When they take to the court tonight looking to lead their teams to the Final Four, they will do so as the closest of friends.

However, this was most certainly not always the case for UConn's Moriah Jefferson and Jordan Jones of Texas A&M.

"I went after a loose ball and dove for the ball," .Jones said. "She dove on top of me and I was on my knees and she kind of stepped over me. After that we kind of had this little beef between us. After that I joined the team that she was playing on. She said 'why is this girl I was playing against playing with me now.' Right after that we just connected and stayed at each other's house all the time, it was great."

So just how close are the former teammates with the DFW Elite AAU powerhouse program?

"Me and Mo, it is not even a friendship anymore, she is like my sister. I have a key to her house, she has a key to my house." 

They are also both still inspired by the memory of the DFW Elite's Marques Jackson, who passed away in April of 2010 at the age of 46 after suffering a heart attack.

So does Jefferson think of Jackson often?

"Every day, especially before every game I think about him," Jefferson said..

She is not alone.

"His spirit definitely lives in side of all of us," Jones said. "In the summer when we won Nike Nationals for him, he still resides in all of us. Moriah thinks about him, I think about him, Chelsea she thinks about him because he was a great guy and he helped develop all of us, we just think of him all the time.

"I just love the fact that the court will be filled with DFW players, DFW alumni and no matter what team advances, Coach Jackson will advance with them and it is great feeling.

That helps me a lot. Those players are just warriors, they don't care if it is practice, if it is a pick-up game, they want to win. I think it was that determination and that heart and they are all great point guards. They all are from the same (program) but they all from the same area and we all worked together and became a great unit.

Moriah, we always talked about the recruiting process and how we wanted to go to the same school but once UConn offeed her, she knew she wanted to get out of Texas. She had been in Texas all of her life and she wanted to go to program that would test her and make her greater and UConn was perfect for her.