It has been a long time since Rene Portland picked up her first win as a coach. It was at St. Joseph's College in 1976.

Numbers usually don't mean much to the women's basketball coach. Earlier this season, Portland picked up her 300th win at Penn State. Yesterday, with a 73-53 triumph over Wisconsin, she earned her 400th career win.

"She's old, isn't she?" Portland laughed yesterday. "I'm just excited to be a part of basketball."

Based on the NCAA's list of winningest active coaches, Portland joins just six others who have reached the 400-win level. Her company includes a few Penn State opponents -- Theresa Grentz of Rutgers and Vivian Stringer of Iowa -- and Pat Summitt, coach of No. 2 Tennessee.

Pondering how long she would stay in, Portland recalled standing next to senior co-captain Jackie Donovan last Tuesday at Ohio State, when over 8,000 people packed two-of-three tiers at St. John Arena.

"I looked up and looked at the third (tier) -- and I was happy about the first two -- and I said to her, 'I'm going to keep coaching until a place like this is full,' " Portland said. "She said to me, 'You probably won't leave then either.' And that's probably true."

The reason it isn't true is that Portland still has a lot of things she wants to accomplish -- for her sport as a whole.

"There's so many issues in women's basketball that we need to break through," she said. "I'm happy that I'm in a position where I can be a part of it and enjoy it, too."

Before yesterday's tipoff, when the public address announcer proclaimed Portland had 399 wins, the crowd responded as if number 400 had already been earned.

"Rene does a great job -- she has a fabulous program," Wisconsin Head Coach Mary Murphy said. "Not that I'm a younger coach, but maybe I have a few less gray hairs than she does . . . you can look at her organization and the way she runs her team and say that's what you can do if you put your mind to it."

Gray hairs? Portland has a secret to keep them at bay.

"Lady Clairol works really well," she said.

But not eveyone was elated for the coach of the nation's No. 1 team --or even pondering what 400 wins would mean.

"I wasn't even thinking about that," Murphy said. "I was kind of hoping she wouldn't get it."