The lowdown on the biggest issues in women's hoops

Freshman Maya Moore is already making a huge splash for UConn. AP

Add Bill Clinton to the list of people who want answers to the most vexing questions in women's college basketball. Last May the former president approached Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer at a birthday party in Atlanta for civil rights activist Andrew Young.
"He sees me and he says, Come here," recalls Stringer. "I was like, Oh, my God'. Then he put his arm on my shoulder and said, 'Man, I taped those games. I love those games. I was sure you were going to win the game against Tennessee. And you just made short order of LSU.' I said, 'You watched the games?' He said, 'Are you kidding me? I didn't know what you were going to do with Sylvia Fowles?'"

Not many people do. How to stop the LSU All-America center is just one of the questions teams will have to answer on the road to the Final Four in Tampa. With the season just underway, let's go around SI's preseason Top 10 to answer some burning questions:

1. What kind of impact will Connecticut's Maya Moore have as a freshman?

About the same as Roger Federer at Wimbledon. Moore has averaged 18.6 points and 6.4 rebounds, 2.2 steals and nearly 2 blocks over her first five games. She had 19 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Stanford and she's the X-factor for UConn this season. "Every time Maya has the ball she wants to score on you," says coach Geno Auriemma. "We have a freshman who has a chance to be a great player. If she plays like an upperclassman, we're going to win the whole thing. [Sophomore center] Tina Charles played like a freshman against LSU in the NCAAs. If she had played like a junior like she did in the first LSU game, we could have won a national championship last year. You don't know how young players are going to react in the NCAA tournament. That's the big unknown."

Early-season concern: Establishing a go-to player in the final two minutes of games. UConn is deep, but even Auriemma isn't sure who will emerge as his go-to player in crunch time.

2. Will Candace Parker be better than she was last year?

The answer is bad news for opponents. Parker worked on her outside game this summer while playing -- and occasionally dominating -- as a member of the U.S. senior national team. She has averaged 25.3 points (shooting 54 percent from the field) in Tennessee's first four games -- all wins. "She is more physical and aggressive to the basket," says coach Pat Summitt. "I see a difference in the attitude. It is an air of confidence, but not in a cocky way."

Early-season concern: Rebounding. Tennessee averaged 38.4 rebounds per game last season, the second-lowest total under Summitt. They've averaged 39.0 this season. "We have to be more consistent on the defensive end," Summitt says. "We should be the best rebounding team in the SEC."

3. Will last season's Imus controversy affect Rutgers in 2007?

As long as the players can handle the questions at every stop, it shouldn't be a problem. "If we don't do well and we don't carry ourselves right, that will be the real test," says Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that we win ...What I was saying to [ESPN's senior director of programming and acquisition] Carol Stiff was you guys who are doing the television and everything else, can you please just respect us and give us the recognition? We played for a national championship. It's not every day that happens. The last time I played for one was 25 years ago. Can you just respect what we did? We didn't practice from the first day and work has hard as we did to see if we can make Imus more famous. Why should I have to marry him and walk down the aisle? Every time I am in the spotlight and this team is in the spotlight, he gets a play. I mean, what is that?"

Early-season concern: Can the Scarlet Knights (3-1) handle the immense expectations? Well, they passed a big test on Sunday with a 45-43 win over No. 6 LSU. "This is the year we have been building toward," says Stringer. " Once we got a legitimate center [Kia Vaughn], the centerpiece was in place. You have a legit center and guards who are explosive and can score."

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