Just call the theme of this entry the Yogi Berra "it feels like deja vu all over again."

First, if it seems as if a UConn signee has played in every McDonald's All-American game that's because that is the deal.

In the inaugural game in 2002, UConn commits Wilnett Crockett, Gillian Goring (who never actually played a game for the Huskies), Ann Strother, Barbara Turner and Nicole Wolff all suited up. Liz Sherwood was UConn's representative (although Brittany Hunter did play in the game). In '04 it was Charde Houston and Mel Thomas getting invites. Renee Montgomery (2005), Tina Charles and Kaili McLaren (2006), Lorin Dixon and Maya Moore (2007) and Tiffany Hayes last year along with the still trying to find herself Elena Delle Donne. Now it is Kelly Faris' turn.

Before I get to my Big East-related tangent or some say it could be classified as a rant, I would say the most memorable part of Wednesday night's game outside of referee Wesley Dean admonishing the mild-mannered Jacquie Fernandes when she voiced her displeasure over the lack of a foul call was the attitude and spunk of the breast cancer survivors who took part in the contents held during the television timeouts. The UConn marketing staff might want to take note because if ever I saw an idea worth stealing, that was the one. If you weren't inspired watching those women taking part in the "Dress Like a Friar" or various shooting competitions, there's something wrong.

Now back to the Big East. My take on this will not be popular (what else is new) but do not include me in on a Big East love fest this season. Each February, like clockwork, the conference will hold its final teleconference with the coaches and each year the most popular topic is exactly the same "who is going to be the conference player of the year." Yeah, like they are going to tell us who they are going to vote for. All the questions do is allow the conference's coaches to wax poetic about the great Big East. This year was no different.

Maybe I'm way off here, but if the Big East is go darn great than why can't UConn get at least one competitive game from the top women's basketball league in America? I posed this question to UConn coach Geno Auriemma a couple weeks back that if the Big East is supposed to be the top conference why it is that his starting five is combining for more points than half of the conference. Updating that thought process, if you combined the points scored by Maya Moore, Renee Montgomery, Tina Charles, Kalana Greene (even with her two scoreless games on consecutive Wednesdays) and Tiffany Hayes, they would rank ahead of every conference team except Louisville in conference games. I put Auriemma in a tough spot by asking him if his team was that good or was the rest of the conference not living up to their end of the bargain. It's really a no-win situation for Auriemma since if he answers the question honestly, he will upset the Big East bigwigs (although that concept is nothing new to Auriemma). I thought he handled it about as well as could be expected.

"I think it is style of play, I didn't realize that we are in that situation but it is style of play. It is wins and losses, it is not points per game. I thought we had a great non-conference record - the teams in our league - and the team that is in last place (West Virginia) beat the team that is in second place (Louisville). I don't know how many conferences that happens in. There are difficult styles of play. This league is so defensive orientated in so many ways that it is difficult to put up big numbers night in and night out. I know there are other leagues were there is a lot of scoring going and as a result, those teams sometimes struggle in the NCAA tournament but this conference is built on defense for the most part."

Yet against this defensive-orientated conference, UConn's average margin of victory is 31.5 points. I do find it curious that the teams which actually decided to play against UConn (Georgetown and St. John's) were picked to finish 11th and 13th respectively in the conference in a preseason balloting of the coaches while Louisville (picked third), Pittsburgh (picked fifth) and Syracuse (picked sixth) lost to the Huskies by 28, 53 and 54 points. Of course, it is not only Big East frontrunners who have failed miserably to stay with the Huskies since Oklahoma lost 106-78 and North Carolina fell 88-58 to UConn. Hey, maybe UConn is just that good. I guess we will find out with postseason play fast approaching.

Auriemma did manage to crack me up after Wednesday's demolition of Providence by accident when he began his campaigning for Hayes to be the Big East Freshman of the Year.

"There are freshmen in the league that I haven’t seen and maybe there’s someone I’ve missed," Auriemma said. "But I haven’t seen one that does more things than Tiffany has."

Oh really Geno? How's the line 11 of 17 from the floor, 5 of 6 from the free-throw line, 27 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two turnovers in 32 minutes. That was what former Trinity Catholic star and current St. John's freshman Da'Shena Stevens dropped on the Huskies. This wasn't one of these, let's pile up the stats when all of UConn's starters were on the bench type of games either. Hayes may win the Big East Freshman of the Year award. After all, in conference games she is second in scoring, second in assists, third in steals and first in 3-pointers among conference freshmen but Stevens certainly belongs in the discussion since she is the top scoring and rebounding rookie in the conference if you count all the games. In conference only competition, she is first in scoring, third in rebounding, fourth in assists, third in steals and fourth in blocks. Now Auriemma has forgotten more about basketball than I will ever know but I would say that you could make an argument that Stevens does as many things for her team as Hayes does for hers.