There are times when I wonder if it would make sense for somebody to be hired just to track Breanna Stewart's accomplishments this season.

Since that doesn't appear to be happening, I will try to pick up the slack in that department.

When UConn plays Prairie View A&M in the first round of the NCAA tournament at 8 p.m. tonight, she has a chance to move up a couple of UConn single-season lists.

With 121 free throws made, she is three behind Tina Charles for the No. 10 spot and four from Kerry Bascom. Her 669 points is currently ninth on the Huskies' single-season chart. Next up is teammate Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who scored 670 points last season and she needs just 31 points to join Maya Moore and Tina Charles as the only UConn players to score 700 points in a season.

But I haven't even gotten to the best part.

Stewart needs six blocked shots to join Rebecca Lobo and Kara Wolters as the only Huskies with 100 blocks in a season. Already with 107 assists, she will join Lobo as the only UConn players to hit triple figures in assists and blocked shots in the same season.

How rare is that accomplishment? Well, I went back through the statistical archives on the NCAA site and the stats are available dating back to the 2000-01 season and if Stewart reaches that plateau, that would bring the grand total of players who have more than 100 assists and blocks in the same season to one.. The closest player I saw was Western Illinois' Zane Teilane, who had 125 blocks and 95 assists during the 2005-06 season.

Here's what Stewart had to say about potentially hitting the 100 mark in both categories.

"I think they both mean a lot," Stewart said. "Assists show that you are looking for your teammates and trying to be unselfish. With blocks, you are trying to be a force in the paint or when people try to shoot."

Stewart has improved in so many areas from her outstanding freshman season but no numbers jump out at me more than in the assist to turnover department.

As a freshman she had 35 assists and 54 turnovers which is pretty typical for a post player. This season she has 107 assists and 60 turnovers which is just shows the tremendous growth she has made in a short amount of time.

Here teammates and coaches are not surprised by these gaudy numbers.

"She has always been a good passer but she understands the offense now and she can find the other guy and deliver the ball," UConn senor center Stefanie Dolson said. "She has a really high basketball IQ so I am not surprised that her numbers have gone up."

Here's what assistant coach Marisa Moseley, who works with the post players, thinks about Stewart's improvement as a passer and on-court decision maker.

"I actually told her about three weeks ago that any awards and accolades she is recognized for, one thing I am most proud of her is her mental development in her game. She understands where people are supposed to be, what  they are supposed to be doing out there. That helps you when you become a better passer because you know the timing of where it needs to be delivered, where it needs to go, what pass needs to be thrown. It is not not a surprise that she has improved that much because I think she is actually thinking the game more, she has really developed that part of the game.

"She is kind of a rare breed with everything she can do on the court. You can't find a lot of people who can do that and that is what makes her so unique and so special for us because her versatility whether it is passing or on the defensive end, she can be such a force and such a rim protector so for her to able to step out there and do that is awesome."

Speaking of Dolson, she currently ranks third in the Senior CLASS Award fan voting which ends tomorrow. Nebraska'a Jordan Hooper has received 34.3 percent of the vote, Iowa State's Hallie Christofferson is next with 16.5 percent followed by Dolson at 15.5 percent.

LIVE BLOG RUNNING TONIGHT
There will be a live blog running during tonight's UConn/Prairie View game.

The same is set to tip at 8:03 p.m. and that is the earliest the game will begin even if the first game between Saint Joseph's and Georgia ends quickly.

Former UConn star Kerry Bascom-Poliquin will be inducted into the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame on Nov. 13.

Before heading to UConn and becoming a three-time Big East Player of the Year, Bascom was a star at Epping High School leading her team to the Class S title as a sophomore and to the Class M finals as a junior and senior.

Bascom helped UConn win its first Big East title in 1989 as the Huskies won both the regular season and tournament titles and became the first of Geno Auriemma's teams to play in the NCAA tournament. Two years later Bascom would lead the Huskies to the Final Four. She graduated as UConn's all-time leading scorer and second on the career rebounding list.

With Maya Moore needing nine points against Sacred Heart on Sunday to pass former teammate Tina Charles and become UConn's all-time leading scorer, I did a little research about past scoring leaders with the Huskies.

Statistics from the inaugural varsity season in 1974-75 are incomplete but considering that the Huskies scored just 420 points in 10 games, I think it is a safe assumption to say that the 98 points scored by Susan Fellows and Linda Staveski was the standard. Staveski finished the following season with a record 240 points. Karen Mullins, known better as UConn's long-time softball coach, became the first Husky to reach the 500-point plateau in 1977. Valerie Sirois graduated in 1979 with a record 747 points. In 1980 Chris Gedney became the program's first 1,000-point scorer. Three years later Cathy Bochain set a record of 1,534 points which stood until Kerry Bascom came around. When Bascom graduated in 1991, she had 2,177 career points. That mark has since been surpassed by Nykesha Sales in 1998 and Tina Charles earlier this year and most recently Moore moved by both Bascom and Sales.

