WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue guard Beth Jones recently was sitting in front of the television and startled herself as if coming out of a trance.

	Erika Valek is a "prototype point guard with eyes on the sides and the back of her head."

"Good Lord,'' she thought, "what am I watching?''

It was a Lifetime movie. You know, the fruitcake dad was stealing the kids or the fruitcake mom was stealing the kids or the fruitcake stranger was stealing the kids ...

Jones knew just whom to blame for this sad development.

"Lindsey loves those movies,'' said Jones, a CNN and Fox News devotee who generally prefers real world to reel world. "It shows she's rubbed off on me a little bit.''

That would be fellow junior Lindsey Hicks, self-described as "Beth's total opposite.'' And yet, still a good buddy. Jones, Hicks and Erika Valek all share a five-bedroom house, along with two Purdue volleyball players.

Jones describes her teammates/roommates Valek and Hicks as "psycho.''

"But not in a bad way,'' she said. "They're crazy.''

Uh, yeah ...

"No, I mean it good. They like to have a lot of fun. They're always giving me a hard time about everything. I probably like to have my own space a little more than they do. Lindsey, especially, knows that, so she's always trying to do something to bother me.''

And Valek?

"We find that during the season, we don't do a lot of cooking. Erika, though, is probably the best cook. But ... not long ago, she made some tuna and ketchup combination that we all about died from.''

OK, so even a top-notch point guard can screw up a dish ... ka-ching!

But seriously, folks, here's a big ingredient (har-har) to Purdue's 9-1 season: the Boilermakers blend well with each other. The four juniors -- Jones, Valek, Hicks and all-America candidate Shereka Wright -- and senior Mary Jo Noon are sheparding the underclassmen: a sophomore and six freshmen.

The current Boiler leaders learned from Katie Douglas and Camille Cooper, who were the leaders on Purdue's 2001 NCAA runner-up team. And Douglas and Cooper had learned from Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs, the leaders on Purdue's 1999 NCAA title team.

Bringing up baby

You've heard of those tough practices where players end up losing their lunch? Well, Purdue's had a few practices this season where it's the coach who has been sick. For good reason, though. Kristy Curry and her husband and assistant coach, Kelly Curry, are expecting their second child in late May. Their first, daughter Kelsey, turned 2 in August. That pregnancy didn't make mom very sick at all. This one has been a bit more trying. "But maybe it's been the stress, being in-season this time,'' Curry said. "Everyone's been so supportive, though. Kelly, the kids, my staff, the administration. I have a lot of help.'' Curry has talked to several other coaches with more than one youngster, including Arizona State's Charli Turner Thorne, Iowa's Lisa Bluder, Baylor's Kim Mulkey-Robertson and Oklahoma's Sherri Coale. "I remember that in the first year when I had Kelsey, I felt like I wasn't doing anything well at times,'' Curry said. "But you learn to take care of both things. And I think it's good for players to see that you can do both, be successful professionally and have a family if you want to.'' Little Curry No. 2 is sure to follow in Big Sister's footsteps as a team favorite. "I think Kelsey could say the names of all the players about the same time she could say mine,'' Curry said, laughing. "She's made every trip with us. The only problem is, I've got to watch her on flights to make sure she doesn't eat too much and get sick. They're always giving her food.'' Not surprisingly, Kelsey at 28 months old already has begun her coaching career, and recently at a workout had advice for the post players, including senior Mary Jo Noon. "She's up in the second row, and she's yelling, 'Rebound, big girls, rebound!' '' Curry said. "And then she says, 'Run, Mary Jo, run!' ''

They've got a championship-mentality baton to pass on at Purdue, and their experience is what could make the difference in a difficult-as-usual Big Ten season.

That will begin Jan. 6 at Michigan State. But before that, the Boilers play host to Tulane on Thursday and travel to Notre Dame on Saturday.

"It's pretty treacherous, isn't it?'' Purdue coach Kristy Curry said. "But, you know, I had some T-shirts made; they say, 'Let's have big fun.' That's what I want them to keep in mind. The expectations are high, but we also want to have fun playing.''

Purdue's only real non-fun game thus far was its loss, 83-82 in overtime at UCSB on Dec. 17. What did the Boilers learn from that?

"When you're up on a team, you've got to put them away,'' Wright said. "We really do struggle with that at times. We have to say, 'OK, we're going to finish you off.'

"It's up to the older kids to teach the young kids that. Especially when it comes to the Big Ten, because we've won it back-to-back, and everybody is coming out for us.''

