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EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
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Sixteen reasons to watch the Sweet 16
Updated: Thursday March 22, 2001 2:13 PM
By Patricia Heys, CNNSI.com 1. Jackie Stiles -- She's the NCAA's all-time leading scorer. 2. Jackie Stiles -- Opposing teams don't give her much room to breathe, so Stiles creates her own shots. Against Rutgers, one of the best defenses in the country, Stiles scored 32 points while often being double-, triple- and sometimes quadruple-teamed. 3. Jackie Stiles -- Most of the country may have followed the senior's record-breaking year, but few people outside of the Missouri Valley Conference have had a chance to see her play. She'll finally be on television Friday, but with No. 5 seed Southwest Missouri State facing a tough top-seeded Duke team, this may be her last game in a college uniform. 4. Jackie Stiles -- Buffest arms in the Sweet 16 -- a result of MAKING 1,000 shots a day. 5. New Faces -- Utah is in the Sweet 16 for the first time. So is Xavier. So is Missouri. SMS hasn't been here since 1993. Washington since 1996. Change is good. 6. Old Faces -- Leon Barmore. Pat Summitt. Kay Yow. Geno Auriemma. Jim Foster. Some of the greatest college coaches are still around. They haven't left for the pros -- they haven't even changed schools. 7. Ashley McElhiney -- The Vanderbilt guard may not be the tallest player on the floor (she's 5-6), she may not be the most athletic and she may not score the most points, but the sophomore is always the best leader. If her verbal encouragement doesn't inspire her teammates, then her don't-hold-anything-back hustling does. Imagine the impact the Gleason, Tennessee native would have had playing for that other state team. 8. Alana Beard -- The best freshman in the country. Her motto should probably be: "You ain't seen nothing yet." Here's looking forward to three more years of the Duke forward. 9. Neutral sites -- The sellout crowd in Oklahoma was electric. The fans of the top teams in the country were rewarded for their patronage. But now the tournament moves to neutral sites, leveling the playing field for all seeds. 10. Hairstyle -- Hopefully, the small, tight braids were just a first and second round trend. 11. Randall and Clement -- They came to Tennessee as one of the most heralded recruiting class in the program's history. Tamika Catchings, Teresa Geter, Semeka Randall and Kristen Clement were labeled the Fab Four and expected to win four national titles. Four years and one national title later, there are only two remaining. Geter transferred to South Carolina. Catchings is out for the season with a torn ACL. It's up to Randall and Clement, who have both struggled with consistency throughout their careers, to lead Tennessee. 12. Upsets -- No. 10 seed Missouri defeated No. 2 seed Georgia. No. 2 seed Oklahoma came very close to losing in the first round to No. 15 seed Oral Roberts. No. 9 seed St. Mary's played a competitive first half against No. 1 seed Tennessee. Looks like seedings don't mean quite what they used to. 13. Georgia Schweitzer -- Duke's fearless leader. The Midwesterner first arrived on the national scene at the 1999 NCAA championship game and is now looking for a return trip. The senior guard does whatever her team needs her to do, and is a consistent scoring threat, encourager and great ambassador of the game. 14. Katie Douglas -- Purdue's fearless leader. The Midwesterner first arrived on the national scene at the 1999 NCAA championship game and ... 15. You can -- There were some great first-round games -- just look at the scores:
St. Mary's 68, Texas 64
16. Supporting cast -- Fewer venues and fewer games means fewer announcers and fewer referees. Hopefully, like the teams, only the best advance.
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