Sometimes you have a beautiful dream. Like maybe you're dating Scarlett Johansson. After you wake up, and you're still trying to dream, you wonder whether it could ever really happen.

Waking reality quickly crushes the idea. You aren't attractive enough. You aren't rich enough. You aren't stylish enough. You live in Minnesota. You are a no-name schlub, and you're always going to be a no-name schlub.

Marist was living a dream. The reality is Candace Parker.

The reality is that it's one thing to stop Jess Davenport or Chrissy Givens, and it's quite another to stop Parker. She doesn't care about Cinderella cliches or made-for-March storylines. She just wants to win. The reality is that a team like Marist isn't going to stop her.

Parker and Tennessee won with brutal efficiency. They opened a big early lead and coasted for 30 minutes. Marist made a brief second-half comeback, but the game was never in doubt.

"It's tough to lose," Marist head coach Brian Giorgis said, "but to lose to that team, it's really not that tough."

And through it all, the players kept smiling. "I think it's a big deal for us," Nikki Flores said. "I think it put us on the map. It predicts good things to come in the future."

It's not such a bad reality after all.