This year's NCAA Tournament could offer something rarely seen in women's basketball: true neutral courts in the first two rounds.

WISCONSIN JOB WATCH

Jane Albright's resignation at Wisconsin opens up an appealing coaching job that is sure to attract top-notch candidates. Though the Badgers have faltered in the last year and half, Albright showed it's possible to produce winning teams --Wisconsin made five NCAA Tournament appearances in the past eight years -- and attract big crowds. Two names already getting prominent mention as possible replacements are Kevin Borseth of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Lisa Stone of Drake. Wisconsin-Green Bay is ranked 22nd nationally and Stone, a Wisconsin native and formerly the coach at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, guided Drake to the final 16 in the NCAA Tournament last year. "There shouldn't be anyone else in the country considered for it other than those two,'' Wisconsin AAU president Keith Noll told the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. "If you can go to Green Bay and be in the Top 25, what would you be doing in Madison? "Lisa is a proven coach also. Both are excellent recruiters. If they (get) either one of those, I think they'll be fine.'' Other possible candidates include Wisconsin assistant Al Brown, who used to be on Pat Summitt's staff at Tennessee, and former Southwest Missouri State coach Cheryl Burnett, who has been out of coaching this season. Albright is finishing the season with the team. In its first game since her announcement, Wisconsin lost at No. 13 Minnesota 76-53 on Thursday.

The 16 sites for those games were chosen last summer, unlike previous years when they awarded to the 16 highest-seeded teams on Selection Sunday.

Most will have the host team playing. Connecticut, Tennessee, Stanford, Purdue, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Louisiana Tech are among those who will have games in their arenas and are certain to make the tournament.

But Oregon is one site and the Ducks, 12-14 heading into the weekend, would need to win the Pac-10 tournament to earn an NCAA berth. North Carolina State is another site where the host team has a losing record.

Old Dominion was awarded first- and second-round games, but the Lady Monarchs already have lost three times in the Colonial Athletic Association, a league they once dominated. They probably will have to win the conference tournament to make the NCAA field.

Purists would say the NCAA Tournament should always have neutral courts. But on the women's side, the NCAA has felt it needed to have teams playing at home to boost attendance.

So if the home team isn't playing, will those games draw? If New Mexico doesn't make the tournament, will the fans who have flocked to the Lobos' games -- they're averaging 10,540 -- show up to watch four outsiders?

That was a consideration in picking the sites, said Donna Noonan, the NCAA's vice president for the Division I women's basketball tournament.

"The committee felt it needed to spread these regionals across the county so if the home team didn't make it, a team from that area could be sent there,'' Noonan said. "The committee wouldn't do anything to compromise the seeding, but there are some things that could be done.''

Duke or North Carolina could easily be assigned to Raleigh as an "anchor'' team. Washington would be a possibility for the Oregon site. Colorado or Arizona could be sent to New Mexico to give that regional a more local flavor if needed.

Beyond that, Noonan said she was confident organizers at the 16 sites were working hard to promote the games.

"They want to do what's best for the game and the teams and the student-athletes. They want to have a good environment,'' she said.

"They're also looking to the future and the possibility of having events down the road. We'll assign those events to the people who do the best job with them.''

Scoring race
There's a good race going on for the national scoring title.

Chandi Jones of Houston and Molly Creamer of Bucknell began the week tied for first with averages of 27.4. And it's not just a two-person deal.

LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State was averaging 25.6 points and as the week got under way and Joceyln Penn of South Carolina had a 24.5 average. Kelly Mazzante of Penn State and Tiffany Webb of Wright State both started the week at 24.1.

A couple of poor games by the leaders combined with some big games by the others could turn things around.

Penn has produced games of 51, 50 and 45 points this season, and scored 35 against Kentucky on Thursday night. Webb put up 49 points on Butler and Thomas scored 42 against Tulsa.

The scoring race went down to the wire last year, when Mazzante led with a 24.9 average and Thomas was second at 24.6.

Koehn's able again
No. 5 Kansas State has received a big lift as it eyes postseason play. Laurie Koehn, the team's best outside shooter, is back.

Koehn, who averages 13.2 points, returned against Kansas on Wednesday night after missing seven straight games and 10 overall because of a sprained ankle.

The Wildcats' only loss in that stretch was at Iowa State, 74-69 on Jan. 29. Koehn tried to play in that game but lasted only five minutes.

Junior Amy Dutmer has been filling on for Koehn and drew praise from coach Deb Patterson for her effort.

"It's an exceptional thing to see because without Amy Dutmer's contributions, we wouldn't have had the success at this point in the season,'' Patterson said. "We needed her to step up and she has.''

Koehn showed no signs of rustiness against Kansas, making three 3-pointers to spark a second-half run.

"I can't describe how fun it is to be back,'' Koehn said.

Still perfect
While Connecticut remained the nation's only unbeaten team as the weekend began, several others were still perfect in conference play.

With a victory at Kentucky on Sunday, Tennessee would finish 14-0 in the SEC. Duke was 15-0 in the ACC, Louisiana Tech had 16-0 mark in the Western Athletic Conference and Maine was 13-0 in the America East.

Liberty took a 13-0 Big South record into its regular-season finale at Radford on Saturday, Harvard was 10-0 in the Ivy League and Austin Peay was 15-0 in the Ohio Valley with one game left.

And Connecticut? The Huskies already have clinched their 10th straight Big East regular-season title and were 14-0 in the league with two games to go.