They are proud programs, each with a rich history of success. Rutgers went to the Final Four as recently as 2000. Kansas made nine straight NCAA tournament appearances from 1992 through 2000.

	C. Vivian Stringer led Rutgers to the Final Four in 2000, but a trip to the Big Dance in 2002 seems doubtful.

Their coaches are pioneers. They fought the early battles for recognition and acceptance long before women's basketball achieved the popularity it enjoys today.

But this season, C. Vivian Stringer at Rutgers and Marian Washington at Kansas are watching in frustration as their teams stumble to one loss after another.

Rutgers, coming off four straight NCAA Tournament trips, is 7-15 overall and 4-6 in the Big East. It has been even worse at Kansas, which is 0-12 in the Big 12 and 5-20 overall.

At Rutgers, the problem is youth and numbers. Stringer has used only nine players and five are freshmen, all of whom have started at one time or another. With freshman guard Chelsea Newton out with a broken finger, the roster is down to eight.

"We're having one heck of a mess," Stringer said. "Sometimes we do things offensively that I swear I don't even recognize. They don't, either. They look at the film the next day and it's like, 'Dang, what were we doing there?' "

Rutgers' problems have been compounded by the absence of guard Cappie Pondexter, a partial qualifier who is ineligible this season. Pondexter was Parade magazine's national high school player of the year last season.

How much difference would she have made?

"That's an awful lot of burden to put on a freshman," said Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who coached Pondexter in the junior world championships last summer. "I do know when I was coaching her, she was the kind of kid who would go into games at times and have a huge impact.

"Whether or not that's the difference Rutgers is missing, I don't know. But anytime you have a player like Cappie not available, obviously that means you're not as good a team as you would be otherwise."

Kansas has plenty of experienced players. The Jayhawks just can't shoot.

In all 12 of their conference games, the Jayhawks have failed to score 60 points. They were beaten at home by Colorado 70-35 and shot 28.6 percent in a 75-50 loss to Iowa State on Wednesday night before a 69-57 loss to Missouri on Saturday. KU is shooting just 39.5 percent for the season.

Summitt closing in on Conradt
Tennessee's Pat Summitt is closing in on Jody Conradt of Texas for the lead in career coaching victories.

Summitt's record improved to 778-155 when Tennessee beat Arkansas 93-65 on Thursday night. Conradt's victory total stands at 781 after beating Oklahoma State on Saturday as the Longhorns snapped a four-game losing streak.

Tennessee plays at Georgia on Sunday, then Summitt and Conradt go head-to-head when Texas plays at Tennessee on Tuesday.

Midseason trends
A midseason report from the NCAA shows that women's teams are shooting more 3-pointers than last season.

Teams are putting up an average of 14.7 shots from behind the arc this season. That compares with 13.8 at midseason a year ago and 14 for the entire season.

The shooting percentage on 3-pointers is exactly the same as last season -- .322. Overall field-goal percentage is down slightly, from .412 to .409. Scoring also is down, from 67.6 points at midseason last year to 66.9 now.

The Big 12 is highest scoring league, with teams averaging 73.74 points a game. Southeastern Conference teams are right behind at 73.55 points and the Big Ten is third at 71.59.

Rare sweep
One of the most challenging tasks for a Missouri Valley Conference team is to win both games of the road trip to Wichita State and Southwest Missouri State.

Before this season, it had been done only twice -- by Illinois State in 1997 and Drake in 1998. Last weekend, two teams did it.

Drake won at Wichita State and beat Southwest Missouri State two days later before a sellout crowd on the night SMS retired Jackie Stiles' jersey. Creighton started its trip with a victory at SMS, then beat Wichita State.

Creighton, by the way, has been the surprise team of the league. The young Lady Jays -- freshmen and sophomores make up two-thirds of the roster -- were 11-1 in the conference heading into the weekend. They had a two-game lead over Drake, the unanimous preseason choice to win the league.