Yahoo Blogs: (via Maxine) College stars Essence Carson of Rutgers, Abby Waner of Duke, Crystal Langhorne of Maryland and Erlana Larkins of North Carolina will provide periodic updates on their NCAA tournament experiences.

From Erlana in New Orleans—We have arrived in New Orleans. The trip was long, but it was also pretty powerful. The drive from the airport gave us a first hand look at some of the damage from Hurricane Katrina and it really had an impact.

We get caught up complaining about little things sometimes and then you see these people who have lost everything - their jobs, their houses, all their possessions. It really puts everything in perspective, because it could have happened to any of us.