Once the NCAA Tournament arrives, some says it's the start of a "second" season.

	The Dish says take advantage of finally being able to catch LaToya Thomas on TV.

Some even argue that everything that happened up to this point doesn't matter, because the only thing that's really important is winning six more games.

But if you're looking to get on that magical roll, it helps to already be riding some momentum. Several of this year's NCAA Tournament teams qualify.

Since Villanova beat Connecticut in the Big East tournament final, the nation's longest winning streak now belongs to Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters have won 27 consecutive games.

Although La. Tech opened the season with a 2-2 start, it hasn't lost since falling to Tennessee 60-35 on Dec. 4, 2002.

A look at the handful of other teams that have won at least 10 straight games entering the NCAA Tournament, including another two that haven't lost since 2003 rolled in:

TEAM				WIN STREAK
Austin Peay			22 games
Liberty				22 games
Harvard				16 games
Western Kentucky		14 games
Texas				13 games
Holy Cross			12 games
Duke				11 games
UW-Green Bay			11 games
Georgia State			10 games
Old Dominion			10 games

The Lady Techsters, in fact, have won 13 straight games at Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La.

But that's hardly the country's most impressive homecourt winning streak, especially among NCAA Tournament teams who are hosting sub-regionals. And the streaks put a new spin on having "homecourt advantage."

Although UConn's NCAA Division I record 70-game winning streak came to an end, the Huskies still own the longest homecourt win streak at 61 games. And it would take the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history for 16th-seeded and first-time tournament participant Boston University (16-14) to end it. No. 8 seed Michigan State or ninth-seeded TCU are still long shots to snap UConn's streak on Tuesday.

Stanford holds the second-longest streak, winning 25 home games. The Cardinal went 14-0 at home this season, and sport an all-time record of 326-76 at Maples Pavilion. Stanford hasn't lost at home since Dec. 16, 2001, and hasn't lost more than two games in a season in 14 of the past 16 years. The Cardinal open against 14th-seed Western Michigan. If Stanford survives that game, and a second-round contest with either Minnesota or Tulane, the Cardinal then advance to the West Regional, which will be played at ... Maples Pavilion.

Kansas State, which is hosting a sub-regional in the East Region, went 18-0 at Bramlage Coliseum this season. The third-seeded Wildcats, who did not lose back-to-back games this season, have won 21 straight games at home.

Fourth-seeded Penn State, hosting a sub-regional in the Mideast, has won 18 straight at Bryce Jordan Center. And the Mideast's top seed, Tennessee, has won 16 consecutive home games dating back to a loss to Texas on Feb. 12, 2002.

Of course, the most impressive home winning streak of all might belong to the Lady Vols. Tennessee is 40-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament games at home. The Lady Vols, who like Stanford will host the regional semifinals and final, haven't lost a home game in the postseason since 1979 against Old Dominion in the AIAW tournament.

No doubting Thomas
Over the past four years, Mississippi State hasn't found itself on national TV very often, which is a shame because we've all been deprived of seeing senior forward LaToya Thomas. With that in mind, everyone should take advantage of ESPN2's whiparound coverage at 9 p.m. ET Saturday to get a glimpse of Thomas and the Lady Bulldogs, who open against Manhattan.

Thomas, a three-time Kodak All-American who has notched 46 career double-doubles, is the first player to lead the SEC in scoring for four straight seasons. And only Chamique Holdsclaw posted better career stats in the SEC. However, if the Lady Bulldogs can win their first couple games (second-round foe will be New Mexico or Miami, in Albuquerque, N.M.), and Thomas continues her high-scoring ways (25.6 ppg), she has a chance to top Holdsclaw's SEC record for career points. The former Tennessee star -- often regarded as the best player in women's college basketball history -- netted 3,025 points during her time in Knoxville.

Thomas, who has scored 2,930 points, needs 95 to tie Holdsclaw, who also is the all-time scoring leader in NCAA Tournament history, scoring 479 points in 22 games.

	Chantelle Anderson and fourth-seeded Vanderbilt are 21-9 this season.

Centers of attention
Chantelle Anderson can hold her own in the paint. After all, it was just a year ago when the Vanderbilt center even got a bit hostile with good friend Michelle Snow of Tennessee during an SEC matchup. And it's not very often that the 6-foot-6 Commodore is smaller than her opponent.

But that'll be the case when fourth-seeded Vanderbilt opens against No. 13 seed Liberty in a first-round game in the East. The matchup has to be one of the most intriguing of the first round.

The Flames' Meribeth Anderson (formerly Feenstra) is a 6-foot-7 senior who has blocked a Big South career record 233 shots, and is averaging 4.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 12.2 minutes this season. Katie Feenstra, a 6-8 sophomore who replaced her older sister in the starting lineup earlier this season, leads Liberty in scoring (15.4 points), rebounding (9.0) and blocks (68).

The sisters no doubt will team up to try and shut down Anderson, who could become Vanderbilt's career scoring leader this weekend and already has scored the second-most points by any Commodore, male or female. But past NCAA Tournament foes have found that to be one, uh, tall task.

Anderson, regarded as one of the top centers in the nation, is averaging a team-high 18.2 points, shooting 63.9 percent from the field and also tallying 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. And in recent years, Anderson has come up big in March. As a freshman, she averaged 24 points while shooting 76.9 percent in two games. As a sophomore, Anderson averaged 22 points and seven rebounds on 67.3 percent shooting, earning a spot on the Midwest all-tournament team. Last season, she was the region's Most Outstanding Player after averaging 24.8 points and 10.5 rebounds over four games, totaling nine blocked shots and three double-doubles (which included a 35-point, 12-rebound performance against Tennessee).

	Lawson

Lawson's last chance
Kara Lawson already has said she and her teammates want to send Mickie DeMoss off with another NCAA title. DeMoss, Tennessee's associate head coach, has been named coach at Kentucky, although she will remain on the Lady Vols' bench throughout the NCAA Tournament and as long as they keep winning.

But it's not like Lawson and Co. needed any extra motivation. Although the senior has been part of two Lady Vols' appearances in the Final Four (2000, '02), she and Gwen Jackson could become the second straight Tennessee class to graduate without an NCAA title.

Favorite? Team nobody
Last season, Connecticut was the overwhelming favorite to win the NCAA title. Heck, 74 percent of users who entered our Women's Tournament Challenge correctly picked the Huskies as the '02 champ.

This season, however, a lot of experts and coaches feel the field is wide open.

"I think, for the first time in women's basketball, there is not a clear cut favorite to win it all," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. "You could poll the country and Duke and UConn would be the top two teams favored to play for the championship. However ... there are probably eight, nine, maybe even 10 teams that have a good shot at getting to Atlanta."

And for the record, the majority of users are sticking with UConn to win it all. Of about 48,000 entries in this season's Women's Tournament Challenge, 61 percent (29,350 brackets) picked the Huskies to win their second straight national championship. Duke is running as the second-most picked favorite at 20 percent (9,614 brackets), followed by Tennessee (7.4 percent, 3,574 users), LSU (2.5 percent, 1,198) and Texas (1.5 percent, 716).

By the numbers