To her teammates, she's C-Dub. To opponents, she's Candice Friggin' Wiggins. Or worse.In the biggest game of her life Monday night, Stanford senior Candice Wiggins played the biggest game of her life. Forty-one points in a 98-87 win over No. 1 seed Maryland. There are one or two more games left in Wiggins' college career, so she has time to top herself, but this was the cherry on top of the sundae that is one of the great basketball careers in Bay Area history, men or women.

A couple of years ago, it'd be a safe bet that the vast majority wouldn't be able to name who was headed to the women's Final Four even if you gave them all day to think on it. But it seems that may be changing - finally. According to TVWeek.com, the first two rounds of the NCAA Women's Tournament saw double-digit percentage increases in television ratings. ESPN2's coverage reached 546,000 households, a 29-percent increase from last year, while ESPN aired the games in 482,000 households, a 40-percent jump. Just in case you think it's a fluke, the Web site also reported that ESPN.com's Web coverage also saw a jump ­- 27 percent in page views and 19 percent in the number of visits - when compared to the same time period last year.

Mike Dabney sees a piece of himself every time the girl glides through the air or dribbles through traffic. The same face, the same eyes, the same instincts. He cannot look away. When Rutgers plays top-ranked Connecticut tonight with a berth in this weekend's NCAA Final Four on the line, Dabney will be at the center of a mysterious and amazing tale that bonds these two rival teams. Maya Moore, the Huskies' freshman star who seemingly has the talent to revolutionize women's basketball, is the daughter of the former Rutgers great. Dabney, who helped the Scarlet Knights reach the 1976 Final Four, walked into Moore's life recently, although the two haven't publicly discussed the details. "We have a good relationship," Dabney told The Star-Ledger. "We started bonding during her senior year in high school. We were going to wait until after the season to put out the circumstances about how we got back in touch."

Forget the magnitude of the Lady Tigers joining only Connecticut as the two programs to appear in five straight Final Fours. Forget that this defensive masterpiece held the country's second-ranked team to more than 30 points below its average. Remember what LSU was going through at this time a year ago. Remember this group of seniors answering questions about Chatman's improper relationships with her players, and the inuendo that went along with it. Heck, to be honest, the inability to reach the national title game a fourth straight year was an afterthought. All Chancellor did was come in with his grandfatherly approach and put a band-aid on the biggest controversy to hit women's basketball in decades.

With North Carolina and many of the nation's other big-time programs curiously dispatched across the country, the women's tournament has struggled to attract a paying audience through its first three rounds. Tournament officials could see this coming. So in a bid to move forward, they're taking two steps back. Next year, the tournament will switch back to 16, four-team sites instead of the current setup -- eight cities with eight teams each. That returns the tournament to the 2004 format, when it enjoyed its highest television ratings and attendance. NCAA committee chair Judy Southard said the move "will certainly help us with attendance and the atmosphere at arenas."