Get ready for a women's basketball season full of stars so well known they're almost like family.

	Jackie Stiles of SMS led the nation in scoring in 1999-2000 with a 27.8 average.

All those juniors who dominated the All-America and all-conference voting last season are back as seniors because, unlike the men's game, the women don't leave early for the pros. They stay around long enough for fans to get to know them, long enough to develop their skills.

Heck, there are some fans at Georgia who can even tell the Miller twins apart. That would be Kelly and Coco, part of a loaded senior class.

Shea Ralph -- yes, she's still playing -- is back at defending national champion Connecticut. So is Svetlana Abrosimova, who played for Russia in the Sydney Olympics. Both were first-team All-Americans.

Tennessee, which lost to UConn in the national championship game, has its talented trio for one more season: national player of the year Tamika Catchings, Semeka Randall and Kristen Clement. Notre Dame still has 6-foot-5 Ruth Riley roaming the middle.

Purdue gets Katie Douglas for another season, Jackie Stiles will defend her national scoring title at Southwest Missouri State, gritty point guard Tasha Pointer will cause more problems for Rutgers opponents, and Big 12 teams still must find a way to stop Iowa State's Megan Taylor.

"In our game it's still about following the career of a player," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. "Fans are able to follow somebody for four years. You feel like you get to know them and you feel like they're part of the fabric of the university.

"It creates an awful lot of excitement as it gets to their senior year. What kind of year are they going to have? Where are they going to go afterward? How are you going to replace them? I think we're very fortunate in that respect."

As much as fans like seeing veteran players, coaches like them even more.

"It gives you great experience on the court," Auriemma said. "That's invaluable. It must be really, really difficult when your roster's turning over as quickly as it does sometimes on the men's side. You're almost forced into a situation where you have to start recruiting the replacement the day you sign them."

Another prominent figure who returned had not planned on it. Leon Barmore retired as Louisiana Tech's coach last March, then came back 17 days later when the university said it couldn't find a suitable replacement.

"I'm not back for a temporary few minutes," said the 56-year-old Barmore, who's winning percentage of .868 is the nation's best. "I'm here as long as my health will hold out."

Debbie Ryan is back on the bench for her 24th year at Virginia after doctors removed a malignant tumor from a pancreatic duct in August. Ryan stayed home during the September recruiting period but was running the team when practice started Oct. 14.

With so many of the same players around, look for the old standbys when the berths for the Final Four in St. Louis are decided.

With almost everyone back, plus a highly regarded recruiting class headed by Californian Diana Taurasi, Connecticut has everything it needs to become the third women's team to repeat as NCAA champion.

"UConn is unbelievable. They will be hard to beat," Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. "But after about the top five, you could pick anybody. It will be an interesting year. There's going to be a lot of fluctuation in the polls from five to 25."

Rutgers, a Final Four team last season, and Notre Dame will be Connecticut's top challengers in the Big East. Tennessee and Georgia have Final Four potential, and strong recruiting classes could help lead Purdue and Duke deep into March.

Yet with all the familiarity across the country, there's also change.

One star who did not return was second-team All-American Erin Buescher of UC Santa Barbara. In a surprising development, Buescher decided to spend her senior year at The Master's College, a Christian school in Santa Clarita, Calif.

Virginia Tech moved from the Atlantic 10 to the Big East and coaching changes swept through the Big Ten, where Lisa Bluder took over for Angie Lee at Iowa, Kathi Bennett replaced Jim Izard at Indiana and Joanne P. McCallie succeeded Karen Langeland at Michigan State.

Kim Mulkey-Robertson, a former Louisiana Tech assistant who was expected to succeed Barmore, instead replaced Sonja Hogg at Baylor. Caren Horstmeyer replaces Marianne Stanley at Cal and, in one of the most intriguing moves, Temple hired Philadelphia native Dawn Staley, who helped the United States win the gold medal in Sydney.

The longtime nemesis of female athletes, the torn ACL, could alter the fortunes of several teams. Victims include Oregon's Shaquala Williams, Penn State's Chrissy Falcone, Louisiana Tech's Catrina Frierson and Maryland's Vicki Brick. Xavier lost starting point guard Amy Waugh to a ruptured Achilles' tendon.

North Carolina star Nikki Teasley is taking a season off because of a stress-related illness and teammate Jackie Higgins left school to pursue an international career.

But the game goes on, and some early matchups of contenders should whet everyone's appetite for St. Louis.

Purdue, Virginia and Louisiana Tech are in the preseason NIT, which starts Nov. 10, and Georgia plays Connecticut and Old Dominion meets 2000 Final Four participant Penn State at the Tip-Off Classic in Hartford, Conn., on Nov. 12.

Georgia joins Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Wisconsin in the Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge at Wisconsin, beginning Nov. 22.

Tennessee again plays Connecticut twice in the regular season. The Lady Vols also have games against Louisiana Tech, Stanford and Rutgers, and they play Arizona State, outdoors, at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix.