I still can't quite believe it. I watched it live, read about it in a bunch of newspapers and Web sites, and interviewed Penn's coaches and players about it. But even still ...
Connecticut.
Against Penn?
That's how big a name the Huskies are in women's basketball. They are up there in that cadre of truly elite programs, with Tennessee, Duke, Purdue and a few others, gazing down at the 320 or so schools below them in Division I who yearn for just a fraction of the hype and awe the Huskies receive from ESPN and The New York Times alone.
Their coach is Geno Auriemma. If you haven't seen him, turn on ESPN and you'll quickly see a commercial for the network's tournament coverage. He's the guy in the black trench coat, looking as much like a mafioso as a basketball coach. Then again, he is a Philadelphia native.
Connecticut's star player is Diana Taurasi, who you might actually have known even if the only brackets you've filled out over the last few days were for the men's tournament. Penn coach Kelly Greenberg calls Taurasi "the best player in the country" without a trace of hesitation, and she's probably right.
The game, which tips off at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2, is in Bridgeport, Conn., all of an hour-and-a-half away from the Connecticut campus in Storrs.
So it's entirely natural that Penn is going to walk out onto the floor of the Arena at Harbor Yard with no fear whatsoever, right?
Of course it is. Because that's why they won the Ivy League this year. There is a fine line between respecting an opponent and being intimidated by it, and you can bet (not literally, please) that Greenberg and the Quakers are going to walk it perfectly over the next few days.
Because Greenberg has done this before. When she played for La Salle, the Explorers beat the Huskies in the NCAA Tournament. When she guided Penn to its first ever Ivy League title, the Quakers went to Lubbock, Texas, where Texas Tech and the 14,000 fans in its arena pounded the Red and Blue, 100-57.
She admits freely that when seniors Jewel Clark and Mikaelyn Austin lead the team onto the floor for the first time Sunday night, it "will be a bit overwhelming for them. As much as right now they might say it's not going to be, it will be."
But as partisan as the Bridgeport crowd will be, I highly doubt that the Huskie faithful will create the sense of mania that exists in Lubbock, where the Red Raiders' equivalent of the University of Texas' fabled "Hook 'em Horns" gesture involves holding one's pointer fingers up to the sky as if they were pistols.
We are, after all, talking about an arena which is conveniently located two blocks from the town's Amtrak station. And considering that the ride from here to there is only three hours long, there might even be a few lines of "Fight On, Pennsylvania" echoing in the rafters.
"At least we know it's not going to be in the middle of nowhere," Greenberg said.
Then there's the small matter of the rumored fight between Taurasi and Auriemma, about which Greenberg has been given her fill by the numerous newspapers and radio stations in Connecticut that have been talking to her this week.
To which Greenberg gives the same reply that she gives about the Huskies' ranking in the national polls: So what?
"It's still Geno Auriemma and it's still Diana Taurasi," she said. "She's still the best player in the country and she's going to be the best player in the country whether she's getting along with her coach or not."
Clark knows that too, and is probably going to be guarding her Sunday night. She epitomizes the idea of respecting the star player but not being intimidated.
"I want to guard her, because she is one of the best players in NCAA women's college basketball right now," she said. "That's what you should want. If you're not the best, you should go after the best."
That's what Penn is going to do this weekend, go after the best. And whatever the outcome is, what matters most is that it's going to be a lot of fun no matter the result.
Then again, what if Taurasi's focus is off? What if Clark, Austin and Karen Habrukowich catch fire? If Jennifer Fleischer gets her second-chance shots in the post to go in? Could they win?
Well, maybe not. Like the mentality that Greenberg and the Quakers are trying so hard to instill, I had better not get ahead of myself.
