The Aggies (13-5) are experiencing the weight of the “crown” a bit, and Kelsey Bone, who was on the sidelines as a transfer last season, especially can feel it. The 6-foot-4 center knows the big part she has in filling the scoring void left by Final Four Most Outstanding Player Danielle Adams.

Bone is averaging 11.9 points and 7.0 rebounds in her first season for the Aggies, but those numbers are 6.8 and 5.5 in four of Texas A&M’s last five games. The exception was her 18-point, seven-rebound performance in a victory at Kansas on Saturday.

A little on Elizabeth Williams

Elizabeth Williams is the centerpiece of the youngest Duke team in more than a decade. But she spent a fair amount of time in her first semester of college thinking about growing old.

She took a sociology class about adulthood and aging, and it confirmed a mindset she pretty much already had.

“One of the interesting statistics in a paper I did was that people who had a positive outlook on life would live an average of 7.6 years longer than people who didn’t,” Williams said. “People who thought that growing old was a negative thing, their lifespan was shorter. I took that and thought it applies to me at a young age, too: ‘Think of all these opportunities you’re given, and really embrace them.’”

And a reminder as to why she’s such a valuable member of the women’s basketball community: Institutional Memory. From her chat yesterday:

jbb1985 (ny) You may be too young, but Kerry Bascom was UConn’s first star player and is still its 4th highest scorer all-time. Yet she played in 1988-1991 period. Might you have seen her play? If so, what type player was she and which contemporary player would remind you of her?

Mechelle Voepel Nah, I don’t qualify as “young” anymore. Haven’t for a while. :) I started covering women’s basketball when I at Missouri in 1984. So, yes, I do remember Kerry Bascom, even though I obviously didn’t see nearly as many of her games as I have with UConn players over the last 17 years. Kerry was a scoring machine, and the player she kind of reminds me of was Texas AM’s Danielle Adams, now with San Antonio Silver Stars. I am a little leery of talking about this in a way that would offend anyone, but obviously Danielle has a large physical presence, and yet has skills I think surprise people who see her and expect she would not have them. Kerry was not physically as large as Danielle, but she was stout and strong, while still with good body control. I recall there was a picture of her in past UConn media guides – not sure if it’s still in there – where one defender is falling over trying to guard her, while another has her hand basically on top of Kerry’s head trying to stop her… and Kerry is still going right to the basket. She could shoot the 3 and penetrate; she had just a ferocious will to score. That’s my memory of her. Really quite a player.

If you though the Terps’ 19 TOs were bad, look at Auburn: 30 against Kentucky, and the loss.

Vandy regrets dropping out of the polls and took it out on #15 Georgia, 68-48.

No problems for Baylor as they took care of Oklahoma and (oh, oh) Griner hit a… three!?! (That’s just not fair.) Oh, and how cool is this? At the New York Times Krista Pirtle of The Lariat at Baylor University will file reports about the top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears throughout the season for The Quad.

Hofstra put up a great fight in the first half, and was tied with Delaware going into the break. Then EDD took over: 41pts, 15 rebs, 5 assists, and the Pride fell, 84-66.

It took overtime, but the Illini got their first Big 10 win: 71-62 over Michigan State.

The Tribe finally win a close one: William & Mary 83, ODU 80. Oh, and it’s their first win against ODU in 53 tries. (Great photo.)

Whoa! The Penguins (3-5 Horizon) took down Detroit (5-3 Horizon), 80-67.

FGCU beat up on the Mercer Bears, 92-55.

Bookends in the C-USA: UTEP goes to 7-0 in conference play (and coach Adams gets her 300th win) and sends Southern Miss to 0-7.

Looks like this isn’t the Vikings’ year — perhaps it’s the Bobcats’? Montana State 70, Portland State 50.

Six of Arizona’s seven losses are in the PAC-12.

It was close at first, and it stayed close. The Bonnies escape the clutches of the Hawks, 68-61.

It was close at first, and it stayed close. The Terriers escape the clutches of the Retrievers, 59-53.

It wasn’t so close in the first, but it got closer. Still, the Falcons escape the clutches of the Cardinals., 63-52.

Indications of a good, well-coached team: Toledo loses their best player a while ago, and still puts together a 5-2 MAC record.

Good one between Richmond and Dayton — Flyers come out on top in OT, 81-78.

American kept Bucknell defeated in the Patriot and themselves undefeated, 71-45.

It was close at first, and then it wasn’t even close to close at the end. You could have taken away Tiffany Hayes’ 35pts and UConn would still have beaten Syracuse by 6.

