Last season was the Big East Conference's best in terms of teams in the NCAA tournament. Seven Big East teams played in the tournament, and Connecticut won it.

That was a significant accomplishment for the conference, which had been overshadowed by some of the other power conferences because of its depth in quality teams.

From the looks of things, that season wasn't a fluke.

As it stands, there are eight Big East teams in good position to make the NCAA tournament -- Connecticut, Notre Dame, Villanova, Miami, West Virginia, Boston College, Rutgers and Virginia Tech.

Notre Dame Coach Muffet McGraw said there is no doubt that the Big East is as tough as any conference out there.

"There really isn't an easy win in this league anymore," McGraw said Saturday after her Irish struggled to beat Pitt, 72-68.

"We're the second-place team in the conference and it takes everything we have to beat a team who is down near the bottom of the conference. There is just so much balance and so many good teams. The league has continually gotten stronger each year and I think it will only get stronger.

"Right now, I have no doubt we've played our way into the tournament and we are just trying to improve our seed. But we have three games left and none of them are going to be easy."

Notre Dame (17-8, 10-3) got off to a rocky start this season but but has gotten hot of late. The Irish began the season 7-6 but have won 10 of their past 12 games, including a 66-51 blowout of No. 2 Connecticut.

Mountaineers bubbling

One Big East team that has some work to do if it wants to make the NCAA tournament is West Virginia. The Mountaineers (18-7, 9-4) have lost their past two games and face a daunting stretch of games against Rutgers, at Miami and at Connecticut.

They probably need to win two of three to put themselves in a strong position to lock up a spot but probably will be on the outside looking in if they lose all three.

One thing that is hurting the Mountaineers is a weak out-of-conference schedule. Their current Rating Performance Index (RPI) is 64 and their strength of schedule is 108.

Big Showdown

Duquesne's 77-60 win against George Washington yesterday was significant because it puts the Dukes in position to finish second in the Atlantic 10 West. And more importantly, a second-place finish will earn them a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which starts next week.

That bye will be on the line Thursday when the Dukes (15-11, 10-5) play host to Richmond (17-8, 9-5).

If the Spiders, who defeated Duquesne, 82-61, Jan. 18, win they will claim second place, regardless of what they do in their final game Sunday against St. Bonaventure.

A Duquesne win would guarantee at least a tie for second and it would also give them 11 Atlantic 10 wins for the first time in school history.

The Dukes' victory yesterday also was significant because it broke a number of streaks. Duquesne had lost 23 consecutive games to the Colonials (its most recent win in the series was Jan. 4, 1994) and extended its nine-game home winning streak and broke the Colonials' 11-game winning streak. Duquesne also set a team record by hitting 13 3-pointers.

Hometown Star

Lauren Hediger is Mt. Lebanon High School's second-leading scorer and was a major part of the Blue Devils' highly successful run from 1997-2001. Her scoring touch is proving to be a valuable commodity at George Mason University.

Hediger came off the bench yesterday to score 15 points. She was 3 of 6 from 3-point range and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line, in the Patriots' 64-52 win against Towson State. It was the third consecutive game in double figures for Hediger, who has averaged 14 points in the three-game span.

For the season Hediger is averaging 6.4 points and 2 rebounds in 18 minutes per game.

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