Tennessee. Connecticut. Maryland. North Carolina.

Those No. 1 seeds — all familiar powerhouses to college basketball fans and all previous winners — anchored the NCAA women's tournament bracket, with the Lady Vols opening defense of their championship in the Oklahoma City Regional.

Connecticut and Tennessee didn't meet this season for the first time in 13 years. That could change April 8 in Tampa, Fla., with the national championship on the line.

"It's Tennessee and Connecticut. I think there's always a lot of hype," said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, whose team led by All-American Candace Parker opens up Sunday against Oral Roberts. "My mind is not on anything else but getting our team better."

Before the two could meet, Connecticut must get through new rival Rutgers. The Huskies are the top seed in Greensboro, N.C., and the Scarlet Knights are No. 2. Rutgers handed Connecticut its only loss this season.

The No. 1 seeded Huskies (32-1) will open against No. 16 Cornell on Sunday in Bridgeport, Conn.

UConn, ranked atop the AP poll for 12 of the final 13 weeks, is hoping to get to the Final Four for the first time since 2004.

The Huskies, which began the season at No. 2, led the final poll with 49 of 50 first-place votes from a national media panel. North Carolina drew the other first-place vote.

The top seven teams remained the same. North Carolina, Tennessee, Stanford, Maryland, LSU and Rutgers followed the Huskies.

Texas A&M leaped into eighth after winning its first Big 12 tournament championship Saturday. It's the highest ranking in history for the Aggies.

Duke and California rounded out the first 10. It's the 10th straight season that the Blue Devils finished the year in the Top 10.

NCAA PLAY-IN GAME

COPPIN STATE PLAYS MOUNT ST. MARY'S TODAY

Fifty-eight teams in the NCAA tournament field of 65 have won at least 20 games. Only one has lost that many.

At least Coppin State is unique.

The Eagles will be the first team to start the NCAA tournament with 20 losses, when they take on Mount St. Mary's in the opening-round game tonight at Dayton, Ohio.

At one point this season, Coppin State lost 17 of 18 games and was 4-19. But the Eagles finished with a rush, winning 12 of their final 13 games, including the Mid-Eastern Conference tournament championship, and earning an automatic NCAA bid.

Coppin State, from Baltimore, won the conference title by beating Morgan State, 62-60. Mount St. Mary's (18-14), from Emmitsburg, Md., won the Northeast Conference tournament, beating Sacred Heart, 68-55.

MEN'S AP POLL

NORTH CAROLINA FINISHES ATOP FINAL RANKINGS

North Carolina, the overall No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament, finished No. 1 yesterday in the AP's final poll of the season.

It was the sixth time, and first since 1998, the Tar Heels (32-2) led the final rankings. UCLA and Kentucky have finished No. 1 in the final poll eight times and Duke has done it seven.

North Carolina was No. 1 for the last three weeks of the season and for a total of 14 weeks, including the preseason poll.

A record 49 schools were ranked this season, one more than in 1992-93.

North Carolina received 53 first-place votes and 1,779 points from the 72-member national media panel.

Memphis, UCLA and Kansas, the other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, were second through fourth and were the only other schools to receive first-place votes.

Tennessee was fifth after changing places with Kansas from last week and the top 10 was completed by Wisconsin, Texas, Georgetown Duke and Stanford.

ELSEWHERE

SEC tournament: The Southeastern Conference is still sorting out a refund policy for fans who couldn't attend the men's basketball tournament after a tornado struck the Georgia Dome. The conference released a statement saying fans would be informed through its Web site, www.secsports.com, as well as the official sites of the 12 member schools when the plan is finalized.

Arizona women: Joan Bonvicini was fired yesterday after 17 seasons as the women's basketball coach at Arizona. Bonvicini coached the Wildcats to their first NCAA tournament berth in 1996. She had a 287-223 record with Arizona, but her last three teams were a combined 29-63. Arizona was 10-20 this season, 4-14 in the Pacific-10.