Last Saturday night, as 9,000-plus were on hand and ESPN/ESPN2's biggest audience ever for a women's regular-season game was tuned in, Connecticut and Duke battled on the uno-dos stage.

The same day ...

	Arizona's Shawntinice Polk is fighting to become the first freshman to lead the Pac-10 in scoring and rebounding.

Stanford survived against big rival Cal, 53-50, as Nicole Powell continues her amazing recovery from a back injury that many thought might sideline her this entire season. Washington beat UCLA behind Giuliana Mendiola's 43 points.

But how many people outside the Pacific or Mountain time zones knew this happened? Powell? Well, because she's at Stanford, the one Pac-10 team that nobody following the sport ever really loses sight of, Powell gets some notice.

But with all the talk about the great junior class, do women's hoops fans know Giuliana Mendiola is the wizard-like Washington point guard and not an 18th-century painter?

Has the word somehow leaked out that Shawntinice Polk is a stud freshman at Arizona who is averaging a double-double and not the daffy postmistress in a Rita Mae Brown novel?

Does the Pac-10's leading scorer, UCLA's Michelle Greco, need to do a Geico commercial -- "Stop calling! I don't know where that stupid lizard lives! I'm Greco, not Gecko!'' -- to get some national attention?

Whoops, that would be an NCAA no-no. Don't want that kind of attention. But you get the picture. It's February, and the biggest spotlight the Pac-10 has gotten has been about Washington's Kayla Burt being saved by her quick-thinking teammates after a heart problem had stopped her breathing.

It was an inspiring, wonderful story about a young woman who got a second chance at life but now must live it without playing basketball. But what if this same thing had happened with, say, another group of Huskies on the opposite coast? It would already be a novel, a TV movie and a Broadway play.

Now, this is ancient news, the concept that many sports things that happen on the Left Coast and its environs don't get the attention that even the dork midwest and the languid south gets. Let alone the snobby east.

We all know the time difference does have a little to do with it. And, of course, there's the media-outlet concentration east of the Mighty Mississippi as opposed to west of it.

But here's the bottom line: The Pac-10 hasn't forced the rest of the women's hoops world to tune in. It has been six years now since a league team was in the Final Four. It has been 11 years since a Pac-10 team was in the NCAA title game. In both cases, that was the same team: Stanford.

Here's at least one big factor in why that is: Look at the Division I volleyball and softball tournaments. The Pac-10 has ruled those. League teams have won 10 volleyball titles and 16 softball titles (some of those came before the the schools were officially organized into the Pac-10 in 1986-87).

	Giuliana Mendiola broke out into a dance at midcourt after her 43-point performance.

The most recent volleyball title match, last December, was a bunch of giants from USC beating a bunch of stud athletes from Stanford. Last summer's softball championship came down to Cal's superstars beating Arizona's superstars.

Even some of the bracket shenanigans the NCAA has pulled recently with volleyball and softball -- which were to cut costs/attempt to "help'' parity -- didn't stop Pac-10 domination.

What if several of the best kids, especially the volleyball kids, on those teams were playing basketball instead? Would it make for better basketball teams in the Pac-10?

Of course. And that's not even getting into all the kids that play other sports in other West Coast conferences. Add in Pacific and Long Beach State, for instance, and you have five more D-I volleyball championships. Add in Cal State Fullerton and Fresno State, and you have two more D-I softball titles.

This is not to say that all the best athletes in the east, midwest and south tend to pick basketball as their primary sport. But, without emperical data, I'd suggest by observation that's often the case. I'm sure of it in the midwest. Hoops rules among girls sports in high schools here.

Then here's something else interesting: Check out this "generational'' line of California natives: Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie, Diana Taurasi.

Cooper was the best player in the world for years, even if we hardly saw much of her for that time. Leslie might well be the best now. Taurasi, if she continues on the course she is, will certainly be talked about in that category.

Cooper and Leslie went to USC ... Taurasi to UConn. Doesn't seem quite fair that another high-profile recruit who when cross-country the other direction -- Nicole Kazcmarski, from New York to UCLA -- has disappeared from hoops, does it?

Then again, there's always consolation. Pac-10 schools are in places that are beautiful and usually don't get too cold ... OK, maybe not Pullman, Wash. (The cold part; I won't say it's not beautiful. Hey, I think Kansas is beautiful. Really.)

But Washington State doesn't fit well into any conversation of Pac-10 women's hoops. Coach Sherri Murrell left Pacific to try to change the fortune of the Cougars, who have had just one winning league record since Pac-10 play began. They were 0-11 going into Thursday's game with Arizona State. We can only hope Murrell doesn't run screaming into the wheat fields at some point.

The Pac-10 sent two teams to the NCAA Tournament last season: Stanford and Arizona State. At least two are certain to go again: Stanford and Washington. They meet again, incidentally, Feb. 13 in Seattle. The Cardinal won the first matchup 77-63 on Jan. 18.

That pits Powell and Mendiola, whom Oregon coach Bev Smith compared like this: "Mendiola has now the character and presence and leadership that people saw was a possibility last year. She seems to be on a mission this year, from last year being disaapointed, she has decided she is going to go somewhere and will take people with her.

"Powell, she's been hampered, but is asserting her presence. She is going at it a little more quietly. Whereas Giuliana seems to be screaming, 'Hey look out! Washington is on its way!' ''

Right now, Stanford and Washington are thinking about NCAA positioning. Everyone else just wants to secure a bid. Arizona, UCLA and Oregon State are the only other teams that have winning records in the league. The best overall record among those three, going into Thursday, was Arizona at 14-6. And the Wildcats face Washington Thursday.

So February is a very key time for the Pac-10 as far as bolstering its NCAA participation. And it's worth a good look.

Mechelle Voepel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com's women's basketball coverage. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.