First news of the year

Of course stories and columns about UConn's loss will continue for a few more days. Mechelle Voepel contemplates what it means for the rest of the season.

I thought I read a quote where Coach Geno Auriemma said he was "destroyed" by the loss, but in this piece, he doesn't seem to think it any big deal. I'm not sure the same could be said of Maya Moore:

Star Maya Moore, who has been the constant for UConn throughout the streak, looked ordinary for one of the rare times in her career. The school's all-time scoring leader was held to just 14 points by Stanford's suffocating defense in Thursday night's 71-59 loss. She settled on shooting 3-pointers -- taking 11 of them -- even when Auriemma pleaded with her to take it to the basket.

With her team trailing by six late in the game, Moore finally got to the free throw line for the first time and came up short -- missing her only attempt. The normally poised senior was visibly upset after losing for only the third time in her stellar career.

Here's a realistic quote from Geno:

The numbers during the unprecedented run were staggering. The Huskies won by nearly 34 points a game while allowing two teams to come within single digits. They beat ranked opponents 31 times and trailed for just 134 minutes during the 90 wins.

"I think you get a better appreciation for it today, tomorrow, the next day or the next day after that," Auriemma said. "You saw how easily it happened tonight. It's unimaginable for it to go that long without it happening more than once."

In the meantime, there are big fish frying tomorrow.

Cal will take on Stanford, aka the giant-killers.

Tennessee and LSU will face off.

And looking at tomorrow's game list, I'm struck by how many teams there are that used to be consistently ranked. What happened?