One player ends her college career and now everybody thinks they can win the national championship.

Well, maybe not everybody. Still, with Chamique Holdsclaw moving on from national player of the year at Tennessee to rookie of the year in the WNBA, the race for the NCAA women's basketball title should offer more suspense and more contenders than it did last season.

	Duke and Gail Goestenkors open the season Monday.

True, Tennessee did not win last season's national championship, the first time in Holdsclaw's four years the Lady Vols failed. But after going 39-0 the previous year, Tennessee looked unbeatable going in.

This season, no one has that look, not even defending champion Purdue.

"There's a lot of good teams out there," said Duke coach Gail Goestenkors, whose Blue Devils upset Tennessee in the regional finals last season to earn their first Final Four berth. "Last year the fact we saw new faces in the Final Four gave more teams hope they could be there. That's half the battle -- believing you can do it."

A lot of teams believe they could be in Philadelphia for the 2000 Final Four.

Georgia returns four starters from a Final Four team, including its two explosive scorers, twins Kelly and Coco Miller. UCLA has all five starters back from a team that lost to Louisiana Tech in the regional finals. Iowa State, which beat Connecticut in the regional semifinals before losing to Georgia in the finals, has everyone back.

Connecticut returns four starters, including second-team All-American Svetlana Abrosimova, and coach Geno Auriemma is counting on Sue Bird's return from a knee injury to steady his backcourt.

Rutgers is quick and athletic, Louisiana Tech remains a threat, and hey, don't forget Tennessee. Tamika Catchings, Semeka Randall and Kristen Clement, who have played with the poise of veterans since coach Pat Summitt brought them to Knoxville, are still around. And they're only juniors.

With the pressure on someone else, the Lady Vols can just relax and play.

"I think Pat almost loves situations like this, where she's challenged as a coach," UCLA coach Kathy Olivier said. "Because it's not like she's supposed to win it, and in those cases they always seem to rise to the occasion."

	THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT
	The Final Four First Union Center, Philadephia March 31-April 2, 2000 (Tournament begins March 17) Regional sites: East: Richmond, Va. Mideast: Memphis, Tenn. Midwest: Kansas City, Mo. West: Portland, Ore.

Auriemma has seen that before. His team was unbeaten and Tennessee had lost 10 games when they met in the 1997 Midwest Regional finals. Tennessee won and went on to win the national championship.

"Maybe everyone begins to think they have more of a chance," Auriemma said. "But I don't think you can count out Tennessee."

So who will win it? It's difficult to say. Purdue will be hard pressed to repeat after losing guards Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs, and coach Carolyn Peck to the WNBA. Duke, which lost to Purdue in the championship game, must replace three starters, including 6-6 Michele VanGorp.

The uncertainty is what makes it fun for Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp.

"I don't think it does anything but help women's basketball," Sharp said. "Five years ago, there was never a chance for someone that wasn't in the Top 25 to beat someone who was in the top five. Now it happens all the time.

"I think that says a lot about the growth of the game and how it's changed. I think it's a great statement for the sport and for universities who have made that commitment to build strong women's basketball programs, because they understand that they're a viable revenue source and can really be something special."

Fans enjoy suspense as well. The Purdue-Duke championship game last March drew the highest rating ever on ESPN for that event.

"People were very worried because Tennessee wasn't in it," Goestenkors said. "They thought it wouldn't draw so much attention, but obviously, it did very, very well. It proves people are excited about having new faces. They like it when there's an opportunity for a lot of teams to win the national title."

There also are a lot of good players, though no one of Holdsclaw's stature. Catchings was a first-team All-American as a sophomore last season and Randall made the second team. UCLA's Maylana Martin returns after earning third-team honors and so does Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles, who averaged 26 points a game as a sophomore.

Rutgers will showcase point guard Tasha Pointer, who darts around the court like a waterbug, and Iowa State has Stacy Frese, who tied an NCAA record by going 8-for-8 on 3-point shots in a game last season.

Duke last season fed off its hunger of coming close the year before, when it was upset by Arkansas in the regional finals. UCLA, Iowa State and Rutgers are hoping to do that this season after each fell one game short of the 1999 Final Four.

"It definitely whets our appetite when we had built on it the year before and then end up being one game away," Olivier said. "We've got a little better understanding of what it's about.

"At UCLA, we have a lot of teams here that have been very successful. Our kids feel good about themselves in helping with that. A lot of people are counting on them."

They're also expecting a lot at Iowa State, which had never even played in the NCAA tournament before 1997. Fans have bought 7,500 season tickets -- five times the number sold a year ago -- and they want a Final Four trip. The players do, too, and that's just fine with coach Bill Fennelly.

"If you don't believe it and don't think about it, why do you come out and practice?" Fennelly said. "There's only four teams going to make it. Why shouldn't we be one of them?"

March should be interesting indeed.