In the world of UConn women's basketball last names are really not necessary. So when Maya Moore and Tina Charles had their post-game, post-press conference interviews interrupted by a request to pose with a photo with "Kerry", there was no need for them to ask "Kerry who?"

Moore swung her head around after the request came from UConn women's basketball sports information director Randy Press after Saturday's win over Providence and her eyes lit up when she spotted Kerry Bascom armed with a camera and a huge smile. Both Moore and Charles gave Bascom a huge hug and chatted for a few seconds before posing for photos.

Moore's reaction was somewhere along the lines of "of course I won't mind sharing some quality time with one of the greats in UConn history."

Bascom brought some people down from New Hampshire with her and had Charles and Moore sign a few items and take some photos for keepsakes. The funny thing is that Charles and Moore might have gotten a bigger kick out of the brief interaction with Bascom than it being the other way around.

"We know how hard it is to play here," Moore said. "I am sure it was even harder when she was here so we absolutely have respect for a woman like that. It is a family so any time we see a former player, we get excited and feel this connection because they have been where we are now."

UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma was asked during the live airing of his show on CPTV who he would like to take the last shot in the closing seconds with the Huskies down by two points and his answer was either Diana Taurasi or Kerry Bascom. Yet Bascom goes relatively unnoticed when she comes to UConn games. Unlike the UConn stars who came in after her, very few of Bascom's games were on television but the star of UConn's first Final Four team and the three-time Big East Player of the Year has always been and will always be one of Auriemma's favorites.

"It's always great when the players come back," Auriemma said. "It does keep you connected, they stay connected. It helps us keep that thread back to the beginning. Having Meghan (Pattyson Culmo) around, having Kerry around, having Rita (Williams) at practice (periodically), having Sue (Bird) when she comes up, it is really gratifying for me when I see that.

"Kerry comes down a lot. I always enjoy seeing her and it always reminds me that as good a player as she was, I don't think she ever played a game in this building. She happened to come along a little too soon for all of this but just at the right time for us. Somebody asked me the other day if I had one player to make a shot with 1 second left I would either have Dee (Taurasi) shoot it or pass it to Kerry that's how much that kid meant to our program, how many big shots and how many big plays she made. It was pre-TV, pre-national rankings, pre-everything but she still feels like this is a big part of who she is and all the kids on the team know her, she is like royalty."

LIGHTING IT UP
Switching gears from looking at one of the greats of UConn's past, here's an update on how some of UConn recruits fared last night.

Stefanie Dolson, a 6-foot-5 senior center at Minisink Valley in Slate Hill, N.Y., flirted with a triple-double before finishing with 26 points, 22 rebounds and 8 blocks in a 52-37 win over Amsterdam.

Lauren Engeln, a 5-foot-11 guard at Laguna Hills (Calif.) High, only made 1 of 7 shots but was 20 of 22 from the free-throw line in a 57-35 win over JW North. Engeln finished with 22 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Samarie Walker, a 6-foot-1 wing at Chaminade Julienne in Dayton, Ohio, had a quieter game but since the Eagles only allowed 12 in a win over Monroe, she wasn't asked to light it up. Walker's seven points helped Chaminade Julienne to a 54-12 win to set up a game on Saturday against Oakwood in the Ohio Division II Springboro Regional.

The first time senior center Tina Charles heard chatter that people were using here perceived strained relationship with Geno Auriemma against the UConn Hall of Fame women's basketball coach, she could hardly believe her ears.

Sure, Charles did not like being replaced as a starter by classmate Kaili McLaren in the 2008 NCAA tournament but she was stunned that those outside the program believe there's any friction between her and Auriemma.

"I think it is ridiculous," Charles said. "I know they did that with (UConn incoming freshman) Bria Hartley, they would say that Tina doesn't like it here. I had a talk with Bria Hartley to tell her that I love it here."

Charles knew what she was getting into when she signed with UConn. Her high school coach Bob Mackey, who also coached Sue Bird at New York powerhouse Christ the King, told her as much.

Now as Charles is on the cusp of becoming the sixth UConn player to score 2,000 points, will graduate with honors, is in line to be the No. 1 pick in April's WNBA draft and has a bright future with the U.S. national team, she has no regrets. Neither does Auriemma.

"You'd be surprised how many people use it against us in recruiting about Tina Charles hates (Auriemma), she hates it up there," Auriemma said. "I said 'well, she looks pretty happy for a kid who hates it. They have this impression that I don't like her, it is just the opposite. I wish I didn't like her, I like her a lot. I wish she is the kind of kid you didn't like because 'nobody likes you, play your (butt) off.' But she is such a nice kid, she and Sylvia Fowles are identical. Her, Sylvia Fowles, Rebecca Lobo are the same kind of personalities."

