And then there were none. Old Dominion’s 78-63 loss to No. 1-ranked Connecticut in yesterday’s NCAA women’s Greensboro Region semifinal deprived the state of its last representative in the field of 64 (well, now the field of eight). ODU was overmatched against Connecticut, as is everyone not ranked in the top five, so its dismissal was not unexpected. What was unexpected was the wildly erratic nature of the game. Which was the more revealing portion? The breathtaking dominance the Huskies displayed while sprinting to a 28-point second-half lead? Or the gritty persistence the Lady Monarchs displayed while holding UConn to only six points (and no field goals) over the last 91/2 minutes? The answer probably lies somewhere in between. UConn seemed to lose interest at the midpoint of the second half. The Huskies were going to win, and they knew it, and they seemed eager to half the game with eight or nine minutes remaining. ODU, with nothing to lose, flung its youngsters into the fray and they performed admirably. ODU displayed a sense of passion and purpose in the final minutes that will carry it far if duplicated next year. The most glaring difference between the two clubs: UConn has a go-to player (freshman Maya Moore, who scored 25 points). ODU didn’t. ODU’s T.J. Jordan, a senior who will graduate as the CAA’s all-time leader in career 3-pointers, was never the same after being sidelined in December with a stress reaction in her foot. Thereafter she seemed almost to drift; upping periscope here and there and then disappearing for long stretches. She was a non-factor against the Huskies: three points (on 1-of-5 shooting) in 27 minutes.

Tomorrow’s Greensboro Region title game between top-seeded Connecticut and No. 2-seeded Rutgers will be either sleep-inducing or hyperventilation-inducing. There will be no middle ground. Rutgers is quite capable – it has aleader defeated Connecticut once this year – but it cannot hope to be competitive, let alone win, without a defiant performance from Kia Vaughn, its standout post player. Vaughn was oddly silent on offense (three points on 1-of-3 shooting) in the Scarlet Knights’ 53-42 semifinal victory over George Washington.

Sunday’s attendance in the Greensboro Coliseum – 5,034 – represented a small victory for a regional that was (a) competing against the local public’s infatuation with North Carolina and Davidson in the NCAA men’s tournament and (b) without a home-town favorite. Old Dominion was the closest thing to a local team in the semifinal doubleheader.