Here's a quick look at the major Division I women's basketball conferences:

Atlantic Coast
Who's back: Summer Erb, North Carolina State's pillar of power inside, is the only first-team all-conference player returning. But there's plenty of other talent with Nikki Teasley of North Carolina, Tynesha Lewis of NC State and Georgia Tech's Niesha Butler, the league's top freshman last season. Duke, the NCAA runner-up last March, is looking for more scoring from Peppi Browne, the team's top rebounder the last two seasons. Clemson, which won the conference tournament, returns only one starter, 6-4 Erin Batth. Debbie Ryan is back for her 23rd season at Virginia and with a record of 501-174, she's just the sixth coach in NCAA history to win 500 games at one school.
Who's new: Freshman Sheana Mosch will get a chance at Duke after the Blue Devils graduated their starting guards. Mosch scored 3,066 points in high school and was the Pennsylvania small-school player of the year. Though four starters return at Maryland, coach Chris Weller is still counting on help from freshman guards Vicki Brick, Terri Daniels and Renneika Razor. Brick led McDonough High School in Baltimore to a 26-0 record last season.
Who's favored: North Carolina.
Who's around in March: North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Duke in the NCAA; Clemson in the WNIT.

Atlantic 10
Who's back: Tere Williams at Virginia Tech, and that means trouble for visitors to Cassell Coliseum, where the Hokies have won 17 straight games. Williams averaged 15.6 points and 7.4 rebounds as a sophomore. Elisa Aguilar again will work her ball-handling magic at George Washington and Susan Moran is a year wiser after becoming the first freshman to lead St. Joseph's in scoring and rebounding. Moran won or shared eight of the league's 15 rookie of the week awards. Xavier returns four starters after giving Connecticut a scare in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Who's new: Belinda "Boe" Pearman, who set 19 records during her playing career at Maryland in the early 1980s, takes over at Rhode Island as the program's fifth head coach. Elena Vishniakova, who started 15 games on Georgia's Final Four team last season, transferred to George Washington but won't be eligible until a year from now.
Who's favored: Virginia Tech.
Who's around in March: Virginia Tech, St. Joseph's, George Washington in the NCAA; Xavier in the WNIT.

Big East
Who's back: Four of the five first-team all-conference picks return: Svetlana Abrosimova of Connecticut, Tasha Pointer and Shawnetta Stewart of Rutgers and Ruth Riley of Notre Dame. Riley led the nation in field goal percentage last season at 68.3 percent. Connecticut's Tamika Williams shot 65.8 percent as a freshman to rank third nationally. Boston College, which earned its first national ranking last season, gets guard Cal Bouchard back from the season-ending knee injury she sustained in January. Vivian Stringer keeps winning at Rutgers and is just five victories short of 600, a figure achieved by only two other coaches.
Who's new: Geno Auriemma continues to bring in the high school All-Americans. His latest is guard Kennitra Johnson of New Albany, Ind., the league's preseason newcomer of the year.
Who's favored: Connecticut, with Rutgers a close second.
Who's around in March: Connecticut, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Boston College in the NCAA.

Big Ten
Who's back: Guard Helen Darling and 6-3 center Andrea Garner give Penn State the league's best inside-outside combination. Katie Douglas becomes the go-to player at defending national champion Purdue following the departure of Stephanie White and Ukari Figgs. Seniors Susan Blauser and Tauja Catchings, sister of Tennessee star Tamika Catchings, will keep Illinois near the top of the league.
Who's new: Former Louisiana Tech assistant Kristy Curry is Purdue's fourth coach in five years. June Olkowski, formerly of Butler, succeeded veteran Don Perrelli at Northwestern. Wisconsin signed one of the nation's most highly touted recruits: 6-4, 230-pound Nina Smith of Waterloo, Iowa. Smith received her first recruiting letter, from then-Iowa coach Vivian Stringer, when she was in the fifth grade.
Who's favored: Penn State.
Who's around in March: Penn State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Ohio State in the NCAA.

