Most teams will need divine intervention to take down UConn in this year's Tourney. No. 2 Stanford is a bit ahead of the game: They already have some Magic.

Friend: The Terps can't do without Dixon Kirkpatrick: Gooden & Collison lead the Jayhawks Forde: Tough defense is the standard in Con-USA Liang: Haslem is comes up big for the Gators. Burton: Don't question Duke's toughness Feldman: Sampson's teaching are getting through Hockensmith: Dickau knows how to finish Wojciechowski: Johnson makes or breaks the Illini Thamel: UConn women are more than their starters Hodes: Look out for the women of the Big 12 Hodes: Lady Cardinals believe in Magic

Nicole Powell isn't sure which member of the men's team gave her the nickname last season, but it's stuck because the 6'2" sophomore point presents the same kind of match-up problems that a certain 6'9", stiff-legged Spartan created two decades ago. Powell averaged 15.9 ppg on the regular season, led the Pac-10 in assists (6.1) and -- get this -- finished tied for first in rebounds (9.3). She had three triple-doubles entering March. "She can see things the rest of us can't," says 5'6" Oregon PG Shaquala Williams. "She can put me on her hip. But try someone bigger, and she'll take you outside."

Cal tried to shut her down with agile six-footer Amber White, who successfully contained both Williams and Georgia's 6'5" Christi Thomas. Magic left her defender in the dust: 28 points, 22 boards and 12 assists in two games. "She makes such good decisions," White says.

Powell's impossible digits make another number, 6, seem quite reasonable. That's the number of wins standing between the senior-laden Cardinal, 28-1 on the regular season, and a net-cutting celebration in San Antonio. "There's no doubt in my mind we can go all the way," Powell says.

Believe in magic, because Magic believes.

This article appears in the March 18 issue of ESPN The Magazine.