The 2006-2007 women’s basketball season came to an end Tuesday evening with the crowning of a familiar champion: the Tennessee Lady Vols.  After a nine year “drought”, Pat Summitt and company brought the trophy back to Knoxville, where it will reside in a case alongside their 6 previous National Championship trophies. Coach Summitt’s seven NCAA basketball championships are second only to legendary coach John Wooden‘s 10 at UCLA, and are a testament yet again as to why she is regarded as the greatest women’s basketball coach in history.  With the loss of only one starter from this year’s team, the return of all-everything Candace Parker, and another stellar class of recruits making their way to Knoxville this fall, look for the Lady Vols to make a serious run at repeating next year.  All bets are off and I know of more than a few Orange-clad fans already making their reservations for Tampa.  Besides this top story, there were several others that made for compelling news in this year’s NCAAs.  Let’s take a look at my top 5 choices for the biggest stories of the tournament.

5. Ole Miss’ run. And run.

With only 5 teams from the SEC receiving bids to the NCAA Tournament, many people said it was a “down” year for the conference. I disagree. I choose to think it was more indicative of the parity that is slowly but surely happening in the women’s game. Ole Miss was the fifth and final team from the SEC to get in the tourney this year, and they received a #7 seed in the tough Dayton Regional. While the tournament selection committee made a concerted effort to spread out conference teams in the bracket, Ole Miss had what proved to be the unfortunate luck of being in the same region as Tennessee. Throw in defending National Champions Maryland, Oklahoma with their All-American Courtney Paris, Ohio State with their All-American Jessica Davenport, and MTSU with the nation’s longest winning streak … it was easy to see why Pat Summitt complained about being in the toughest bracket for the second straight year.

Ole Miss coach Carol Ross was just happy to be there, period. Ross took her Running Rebels on a run through the tournament that may have surprised some “outsiders” but was no surprise at all to those who know SEC women’s basketball. Their running/trapping/pressing style of play knocked out TCU in the first round, and then they proceeded to knock off #2 seed and defending champs Maryland in an upset that made basketball watchers sit up and take notice. Ole Miss’ next victim in the Sweet Sixteen was Oklahoma, who just couldn’t cope with the Rebels’ pace or senior Armintie Price. Alas, the Running Rebels’ surprising run in the tournament came to an end in the Elite Eight when they were defeated by eventual National Champs Tennessee. Ole Miss made a great showing in the NCAAs and it was rewarding that more people nationwide were able to see the elite play of the All-American Price.

4. A Cinderella story: Marist.

Answer honestly: before this year’s tournament, did you have any idea who Marist was? Or where their school is located? It’s a safe bet that if you watched this year’s NCAAs, you now know that this “mid-major” is a 4,000 student school located in the picturesque Hudson Valley town of Poughkeepsie, NY. They are known as the Red Foxes. Oh, and by the way: they are a very talented basketball team. This young squad, coached by Brian Giorgis, received an automatic bid as MAAC champs and entered the tourney as a #13 seed. Better make that lucky #13. These Red Foxes became the talk of the basketball world with their first round upset of Ohio State. And then they proved it was no fluke when they ended the nation’s longest win streak with their defeat of MTSU in the second round. Never having won an NCAA tournament game before this year, Marist made it to the Sweet Sixteen and a date with Tennessee. All good things must come to an end (if you’re anyone other than UT), but Marist’s improbable tourney run and 29-6 record were rewarded with a #22 ranking in the final ESPN/USA Today poll released this week. With the return of talented post Meg Dahlman, along with 2 of their 3 “floor generals” in guards Julianne Viani and Nikki Flores, this little upstart team won’t be sneaking up on anybody next year. They are returning 9 letter winners, 90.5% of their scoring and 84% of their rebounding from this year’s Cinderella squad. I predict they will make a decent enough run in next year’s NCAAs to warrant TWO chartered planes to take their fans to the Sweet Sixteen.

Next installment: my top 3 stories from the 2007 NCAA Tournament…