'It hits me in phases'

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- After four years of big-time basketball, Connecticut's Sue Bird might find herself at a loss for a while when it comes to filling up her days.

The senior guard, The Associated Press Player of the Year, said that her mind goes in different directions about the end of her collegiate career.

"It hits me in phases, in waves," she said after Connecticut won the NCAA championship Sunday night. "Like sometimes 'I have practice tomorrow' and then 'We just went undefeated and won a national championship.'"

Teammate Swin Cash is having a similar reaction.

"It hasn't totally hit me yet," she said. "Give it a week or two, and I'm wondering what time the workouts are and we don't have any any more, and that's when it will hit you."

Top Performers

Cash was selected as the Final Four's most outstanding player. In addition to her 20 points and 13 rebounds in the championship game, the Huskies forward scored 13 points and had four rebounds in the semifinal win over Tennessee.

Cash got some inspiring words from her mother Sunday, along with an Easter card that she made a part of her uniform.

"I kept it right here," she said, pointing to her left leg of her compression shorts.

Connecticut and Oklahoma put two other players each on the all-tournament team to join Cash.

Bird (32 points, nine assists in the two games) and Asjha Jones (37 points, 19 rebounds, seven blocked shots) were voted in from Connecticut, while Stacey Dales (35 points, 5-for-12 on 3-point shots) and Rosalind Ross (43 points, 8-for-18 on 3-pointers) made the squad from the Sooners.

So long, seniors

Both teams only have one starter returning next year.

Connecticut loses all except sophomore guard Diana Taurasi, and Oklahoma will be without all but junior forward Caton Hill.

Huskies coach Geno Auriemma doesn't think any opponents are going to be crying over the departure of Tamika Williams, Sue Bird, Asjha Jones and Swin Cash.

"I don't think anybody is going to feel sorry for us. All these seniors, they're laughing every day because they know somebody is going to pay for all the stuff that they're doing," he said.

Oklahoma's seniors have helped coach Sherri Coale develop her program into a championship contender. Jamie Talbert and Rosalind Ross played just two years because they went to junior college. Guards LaNeisha Caufield and Stacey Dales will leave a hole in the backcourt.

"They're pretty special. Stacey is the grandma of the bunch. She's been with us for five years," Coale said.

Dome court

Players in this year's Final Four say the Alamodome's court took some getting used to. After that came a sense of awe.

"I've never seen fans that high up,' Caufield said. "I thought, 'Wow! Look at all these people here watching us play!' It was great."

"I'm glad I'll have the opportunity to tell my kids someday that I played in a dome," Connecticut guard Sue Bird said.

Cash shot down any notion that the building was too large for the women's title game. Attendance for the Final Four was nearly 30,000 per night.

"The more seats, the better," she said. "When Connecticut is in the Final Four, you're going to sell it out."

No. 1 vs. No.2

Sunday night's game was the 35th matching the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in The Associated Press poll.

Connecticut was No. 1 all season and Oklahoma climbed to second in the final poll.

UConn has been involved in the last eight No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups and nine of 11. It was the first time Oklahoma played in such a game.

Pass it on

Connecticut and Oklahoma have been successful this season partly because of clever passing.

The Huskies set an NCAA record with 831 assists this season, surpassing the mark of 786 set by the program's 1994-95 team. Bird set a school single-season record with 227 assists.

"We average more assists than other teams and we pass the ball," senior Asjha Jones said. "No one person will dominate a game for us. That makes it fun for everybody."

More than 60 percent of Oklahoma's baskets follow passes from teammates. The Sooners average 17.3 assists a game to Connecticut's 21.9.

It's a war out there

The Alamo, where nearly 200 soldiers died in 1836 trying to help Texas gain its independence from Mexico, is just a few blocks from the Alamodome and the team hotels.

The Huskies heard plenty about it from Auriemma in preparing for their final two games.

"You know he has tied [the championship game] into the Alamo. He has used words like 'victory' and 'death,' and 'remember the Alamo,' and said 'these people fought to the death,'" Connecticut forward Tamika Williams said. "He's a big war guy."

 

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