The Orange are set to join ex-Big East member Boston College in the ACC. Wonder if coach Hatchell will enjoy playing ‘Cuse as much as she enjoys playing BC.

It was a tussle, but Georgia Tech topped Virginia, 63-53.

Sun Belt (and I mean Middle Tennessee) shouldn’t sleep on the Florida Atlantic Owls. They’re now 6-2 in the conference. (Yes, I know, so are the UALR Trojans & the Denver Pioneers, but that’s in the West.)

Okay, I know it’s the WCC v. the ACC, but how come 19-3 (7-1) BYU isn’t ranked (in the ESPN polls) and North Carolina (14-5) is?

Depleted DePaul rode the hot hand of Anna Martin to a nice lead over Rutgers. Then turnovers, a missed field goal and Khadijah Rushdan’s end of game scoring streak spelled disaster for the Blue Demons: the Scarlet Knights win.

Hard to cheer against Gary Blair. Harder to cheer against Oklahoma State. Cowgirls pull off the 57-53 upset of # 14 Texas A&M.

Mechelle says the Big 12 about more than just Baylor, but I’m not sure of the overall (NCAA-level) quality of the teams.

Graham has his mid-majors poll and, picking up on Doug “The APWBall King”‘s theme, notes: Zags, BYU give WCC two entries

Speaking of the Zags: from the Spokesman-Review: Gonzaga’s Redmon proves her dedication

Ooops. Will this undermine the Miners? 2 UTEP guards suspended indefinitely

So, has there been some shaky play this season, or do we get to pull out the p-word? LSU had to go to overtime to escape with a 71-68 win over East Tennessee State.

From the Observer: ND’s Peters comfortable in her role and I missed this Hoops Across America entry from espnW: Love of the Irish drives volunteers

Xavier’s misery continues: Temple 64, Musketeers 38.

About those Idaho State Bengals: Ashleigh Vella: the wonder from “down under”

Ouch: BG coach Miller’s health ‘not 100 percent’

San Diego State remains undefeated in the MWC, and Nick Canepa writes: SDSU women’s basketball deserves show of support

What Beth Burns needs is a show to call her own. To be square, not necessarily The Show, the roaring, cunning group of San Diego State’s men’s basketball wackos, but maybe something along the lines of The Showups.

Speaking of San Diego — a little WATN? with Charity Shira of then-Southwest Missouri State’s Final Four team of 1992: Elliott has her NCAA Division II California-San Diego Tritons ranked No. 1 in the country

After a decade of domination, Gonzaga finally has a challenger or two for the top spot in the West Coast Conference.

And coach Kelly Graves couldn’t be happier.

“It speaks so well for our conference,” he said. “Our conference is a ton better now and I love it. For so long, we’ve needed another team to go with us. Our men have had it with Saint Mary’s. We’ve wanted that competition.”

The 22nd-ranked Zags (17-3, 6-1) now have it with BYU, which joined the WCC this season after being a founding member of the Mountain West Conference. The 23rd-ranked Lady Cougars entered the Top 25 on Monday for the first time in five seasons.

4. Defense:
We will spend NO money on defense. My fellow Americans don’t care about Defense! We will put our money into  the pick n roll, running the flex, executing horns, drilling every option in the motion and dribble-drive game.  We will protect the shooter and reward those teams that put 100 points on the board. What were we put on this earth to do?  SCORE!

American University Eagles

Boston University Terriers

Bowling Green Falcons

Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens

Eastern Illinois Panthers

Florida A&M Rattlers

Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles

Fresno State Bulldogs

Green Bay Phoenix

Hampton Pirates

High Point Panthers

Idaho State Bengals

McNeese State Cowgirls

Marist Red Foxes

Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders

New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders

Princeton Tigers

St. Bonaventure Bonnies

San Diego State Aztecs

University of Texas-El Paso Miners

Wichita State Shockers

By the way, HUGE win for Jennifer Azzi’s San Francisco squad: they got their second win in the WCC by taking down St. Mary’s (who’ve defeated conference leaders BYU and Gonzaga) courtesy of Mel Khlok’s 32pts, six steals  a buzzer-beater by Rheina Ale. The Dons played the Gaels a couple of weeks ago and got stomped by 22.

Notre Dame women’s basketball: Riled-up Irish send Vols a message
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Notre Dame crushes Lady Vols, 72-44‎

Diggins leads Irish women to rout of Tennessee‎

Women’s Basketball: Volunteers worked‎

Sky’s now the limit for Irish

Vols fall to Notre Dame by 28 in lowest-scoring game in modern Tennessee history

Notre Dame women throttle Tennessee

John Adams: Lady Vols balance bad offense with bad defense

Lady Vols pummeled by Irish