Auriemma didn't name any names but I don't think you have to be at the top of the Yale graduating class to take a look at which AAU program Bria Hartley played for to surmise where some of that stuff came from. Enough said.

Changing gears, I spoke to Mackey on Wednesday as part of my advance focusing on Charles getting ready to join Nykesha Sales, Kerry Bascom, Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi and Kara Wolters as the only 2,000-point scorers in UConn history.

I also talked to him about highly-touted Christ the King junior guard Bria Smith. He said Bria has been to a couple of UConn games including the Dec. 23 one against Stanford and to a UConn practice but she is nowhere near making any sort of decision. He's like her to start considering where she wants to take some unofficial visits but it sounds as if this is one recruitment process which will take some time.

I will leave you with this. I hate anonymous comments, rarely respond to them on my blog. Personally, if you aren't going to leave your name (even if it is a fake one) don't expect a response from me. But I did chuckle at an anonymous comment saying that breaking a record with five games to spare does not constitute "shattering." Well, in my eyes breaking Kerry Bascom's mark for being the quickest UConn player to 2,000 points by five games if that is the way it plays out would go down as shattering the mark in my eyes. If Albert Pujols broke the single-season home-run record in 155 games (which would be the same pace as Moore is on in quest of Bascom's program record) I'd be willing to be it would be viewed as Pujols shattering the record. Since this blog is my opinion, I love forward to Maya Moore doing some shattering in early March.

For any of those worry warts - some of whom have been nice enough to drop me a line over the last couple of days - concerned to hear that UConn sophomore guard Caroline Doty was wearing a walking boot.

Doty was held out of last half of practice the day before Tuesday's game against Rutgers to rest her surgically-repaired knee and then was limited to 15 minutes.

However, after Thursday's practice Doty said the issue was much ado about nothing.

"It's nothing to worry about, I just have to be cautious with it, ice after every practice and every game other than that it feels great," Doty said.

Doty admitted that being held out of practice does occasionally impact the crispness of her play but it's a small price to pay for being full speed come March when she attempts to lead the Huskies to their second straight national title.

"It is definitely tough, you have to know it is good for you and there is a time that you can practice and can play and take advantage of it," Doty said. "That is what you need to be able to do."

CLOSING IN
I did some research over the last couple of days to compare how long it will take Tina Charles to reach the 2,000-point plateau.

If Charles scores 17 points Saturday against Pittsburgh, she will reach the mark in her 134th game. Kerry Bascom leads the way by requiring just 113 games to hit 2,000 points at UConn followed by Rebecca Lobo (118 games), Nykesha Sales (128), Kara Wolters (129) and Diana Taurasi (135).

For those wondering, if Maya Moore continues her current scoring pace she would hit the 2,000-point mark in UConn's first game of the Big East tournament, her 108th career game shattering Bascom's record pace.

There have been no lack of news to report since UConn cut down the nets in St. Louis following the program's sixth national championship.

But in my mind, one of the most intriguing moves was the Big East's decision to end the annual home-and-home series between UConn and Rutgers. Now Notre Dame will be the conference opponent to face UConn twice during the regular season. The UConn/Rutgers has certainly been good for the Big East (most of the time) but obviously those entrusted in the future of the league view Notre Dame as the latest challenger to UConn's Big East dominance. There was a time when the Fighting Irish managed to find itself on equal footing with the Huskies. Back in the 2000-01 season Notre Dame defeated UConn 92-76 at home and after losing a thriller in the Big East tournament final to the Huskies, Notre Dame won the rubber match with a stirring rally in the national semifinals.

Despite wins in 2004 and 2005 over UConn, the Fighting Irish were never able to build on creating a true rivalry with the Huskies. With the teams playing twice now, maybe that will change.

When the San Antonio Silver Stars were in town, I took the opportunity to sit down with its starting center Ruth Riley, the star of that 2000-01 Notre Dame team.

"It is a great matchup," Riley said. "In college basketball, you live for the great matchups. Just a lot of fun and great competition and a lot of history between the two teams. I am sure the girls will be were excited to play in those games and it is great for your home crowd to see UConn play both at Notre Dame and here as well.

"We are going to have a good team. I think Coach (Muffet McGraw) has had to deal with some injuries, that is tough when you lose two girls to ACLs in the same year. With those girls coming back and (national high school player of the year Skylar Diggins) coming in, they are going to be exciting to watch. I wish them the best."

Despite her busy schedule in the WNBA and playing professionally overseas, Riley tries to keep tabs on her alma mater.

"Well I still talk to Niele (Ivey, the starting point guard on Notre Dame's national championship team), she is an assistant coach (at Notre Dame). Also, I am from Indiana so when I go home to see my family I am only an hour away from Notre Dame so I am able to stay in touch."

