Normally, the day before the regular-season games between UConn and Rutgers are events before the event.

Usually there will be conference calls with both coaches with at least one of the Rutgers media contingent managing to get under the skin of UConn coach Geno Auriemma. Meanwhile the Connecticut media will be left to wait for an hour, maybe an hour and a half for Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer to get on the conference call for perhaps five or 10 minutes.

However, on Monday things were uncharacteristically hype free. I guess that's what happens when one of the teams (hint: it's not UConn) already has seven losses.

While there may not be as much buzz surrounding the game from the media end of things, the UConn staff has been stressing to their players not to take Rutgers for granted. The Scarlet Knights are still a talented group capable of taking down the Huskies, something they did a year ago when UConn had the identical 21-0 record as it does now. Of course that game was in Piscataway, N.J. and not in Hartford.

So if the Rutgers game was not the dominant topic of conversation, what was said or done on Monday at Gampel Pavilion?

Perhaps the most intriguing part of practice was seeing Tiffany Hayes running the point. That was something new. She looked pretty good at times and understandably looked out of place at other times. Maybe it's just me, but the move to have Hayes play some point seems to be an indication that the staff is looking for other options in case Lorin Dixon doesn't get her act together. I addressed the issue with Lorin in my advance to the Rutgers game because it seems to me that she has begun to plateau just as she did last season after a promising start to her time as UConn's starting point guard as a freshman. Space restraints forced me to leave some stuff out of the story and one topic I didn't get into with the print edition story is whether Dixon's pride is hurt when opposing teams absolutely ignore her when UConn is in its half-court offense.

"It makes you feel like we are not even looking at you, just go ahead and shoot," Dixon said. "That is something I have to work on so people can't do that and look to score rather than always look to pass the ball and be a non factor (on offense) out there. It does hurt my pride but I have to work during practice, before practice so people can't do that."

Speaking of practice, junior forward Meghan Gardler may have the best practice I have seen her have. She was knocking down shots, grabbing rebounds, forcing turnovers.

Some tid bits following practice.

Kalana Greene said the busy schedule with flights every weekend has not left her the time to ponder whether she will apply for a fifth year of eligibility. With UConn not flying again after returning from Marquette on Saturday night/Sunday morning, she will begin to give that decision some serious thoughts and a decision could come in the next couple of weeks.

Greene, a big Steelers fan, said she thought quarterback Ben Roethlisberger should have been the Super Bowl MVP instead of receiver Santonio Holmes.

Renee Montgomery is leaving a couple of tickets for former Rutgers running back Ray Rice. They two have become good friends and Montgomery became a Baltimore Ravens fan once the Ravens drafted Rice in 2008. Montgomery said she believes Rice will be rooting for UConn. Not sure how that will go over in Piscataway.

The first Hayes heard of being named the Big East Freshman of the Week came from the media after practice. "Oh, that's nice" was her response.

There were a couple of Nike representatives at Gampel to show off their product to the UConn team. You could hear the shrieks coming from the UConn locker room. Although I wasn't in the room, I can only assume they got a kick out of sampling the shoes they could be wearing if they get to the Final Four.

Last I heard, the Connecticut Sun and New York Liberty are the only WNBA teams sending representatives to the game.

Now for some non-UConn thoughts:
Wouldn't Tennessee/Rutgers be one heck of a postseason WNIT championship game?

Oklahoma's Courtney Paris had her double-double streak end at 112 games. Something tells me she isn't complaining after her 9 points and 12 rebounds helped Oklahoma beat Tennessee 80-70. I didn't get back home after attending practice and writing my advance until the game was over, but it looked like two of the nation's freshmen came up big. Shekinna Stricklen led Tennessee with 21 points and five steals while Whitney Hand was Oklahoma's leading scorer with 20 points. Not only did the loss drop Tennessee to 16-5 but Vicki Baugh was hurt in the game and left the court in a wheelchair. She has had previous knee issues but since I didn't see the play in question, I won't make any guesses to the severity of the injury.

Sacred Heart continued to roll through the Northeast Conference, beating St. Francis (N.Y.) 75-44 to improve to 11-0 in the conference. It isn't a stretch to think that there could be four Connecticut teams to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Somehow I think UConn will make it. Sacred Heart is the team to beat in the NEC while Hartford (America East) and Fairfield (Metro Atlantic) currently are second in their respective conferences. Yale's hopes of earning the Ivy League bid do not look good as the Bulldogs are 2-2 in the Ivy, 1 1/2 games behind Dartmouth (two behind in the loss column). Yale hosts Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend and would fall a minimum of three games behind the Big Green with a loss which might be all she wrote for the Bulldogs' Ivy League championship hopes.