Just a few observations off last night's game against West Virginia.

First of all, UConn fans crack me up. The story line of the season is that UConn's dominance is bad for the sport (which might just be the most absurd notion imaginable) and yet many of those at the XL Center Tuesday night were on the verge of hyperventilating because UConn was up by "only" seven points early in the second half. I guess when you are accustomed to seeing UConn up by 30 and sometimes 40 points at halftime, it's hard to know what to do when a team actually decides to play against the Huskies rather than ask for their autographs.

UConn's margin of victory was smaller last season than it was last night but there was no comparing the efforts of the West Virginia teams. I can still remember sitting in the West Virginia post-game interview room when I heard this commotion coming down the hallway shortly after last year's game ended. It was West Virginia coach Mike Carey absolutely lighting into his team for a sub-standard effort. The locker room was not particularly close to the interview room but I imagine Carey's rantings could have been heard back in Storrs. While many of the words Carey uttered are best not repeated in this blog, the synopsis of his "chat" was that why are you afraid to play against the nation's No. 1 team? Well, on Tuesday there was no fear in the eyes of the Mountaineers.

Few things annoy me more than post-game questions directed as the coach of the losing team about how his/her team played "hard." I'm sorry but that should be a given. I don't think asking a team to give some effort is really that huge a request but the fact is that few teams who have played UConn competed as hard as West Virginia did in the first half. That is unfortunate and hard to understand. If I were an athlete and given a chance to play the top team in the country, I would be raring to go and would have no problem bringing a maximum effort but too many times opponents are beaten before they walk onto the court.

The truest sense that Kalana Greene has made it as a player came with the fact that her 18-point effort was pretty much an afterthought. Much of the focus (including the story I wrote) was on Kelly Faris' three-point play early in the second half and of course the 15 points and 14 rebounds from Maya Moore was also hard to miss but there was a time when an 18-point effort by Greene against a ranked opponent would be the dominant topic for discussion in the post-game interview. Now it is pretty much expected that Greene is going to deliver the goods.

Changing gears, I figure I should address the Kara Lawson signing by the Connecticut Sun. I don't know if Lawson's addition will make the Sun a championship contender or if the backcourt of Lawson and Renee Montgomery will be the best in the WNBA. However, it may be the most quotable backcourt in WNBA history.

I like what the Sun have done (although I will miss seeing Lindsay Whalen, who has to be one of the top five most competitive athletes I have ever covered, play on a nightly basis). If the Sun can come up with an answer as to who will be the point guard when Montgomery and Lawson are out of the game, they should be good. I think Anete Jekabsone-Zogota and Sandrine Gruda will be much improved players and the eight-player rotation of Asjha Jones, Gruda, Jekabsone-Zogota, Lawson, Montgomery, DeMya Walker, Tan White and Tina Charles looks pretty solid. However, Lawson made a great point yesterday, with only 12 teams in the league each of the WNBA franchises should have rosters who look pretty good on paper. There's more pom-pom waving from the media who cover the Connecticut Sun beat than any assignment I have ever had so I'd take the chatter of planning the championship parade route with a grain of salt. That being said, I do think the Sun could be a tougher team considering that the new additions to the team are all gamers who are accustomed to winning and Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault will have more reliable options to go to than he has had in the last couple of seasons.