COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENTS : Miffed Stanford Tackles Tar Heels : Women: Unbeaten UConn at home against Alabama in Sweet 16.

By late tonight, answers to the following NCAA women’s basketball tournament questions may be developing:

--Can Tennessee shake off its three-season tournament slump? Pat Summitt’s Lady Vols won it all in 1991. But despite going 88-8 the next three seasons, they’ve been knocked out of the regionals every year.

--Can Connecticut become the first team to go undefeated since Texas (33-0) in 1986?

--Can Stanford, still sore over losing the No. 1 seeding in the West to Vanderbilt, achieve revenge?

--Can Purdue write the best possible story of this tournament: Kick its best player off the team in January, then win it all?

Whatever, here we go.

It’s undefeated Connecticut in the East and defending national champion North Carolina in the West taking part in tonight’s featured games of the women’s Sweet 16.

Connecticut, on its home court, is matched against Alabama in the East Regional at Storrs, Conn. At UCLA tonight, North Carolina faces deep, talented Stanford.

Figure UConn and Tennessee as solid favorites to advance, since they’re playing at home tonight and, presumably, Saturday. And go ahead and pencil in Colorado from the Midwest. Then grab a half-dollar and flip it for the games at UCLA.

The most intriguing Pauley Pavilion matchup is tenacious, ball-hawking Stanford against defending national champion North Carolina.

Ball-hawking? This one has the top two pickpockets in women’s basketball.

North Carolina’s Marion Jones, who has world-class track speed, is one of the women’s game’s most spectacular players. Her specialty is midcourt steals followed by bursts downcourt for uncontested layups.

She has 122 steals this year, twice as many as any teammate.

And Stanford sophomore Kate Starbird, a possible future national player of the year, has 74 steals. Her favorite play is intercepting the inbound pass.

The Tar Heels bring the player who gave them the national championship a year ago--Charlotte Smith, who made a three-point shot at the final horn in Richmond, Va., to beat Louisiana Tech, 60-59.

The 6-foot Smith even generates excitement in the warm-ups. She dunks.

Stanford, runaway Pacific 10 champion and ranked fifth in the final AP poll, has won 11 in a row since losing at Oregon State on Feb. 4. North Carolina has won seven in a row since an overtime loss at North Carolina State last month.

Vanderbilt meets Purdue in tonight’s 6 p.m. game at Pauley.

The Commodores were seeded No. 1 after registering the biggest shocker of the late season, a 67-61 victory over Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference tournament final--at Chattanooga.

Vanderbilt, like Stanford, has a deep bench. It has already flattened tournament foes Northern Illinois (90-44) and Memphis (95-68).

Nevertheless, Stanford is miffed at Vanderbilt’s No. 1 seeding--a slap in the face, the Cardinal figures, for a program that won it all in 1990 and ’92 and made the final eight five times in the last seven seasons.

Stanford was hurt early by its 105-69 bombing at Tennessee on Dec. 1, when Coach Tara VanDerveer was without several key players because of injuries and volleyball.

Stanford freshman Kristin Folkl is hoping for an NCAA double. She played on last fall’s NCAA champion volleyball team.

Purdue rode the back of 6-1 Leslie Johnson last year, all the way to Richmond. She was one of the nation’s best freshmen, averaging 18.5 points and 9.1 rebounds, and shot 60% from the field.

But Johnson got into a practice dispute with Purdue Coach Lin Dunn in January, was told to come back next year . . . and the Boilermakers went 11-1 without her.

As for UConn, will the pressure of an unbeaten record be too big a burden to bear?

“If you’re good, it doesn’t matter,” said Leon Barmore, who has coached Louisiana Tech to two NCAA titles.

“If you have a good team, you coach it well and all the pieces are in place, being undefeated doesn’t matter.”

Barmore also called the East Regional “tougher than some Final Fours I’ve seen.”

Also in the East, Alabama Coach Rick Moody wonders if his team has anything left. Last Saturday, Alabama beat Duke, 121-120, in a tournament-record four overtimes.