Etc.

Women basketball stars make comebacks – to campus

In men's college basketball, superstar players often leave school to turn pro at their earliest opportunity, which partly explains why no one since Virginia's 7 ft., 4 in. Ralph Sampson in 1982 and 1983 has repeated as Naismith Player of the Year. In the women's game, however, few players jump ship early because there is less incentive to do so and WNBA eligibility rules encourage staying in school longer. As a result, several All-Americans have captured back-to-back Naismith honors in recent seasons: Tennessee's Chamique Holdsclaw, Connecticut's Diana Taurasi, and Louisiana State's Seimone Augustus. And this season, Tennessee's 6 ft., 4 in. Candace Parker, who led the Lady Vols to last year's national championship and was the first woman to dunk in an NCAA game, is the favorite to repeat her 2007 selection as Associated Press Player of the Year. The last 10 AP winners and their schools:

•1998 Chamique Holdsclaw Tennessee
•1999 Chamique Holdsclaw Tennessee
•2000 Tamika Catchings Tennessee
•2001 Ruth Riley Notre Dame
•2002 Sue Bird Connecticut
•2003 Diana Taurasi Connecticut
•2004 Alana Beard Duke
•2005 Seimone Augustus LSU
•2006 Seimone Augustus LSU
•2007 Candace Parker Tennessee