I asked Riley of her best memories from the UConn/Notre Dame games, prefacing the request with a "other than obviously winning the national championship."

Here's what she had to say.

"Without a doubt winning at home senior year and that assured that we got our first No. 1 ranking and that was the landmark with how we are able to play together as a team."

SELECT COMPANY
While having three teammates on the U.S. squad heading to the World University Games is an impressive achievement, UConn's trio of Tina Charles, Tiffany Hayes and Maya Moore have some company.

Here's a list of trios from the same schools playing together in the World University Games

Wayland Baptist 1973: Janice Beach, Brenda Moeller and Cherri Rapp.
North Carolina State 1979: Genia Beasley, Debbie Groover and Ginger Rouse.
Tennessee 1983: Shelia Collins, Lea Henry and Mary Ostrowski
Southern Caifornia 1987: Karon Howell, Monica Lamb and Rhonda Windham
Auburn 1991: Ruthie Bolton, Linda Godby and Carolyn Jones.

Charles, Hayes and Moore become the foruth, fifth and sixth UConn players to play for the U.S. in the World University Games.

Kerry Bascom was the first in 1991
Kara Wolters was on the 1995 squad and also made the 1997 team as did Nykesha Sales. All three are still in the U.S. record book.

Bascom's 58.8 3-point percentage in 1991 in a mark for U.S. players that still stands. Wolters' 13 blocked shots is a U.S. record and her five blocks in an Aug. 21, 1997 game against Latvia tied Cindy Brown's mark set in 1985. She also set a record with a 70.7 field-goal percentage in 1997 which was broken by Sylvia Fowles in 2005. Sales had 32 points in an Aug. 29, 1997 game against Cuba, the third highest for a U.S. player in the event and her field-goal percentage of 68.2 is fifth in the U.S. record books.

Since Hayes just completed her freshman year, she could make the WUG squad again following her junior season. Wolters is the only other UConn player to accomplish that feat.

It appears as if Louisville's Candyce Bingham's post-game comments after Tuesday's win over Cincinnati have riled up some in Husky Nation.

So what did Bingham say to create such a stir?

Well, according to the Associated Press' recap, here are her words: "It's UConn, they're good, they're supposed to be good, but they're very beatable. It's not invincible. It's not anything undoable."

What's the big deal? Apparently Bingham didn't get the memo that all opponents are supposed to bow down to UConn. After all, didn't the season come to an end following UConn's 30-point win at No. 2 North Carolina Monday? Haven't they already awarded the Huskies the 2009 national-championship trophy after humbling the Tar Heels?

Apparently the No. 7 team in the country who are winners of 14 straight games and feature a player (Angel McCoughtry) who could very well be the No. 1 overall pick in April's WNBA draft isn't supposed to believe it can play with UConn.

Maybe it's time for some of the UConn faithful to reflect back on the last time Louisville played a game in the state of Connecticut. Despite McCoughtry and Bingham going a combined 13 for 37 from the floor, the Cardinals only trailed UConn by a point with 5:20 to play in the Big East tournament final at the XL Center, one of the Huskies' home courts. Had Bingham hit a jumper at the 5-minute mark, the Cardinals would have had the lead. UConn lost Charde Houston and Ketia Swanier, who combined for 22 points, 15 rebounds and five steals in UConn's hard-earned 65-59 win as well as Brittany Hunter while adding freshman Tiffany Hayes and welcoming Kalana Greene back from injury. Why shouldn't Louisville think they can come up and give UConn a game while facing pretty much the same team it went toe to toe with last March?

Why is it necessary that every UConn opponent has to proclaim that the undefeated Huskies are the greatest team in the history of the world? Let's not forget that Renee Montgomery was 4 for 19 from the floor in the Big East final and fellow All-Americans Maya Moore and Tina Charles were only 7 for 20. Lorin Dixon, recently inserted into the starting lineup after the season-ending knee injury suffered by freshman Caroline Doty, played just four minutes in the 2008 Big East final and did not score. Key reserve Kaili McLaren had just two points in 32 minutes. So remind me again why should Louisville be shaking in its shoes?

Will Louisville beat UConn? Only time will tell. Should they think they can beat UConn? Why not?

Spare me the garbage of UConn using Bingham's quotes as bulletin-board material. If any UConn players need Geno Auriemma or Chris Dailey to highlight Bingham's quotes in order to get fired up to play the only other team still undefeated in Big East play then they did a poor job in the recruiting process. I doubt that a Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Rebecca Lobo, Shea Ralph, Svetlana Abrosimova or Kerry Bascom would need some outside help to get ready to face the conference team best equipped to knock the Huskies off. If any UConn player needs any additional motivation for Monday's game, it is time to take a long look in the mirror. These are the kinds of games they should be clamoring to play in, facing a veteran, confident team with Final Four aspirations bulletin-board material or no bulletin-board material.