The half hour or so of practice that I watched at Gampel Pavilion Thursday afternoon turned into a showcase for freshman Tiffany Hayes, who managed more turnovers (8) than field goals (5) and didn't get off the bench in the second half on Monday against North Carolina until she was brought in during garbage time.

In 4 on 5 defensive drills, Hayes stole the ball on four straight possessions. Then when it went back to 5-on-5 full-court drills, Hayes calmly drilled a 3-pointer from the right corner and later hit a sweet layup straight down the lane.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma wasn't completely won over, however.

"If we played in our practice gear she'd be an All-American," Auriemma said.

When I headed over to speak to Tiffany, Auriemma said to me 'ask your fellow Florida girl (I lived in Miami my first two years out of high school) what it's like not to play.'

On a serious note, Auriemma knows he needs Hayes to give UConn consistent minutes off the bench and it will in interesting to see how her strong efforts in practice translates to the court.

There was some trash talk going on between UConn seniors Kalana Greene, a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and Renee Montgomery, a Baltimore Ravens supporter, when the two teams met in the AFC championship game on Sunday.

"She was like 'we just scored' and I said 'it doesn't matter,'" Greene said with a laugh. "After they stopped scoring, she didn't say anything else. She shut up real quick."

Greene had some fun at Montgomery's expense, even waving a Steelers' Terrible Towel in Montgomery's face.

"She’s got a little towel that she has," Montgomery said. "She’s twirling it around. I’m like 'get it out of my face."

There were some interesting spectators at practice at the University of New Haven team sat in on the festivities. The Chargers are 11-7 including a 6-7 record in the Northeast-10.