The Final Four isn't new to Candice Wiggins. The Stanford senior has been attending for years, picking up All-America awards and the accompanying swag such as sneakers and sweat suits. Neat stuff, but there was an empty feeling. "We would sit there," says Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer of a Final Four function, "and I would say, 'Candice, let's come back with our team.' "

There is no doubt that one the greatest players in women's basketball history will arrive in Tampa on Friday with intentions of showcasing her unparalleled skills this weekend. The unknown is whether Candace Parker's shoulder can carry Tennessee to a women's NCAA championship. "Candace is down with some soreness, but she seems to be doing well," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said Wednesday afternoon. "Candace amazed me in the fact she came back and was able to do what she did in that game. She certainly seems to be feeling a lot better."

Tracy Roller's time as Ball State's head women's basketball coach is over, and the news has nothing to do with mononucleosis. A nine-year veteran at Ball State, seven as head coach, Roller resigned on Wednesday. And in an interview with The Star Press late Wednesday night, Roller revealed her season-long claim of an extreme case of mono was a cover-up for another illness -- one she intends to keep private.

For 10 months she has refused to talk about her decision to end the Tennessee- UConn series. By her silence, Pat Summitt has done more than kill the best rivalry in her game. She has done more than pull the roots from the great flower of women's team sports. By her silence, and in that flower's place, Summitt has planted the seeds of doubt about another Hall of Fame coach's career. If that silence is calculated, it is an ugly, miserable thing for the grand lady of basketball to do to Geno Auriemma.

"We might have to play a box-and-one," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "But a different box-and-one than what Rutgers played against us. It may be four guys on Candice and one guarding the other four guys. "Sometimes when great players get rolling like that, it's really, really hard to keep them from getting what they want. But I think Stanford is a lot like us in the sense that even if you did do that and even if you limited Candice to a normal Candice Wiggins game, there are enough other really good players on Stanford that you're going to end up losing anyway."