W. Final Four set as top seeds advance

The date, place and time of the 2000 NCAA Women's Final Four were set a long time ago. Now, just three days before the big party begins, the event finally has a guest list. Penn State, Connecticut and Tennessee all earned trips to Philadelphia last night, while Rutgers punched its ticket to the City of Brotherly Love in the wee hours of the morning after tipping off at midnight. Unlike the men's tournament, which has its Final Four dance card filled with unexpected teams, the women's Final Four boasts a heavy dose of favorites. UConn and Tennessee were both number one seeds, while Penn State and Rutgers were seeded second in their regions. While there was no official comment from the Final Four host committee last night, one can imagine their glee at having the two most widely recognized programs in the country -- UConn and Tennessee -- as well as a popular home-state team in the Lady Lions. With Rutgers joining the party as well, it looks to be a perfect ensemble that will begin play Friday night at the sold-out First Union Center. Penn Sate (30-4) pulled an upset last night, demolishing top-seeded Louisiana Tech 86-65 at the Midwest Regional in Kansas City. The Lady Lions used a 12-3 run at the start of the second half to build a 57-32 advantage over the Lady Techsters (31-3), and then cruised the rest of the way for an easy victory. The win sends Penn State to its first Final Four. The game also marked the final game for Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore, who is retiring after 18 years at the helm of the program with a lifetime record of 520-77. While Penn State's victory was a mild surprise, UConn's certainly wasn't. The top-ranked Huskies (34-1), who have consistently blown out opponents both during the regular season and during the tournament, had a relatively difficult time last night against LSU (25-7) before finishing with a comfortable 86-71 win in the East Regional in Richmond, Va. For the Huskies, relatively difficult means they led by only eight with 12 minutes to play, and never led by more than 17 during the game. UConn will meet Penn State in one Final Four game. Tennessee will comprise one-half of the other National Semifinal following their 57-44 victory over Texas Tech at the Mideast Regional in Memphis. The top-seeded Lady Vols (31-3) will make Philadelphia the site of their NCAA-record 12th Final Four appearance. In the last game of the night, Rutgers beat top seed Georgia, 59-51, in the West Regional final in Portland, Ore., to ensure a date with the Lady Vols at the First Union Center.

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