshman Stefanie Dolson, two posts increasingly familiar with providing such things, could deliver the one that makes the difference.

Geno Auriemma can't clone sophomore Kelly Faris. So the Huskies' defensive specialist will likely split time checking Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins and Natalie Novosel.

Maya Moore scored her 3,000th career point in pursuit of the Philadelphia Region championship -- but the milestone was overshadowed by her entirely dominating performance against Duke.

Is it better to build a team around one star (see: Maya Moore, Danielle Adams) or around a talented team (see: Notre Dame, Stanford)? The Final Four might give us the answer.

DePaul's secret weapon? A budding rivalry on the Beltway? Duke's key to keep winning? Philly is full of storylines.

Stefanie Dolson might be the next big thing in a Connecticut uniform. But the freshman is unquestionably the complement to Maya Moore that the Huskies very much need.

Connecticut routed Oklahoma on Monday. But Maya Moore made the game memorable because she plays every possession, whether the Huskies trail or lead by 20 points, as if the season depends on it.

UConn is supposed to be short on depth and perhaps suspect inside. But previously unbeaten Duke found out Monday that all bets are off when a team plays in near-perfect harmony on both ends of the court.

Saturday's Big East battle illustrated that it won't be easy for Connecticut to win the rest of its regular-season games. But as Notre Dame learned, it's also not going to be easy to beat the Huskies.

What does the only men's or women's Division I basketball team to win 89 games in a row have that no other team has? Geno Auriemma and Maya Moore.