A Definite Top Two Emerge

The women’s college basketball season is only a month old, but it has made strong first impressions:

* For starters, there are Connecticut and Tennessee, and then there is everybody else. The Huskies (10-0) and Lady Volunteers (6-0) have proven vastly superior to all who have stepped on the court against them, which makes their Jan. 5 showdown in Knoxville the women’s game of the regular season.

Connecticut and Tennessee are not fattening up on cupcakes. The Huskies beat No. 4 Vanderbilt by 19 points and No. 17 North Carolina by 24. Both overwhelmed No. 11 Louisiana Tech. Tennessee routed USC by 40. At least Boston College made the Lady Volunteers sweat before losing by 11.

As good as they are playing, that’s no guarantee they will arrive for their meeting Jan. 5 undefeated.

Connecticut must face No. 3 Oklahoma at home and No. 24 Old Dominion on the road. Tennessee has a more difficult schedule, road dates at No. 6 Stanford and No. 20 Florida, and a neutral-site game against No. 8 Duke in the ACC/SEC Challenge. If they are still unbeaten on Jan. 5, CBS will have a great game to televise.

* There is no local team that inspires visions of a long shelf life in the NCAA tournament.

USC (3-5) has talent. But its 1-2 punch of Aisha Hollans and Ebony Hoffman is not in sync, and neither Jessica Cheeks nor Ryane Alexander has provided a steady hand at point guard.

UCLA (3-4) is playing to its potential but has no one besides Michelle Greco who can score consistently. If Greco, who is sidelined by an undisclosed ailment, does not return to the lineup soon, her teammates will get locked into last year’s syndrome of losing games by large margins.

Loyola Marymount (6-2) is winning, but the Lions do not score enough to scare teams, and have to prove themselves in the West Coast Conference tournament--that is, win it--before people will take them seriously.

*

The transition from high school star to college player is rarely easy, and Syreeta Stafford and Veronica Johns-Richardson are proving the rule.

Both went to Colorado after outstanding senior seasons.

Stafford, who had a redshirt season to recover from knee surgery, was on the 1999-2000 Harbor City Narbonne team that went 34-0, won the state Division I title and was proclaimed national champion by USA Today. She averaged 8.5 points, 7.7 assists and 4.3 steals.

Johns-Richardson averaged 17 points and 7.9 assists at Fullerton Troy last season and was the Southern Section Division I-AA player of the year.

Colorado Coach Ceal Barry recruited them as her backcourt of the future, once seniors Mandy Nightingale and Jenny Roulier have moved on.

But Nightingale and Roulier make an excellent backcourt combination, so playing time for Johns-Richardson and Stafford is fleeting.

They said they can wait.

“It’s not hard to wait when you’re behind two of the best guards in the Big 12,” said Stafford, averaging 1.8 points and 9.7 minutes. “It’s easy to be content when the team is winning. I have the chance to learn what’s going on. Next year, I hope to be in the same situation [Roulier and Nightingale] are in now.”

Johns-Richardson, averaging 3.5 points and 10 minutes, said, “I’m learning two positions--guard and forward--and learning the offense as a whole. So next year I’ll know what to do.”

Barry had a knowing smile when apprised of her freshmen’s responses.

“When you come from a big program, being patient can be hard because you want to play,” she said. “You’re not used to getting only five minutes a game.

“Syreeta, I think, has found a niche. She knows the campus better and is more comfortable. Veronica is living away from home for the first time and making those adjustments. But I believe they will eventually be great players for us.”

*

Ninth-ranked Baylor, which plays hosts to UCLA on Sunday, is a true homebody. Except for tournaments in Nevada and Hawaii, the only game the Bears have played outside of Texas was at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla. After UCLA, Baylor will play two home games before traveling to Kansas State.