Big 12
Who's back: Almost all of the top names return in this senior-dominated league. Iowa State has everyone back from the team that upset Connecticut in NCAA play and reached the regional finals. The Cyclones' skinny, sharp-shooting guard, Stacy Frese, is the preseason player of the year. Kansas still has Lynn Pride, and Edwina Brown returns at Texas. They were the only two college players on the U.S. team that won the bronze medal at the Pan American Games this summer. Nebraska's Nicole Kubik is Frese's equal as a ball handler and leader. Phylesha Whaley is an explosive scorer at Oklahoma. Shooting guard Suzi Raymant's return from a knee injury should help Kansas, which was last in the league in scoring.
Who's new: Iowa State has had good success with new players the last couple of years and coach Bill Fennelly might have latched on to another gem in 6-5 junior college transfer Gintare Cipinyte. Texas A&M expects big things from JC transfer Jaynetta Saunders and Colorado has a promising freshman in 6-2 Sabrina Scott.
Who's favored: Iowa State.
Who's around in March: Iowa State, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Texas in the NCAA; Kansas State, Oklahoma and Colorado in the WNIT.

Conference USA
Who's back: Five of the league's top 10 scorers and the top five players in assists, blocks and 3-point shooting all return. Forwards Abbie Willenborg and Lisa Oldenburg again will key a strong inside game at Marquette, which returns all five starters after sharing the regular-season title with Louisville, Cincinnati and Tulane. Madinah Slaise is back at Cincy after averaging 20 points a game and Louisville's Jenny Knight led the conference in assists. Grace Daley, twice a first-team all-conference selection, is looking for a big senior season at Tulane and is the early favorite for player of the year.
Who's new: Rick Reeves did wonders at Liberty and is hoping to do the same at Southern Mississippi, a traditional power that has slipped the last couple of years. Reeves was 71-16 his last four years at Liberty, including a 28-0 regular season in 1997-98. Memphis brought in freshmen centers Shannon Hamp and Deanna Farr to help replace Tamika Whitmore, a scoring machine who's now in the WNBA. Louisville is looking for help from junior-college transfer Janelle Romney.
Who's favored: Marquette.
Who's around in March: Marquette, Tulane, Louisville, Cincinnati in the NCAA; UAB in the WNIT.

Missouri Valley
Who's back: Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles is the nation's top returning scorer (25.7). Drake's Tammi Blackstone was among the national leaders in field goal percentage and blocks last season. She ended up shooting 64 percent but has been slow to recover from offseason knee surgery. Led by junior Shyla McKibbon, all five starters are back at Evansville, which went from 1-17 in the league two years ago to 11-7 last season and won the conference tournament. Another program on the rise, Northern Iowa, returns its top four scorers, but one of them, guard Nadine Brandt, has been sidelined by a season-ending knee injury.
Who's new: Jenny Yopp takes over at Illinois State in place of Jill Hutchison, who had been the only coach in the program's first 28 years. Sophomore Emile Hester, one of the best players to come out of the Evansville high school ranks, is back at her hometown university after transferring from St. Louis and sitting out a season. Drake coach Lisa Bluder says 6-3 Carla Bennett is playing as well as any freshman center she has had and that includes Blackstone, a starter since the day she arrived.
Who's favored: Drake.
Who's around in March: Drake, Southwest Missouri State in the NCAA; Northern Iowa, Evansville in the WNIT.

Mountain West
Who's back: Lori Red is one of four returning starters at Utah and one of the league's most solid all-around players. UNLV's Linda Fröehlich led the Western Athletic Conference in scoring (23.5) as a freshman and is the early pick as the player of the year. Watch out for BYU, which has Jill Adams and Cady Williams on the five-player preseason all-conference team. Junior forward Heather Haanen is the top player back from Colorado State's 33-3 team and Miranda Sanchez is one of four returning starters at New Mexico, which was 24-7 last season and ranked eighth nationally in attendance.
Who's new: It's the first season for the league, made up of eight schools from the old Western Athletic Conference. BYU's Erin Thorn was the player of the year in Utah last season and a prep All-American. Colorado State capitalized on its outstanding season by signing seven players, including Elizabeth English of Rushville, Ind., and 6-2 Shannon Strecker of Littleton, Colo.
Who's favored: Utah.
Who's around in March: Utah, New Mexico, Colorado State in the NCAA; BYU in the WNIT.

