After a crisp two-hour practice at Gampel Pavilion Friday afternoon, UConn sophomore guard Tiffany Hayes proclaimed herself good to go for tomorrow's game against North Carolina.

Hayes sprained her left ankle 2:30 into Thursday's win over Cincinnati. The vision of her being helped off the court and the considerable swelling of the ankle after the game made Hayes' status for the Carolina game a bit iffy.

But Hayes was able to practice without restriction.

"No question at all, I am playing," Hayes told reporters from the Register, Connecticut Post, Waterbury Republican-American and Manchester Journal Inquirer after practice.

Hayes admits that she has had a history of sprained ankle but the pain she felt after stepping on the foot of a Cincinnati player was pretty intense.

"It was at the top but I don't think it was one of the worst ones I had," Hayes said. "I was pretty relieved. I pretty much knew once I was able to walk around after the game but it was nothing serious. It was a lot of pain that I was able to walk. I just had to suck it up and go through practice with it."

SERIES CONTINUING ON
While he didn't get into the specifics, UConn coach Geno Auriemma is going under the assumption that the North Carolina series is an ongoing deal since both he and North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell enjoy the Connecticut/UNC games.

Assuming that the previously reported home and home series with Baylor materializes, Auriemma said he doesn't expect any more ranked teams to be added to next year's schedule.

Currently nine of the teams in the Associated Press top 25 poll are slated to play UConn next season including Notre Dame, which will face the Huskies twice in the regular season. The 2010-11 schedule features Big East rivals Notre Dame and West Virginia as well as non-conference opponents Stanford, Baylor, North Carolina, Duke, Florida State, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech to give UConn a minimum of six games against current top 10 teams and 10 games against top 25 teams in the regular season.

There is a chance of another three-game tournament like the WBCA Classic but the details are still being worked out. With so many big hitters already on the schedule, look for a field resembling this year's event which included Clemson, Hofstra and Richmond.

Also, a trip to Europe is not being ruled out in the future but it will not happen this summer.

STOKES ON THE RADAR
A recruiting source confirmed that Kiah Stokes is hoping to make an unofficial visit to catch a UConn game either later this month or in February.

Stokes is a 6-foot-3 forward/center who is a junior at Linn Mar High School in Marion, Iowa. Stokes, the daughter of former NBA player Greg Stokes, set an Iowa sophomore record with 160 blocked shots. Stokes was a member of the U.S. Under-16 national team and averaged 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds.

UConn's talent scouts are obviously on the same page with those responsible for selecting the U-16 national team which won the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Of the nine members of the high school Class of 2011, UConn has been involved in the recruitment of Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (the first member of the Class of 2011 to commit to UConn), Ariel Massengale (who is coming to UConn for an unofficial visit on Saturday), Betnijah Laney, who has made a couple of trips to see UConn play, and Elizabeth Williams, who UConn is actively recruiting.