The NCAA women's tournament kicks off on Friday and of course UConn's quest for an unprecedented fifth straight national title will be among the top story lines. However, UConn's fingerprints can be felt in other ways as Husky of Honor members Rebecca Lobo and Sue Bird will be prominently featured in ESPN's coverage of the event.

Lobo will continue in her role as studio analyst along with host Maria Taylor and former Georgia head coach Andy Landers.

Bird will join Lowell Galindo to call the games in the Waco subregional including Saturday's Baylor/Texas Southern and Cal/LSU games.

There will also be some familiar faces calling the games in the Storrs subregional with Eric Frede, who is the play by play announcer for the UConn games for SNY, and former San Antonio Stars head coach Dan Hughes who was a part of the announce team for the American Athletic Conference tournament..

Also, Jenn Hildreth and Steffi Sorensen are on the call for Saturday's Quinnipiac/Marquette first-round game.

ESPN is putting its No. 1 team on the Bridgeport regionals with Dave O'Brien being joined by Doris Burke, Kara Lawson and Holly Rowe.

Most of the broadcasters have been a part of ESPN's women's basketball coverage in the past. A couple of notable exceptions are Kaylee Hartung, a key member of ESPN's college football coverage and Molly McGrath, who in my opinion is emerging into one of the best and most versatile broadcasters employed by ESPN. Hartung will be working at the Oklahoma City regional while McGrath will be part of the announce team at the regional in Stockton, California.

Also, former Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault will be a part of the announce team for the subregional hosted by Notre Dame.