Pac-10
Who's back: UCLA's Maylana Martin is the runaway preseason favorite as the player of the year. The Bruins also welcome back 6-4 enforcer Janae Hubbard and clever point guard Erica Gomez, who will be out early on after an offseason shoulder surgery. Oregon has an exciting point guard in Shaquala Williams, the league's freshman of the year last season. Guards Milena Flores and Lindsey Yamasaki will try to get Stanford back to its accustomed place at the top of the league, but the Cardinal must handle the ball better. They were last in the conference in turnover margin. Arizona returns the entire roster from a team that reached the second round of NCAA play.
Who's new: Washington State's Jenny Przekwas is the league's only new coach. She moved across the country from St. Francis, where she had six straight winning seasons and won the last four Northeast Conference championships. UCLA's Nicole Kaczmarski and Stanford's Jamie Carey were the league's top recruits. Carey started in Stanford's exhibition loss to the U.S. national team.
Who's favored: UCLA.
Who's around in March: Oregon, Arizona, Stanford in the NCAA; Arizona State in the WNIT.

Southeastern
Who's back: Together, Tamika Catchings and Semeka Randall hope to give Tennessee what Chamique Holdsclaw provided by herself. Twins Kelly and Coco Miller should keep Georgia in the hunt for another Final Four trip provided they keep their emotions in check. Conswella Sparrow leads a balanced group at Auburn, which returns all five starters, and sophomore DeTrina White is a rising star at LSU. Kentucky also returns all five starters after winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 17 years.
Who's new: LaToya Thomas is the first Mississippi high school player of the year to sign with Mississippi State. Thomas averaged 27.9 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks at Greenville High School. Freshman Chantelle Anderson, a 6-6 center, is the first Parade All-American to sign with Vanderbilt. South Carolina will have a new face next season. Teresa Geter, part of the ballyhooed Tennessee recruiting class that included Catchings and Randall, has left Knoxville and transferred to South Carolina.
Who's favored: Tennessee.
Who's around in March: Just about everyone in this league. Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State in the NCAA; Vanderbilt, Alabama in the WNIT.

Sun Belt
Who's back: Tamicha Jackson, the Louisiana Tech guard who bounces around the floor like a pinball, gets the early nod as player of the year. Center Shaka Massey and shooting guard Betty Lennox are other Tech standouts. Arkansas State has an outstanding trio in Julie Hagood, Keeshia Evans and Tanisha Johnson. Western Kentucky's ShaRae Mansfield was outstanding as a sophomore.
Who's new: The University of Denver enters the league this season, but Louisiana Tech, long the Sun Belt's most prominent women's basketball program, will join the Western Athletic Conference in 2001. They're hoping the name isn't the only thing that changes at Southwestern Louisiana, which is now Louisiana-Lafayette. As Southwestern last season, the Ragin' Cajuns went 1-26. Assistant Brian Boyer moves up at Arkansas State to replace Jeff Mittie, who left in August for TCU.
Who's favored: Louisiana Tech.
Who's around in March: Louisiana Tech, Florida International in the NCAA; Western Kentucky, Arkansas State in the WNIT.

Western Athletic
Who's back: Hawaii's Raylene Howard led the old Western Athletic Conference in field goal percentage last season and was the Pacific Division's player of the year. Karlin Kennedy returns for her senior season at SMU after being named the MVP of the WAC tournament. Seniors Marla Brumfield, Kirra Jordan and Kim Smallwood give Rice three experienced scorers. Identical twins Amy and Jill Sutton will continue to confound friends and foes alike at TCU. Tulsa's Lila Osceola, dismissed last December for breaking a team rule, has been allowed to return by new coach Kathy McConnell-Miller. Osceola has a 14.1 career scoring average.
Who's new: The league, for one. It's made up of the eight former WAC members who did not bolt to form the Mountain West. TCU has a new coach, hiring Jeff Mittie from Arkansas State. Kathy McConnell-Miller, who apprenticed under Theresa Grentz at Illinois and Rutgers, takes over at Tulsa. Janice Richard has moved into the coaching job at San Jose State. The league's stature in women's basketball will grow when Louisiana Tech joins in 2001.
Who's favored: Hawaii.
Who's around in March: Hawaii, SMU in the NCAA; Rice, TCU in the WNIT.