Last year Joe Frager led the Southern Connecticut State Owls to 34 wins and the Division II National Championship. This year, he's head coach at Fairfield University and his team already has a signature win: the Stags beat Boston College, 59-54.

In a game I think I'm pretty glad I didn't have to to watch Rutgers squeaked by Princeton (!) 54-48. No Carson in the box, and for the third straight game Stringer kept most of the starters on the bench for the beginning of the game.

"The starters know they're not playing 40 minutes," she said. "So they get a chance to see what's going on. If the other group can impress me longer, we'll just keep it going for as long as we can. The only problem is, it takes (the regulars) a little longer to get their legs warmed up and get in the flow."

Another barnburner saw Jen Rizzotti's Hartford Hawks nip the Marist Red Foxes. Despite the score (49-32), Mr. Hays has some words of warning:

To get any farther from spring than Poughkeepsie in December you need sled dogs -- or at the very least, directions to Lake Placid. But nights like Wednesday are exactly when the seeds are sown for the surprises that bloom in March.

Just as when Montana and Wyoming squared off in Laramie, Wyo., or Wisconsin-Green Bay and Illinois State battled in Normal, Ill., in November games, Hartford and Marist didn't have a national spotlight shining on them when they met Wednesday night in Poughkeepsie. And after watching Hartford defend its way to a 49-32 win that snapped Marist's 26-game home winning streak, that's a shame for any unsuspecting team unlucky enough to draw the Hawks in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.