Take your pick. Either a marquee player or a perennial powerhouse. Both in one weekend, but not on the same day. The Lady Lions have the opportunity to host both as Minnesota with Carol Ann Shudlick and Iowa visit this weekend.

Penn State, the nation's top-ranked women's basketball team, is undefeated, undaunted and prepared to establish itself as the undisputed premier team in the country. A victory over the No. 8 Hawkeyes (15-2, 6-1 Big Ten) at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday at Rec Hall would vault the Lady Lions to such proportions.

Despite the pre-weekend hype that has quickly transformed the northwest end of campus into a media circus, Coach Rene Portland insists on not looking past her next opponent.

"I want to first focus on Minnesota to be quite honest," said Portland of the Golden Gophers (11-5, 4-3), who will try to upset the nation's only remaining undefeated team at 8 p.m. today at Rec Hall.

"They obviously have Carol Ann Shudlick -- I swear that girl has just a magnet between her and the basket," Portland said.

Shudlick, the reigning Big Ten player of the year, is averaging 25.6 points per game and leading the conference in scoring. The 6-foot-2 senior center-forward has established herself as one of the nation's top players while practically carrying Minnesota on her shoulders.

But with the way the Lady Lions have been handling star players (see All-Americans Katie Smith of Ohio State and Heidi Gillingham of Vanderbilt), Portland doesn't expect Shudlick to take over the game.

"Our kids really have fun when somebody's coming in here and a prime-time player and shutting them down," Portland said. "We're going to take some chances on Carol Ann and see where we can get some different help. We might need to change up our defenses instead of going with our normal stuff."

The concentration on containing Shudlick will no doubt be a difficult task. And if the Lady Lions are able to do so, they'll need to have a repeat performance against the Hawkeyes, who will be waiting in the wings.

Iowa was bound to be ranked atop the polls before suffering consecutive losses to Indiana and Northern Illinois on the road. Now they appear as both a mind-boggling team on a free-fall but at the same time a formidable challenge for the Lady Lions.

"This has Big Ten ramifications and this has national," Portland said. "Certainly my connection with (Iowa) Coach C. Vivian Stringer is at a competitive level. The two of us have been at it a long time and every time we play each other, it's a great game, wherever it is."