Purdue went 14-2 in 2001 and 13-3 last season in league play. Wright, a 5-foot-10 forward, averaged 9.9 points her freshman season and 19.0 as a sophomore. This season, she's averaging 20.1 points and 7.0 rebounds, and is one of the Big Ten's "Big Three'' junior superstars, along with Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen and Penn State's Kelly Mazzante.

"I think it is fun,'' Wright said of having individual as well as team rivalries. "People are watching to see how the three juniors do against each other. It's good for the conference.''

Incidentally, while Whalen and Mazzante both play in their home states, Wright doesn't exactly have a place that's "home'' the same way. Growing up in an Army family, she lived in Kansas, Germany, Oklahoma and Texas (where she went to high school) before coming to Indiana and Purdue.

Her parents, Walter and Mary Wright, now live in St. Louis, where Walter is in charge of an ROTC program. Her dad getting that position in Missouri was part of the reason Wright chose Purdue, which is about 4½ hours away and a trip her parents now probably could make in their sleep.

"I liked being an Army brat; it was good for me,'' Wright said. "You have to adapt a lot, meet new friends. It can be hard sometimes. But it meant I grew up around diverse people, and I'm grateful because I learned a lot that way.''

Jones said her favorite part of playing with Wright is "just getting her the ball.''

"She's going to score,'' Jones said. "She's such a multi-dimensional player and a boost for our team.''

Curry says Wright "is as good off the dribble as anyone I've ever coached. And her work ethic is outstanding.''

Curry's concern is getting Wright enough help on offense. The pieces certainly are there. Noon and Valek both average 11.9 points, Jones 11.3. The fifth starter, Hicks, is at 6.2.

Valek is the prototype point guard with eyes on the sides and the back of her head. Noon, at 6-5, is an old-fashioned "just try to move me'' low-block post player.

Jones and Hicks, reserves their first two years, now get their turn as starters. They played on the same AAU team and faced each other in high school in Ohio. Hicks acknowledges that her Lebanon High team lost by 50 points in two meetings with Jones' powerhouse Mason High. Not that Jones ever brings that up. Well, at least not every day.

The 6-1 Hicks played guard in high school, and she has become more comfortable adjusting to the physical pounding involved in Division I post play. Jones is Purdue's top 3-point threat, with 26 thus far.

(Interesting aside: About a week ago, I wrote that in the time I've covered basketball, I couldn't remember hearing a player say she was a feminist. Then, along came Jones. A political-science major who might want to run for office someday, she said while she leans conservative, "I'd consider myself a feminist. ... I'm actually writing a research paper with one of my professors on women and politics. It's a comparative study of the women and men in the 107th Congress and what are the typical traits and characteristics of both and how that translates into policy or legislation they supported.'' Asked whom on the team she can chat politics with, Jones smiled wryly. Said Hicks, "It's horrible. She even watches CSPAN.'')

Among the underclassmen, sophomore forward Emily Heikes and freshman guard Sharika Webb have been getting the most playing time.

(Interesting aside No. 2: When Curry yells, "Sharika!'' does "Shereka'' turn around? Or vice versa? "I'd always called Shereka 'Reek.' Then Sharika comes, and I find out everybody back home calls her 'Reek,' too,'' Curry said. "So I decided, one of you is Senior (Shereka) and the other is Junior (Sharika). I'm in such a habit of saying 'Reek,' I still do that, too. But Junior knows that 'Reek' is not her.'' ... All of which might mean that if you say Purdue reeks, it's not an insult.)

There would have been one other member of the Boilers' junior class, 6-3 post Shalicia Hurns. She averaged 9.3 points her freshman season but was suspended by Curry the following summer after some legal problems and then left Purdue. Provided her fall-semester grades work out, Hurns is supposed to be eligible to play for Rutgers any day now.

Hurns' departure was difficult for Wright, who was her roommate and friend. But Wright and the other Boilers have bonded and of course would like to make the program's fourth trip to the Final Four.

Wright, Hicks, Jones and Noon all saw action at the event in St. Louis in 2001. Valek didn't, having torn her ACL in the NCAA Sweet 16 game that year. Noon had torn hers that January -- too late to redshirt -- but still came back to get a little playing time in the Final Four.

The core group knows just what it's about to get into with Big Ten play.

"I think the thing that concerns me the most is consistency,'' Curry said. "We're going to have to find balance around Shereka. And our freshmen have got to produce more.

"Night in and night out, this team knows they have a target on their backs, but they welcome that. It tends to bring out the best in people.''

Mechelle Voepel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com's women's basketball coverage. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.