OK, OK, so maybe women's college basketball wasn't quite ready to have 64 teams in the tournament just yet. Penn State knocks off Fordham by 53 points in the first round . . . well, let's just say those No. 1 vs. No. 16 matchups didn't pan out like everyone had hoped.

Now, however, things should get a little more interesting for the Lady Lions. The Midwest region's top seed will likely get its first real competition of the tournament when the ninth-seeded Kansas Jayhawks visit Happy Valley at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow in Rec Hall.

"It's gonna be a great game here," Coach Rene Portland said. "Both teams are pretty even across the board."

Portland said that the two squads are similar at almost every position, an observation that was backed up by Assistant Coach Annie Troyan.

"They're extremely quick," said Troyan, who traveled to Nacogdoches, Texas, to scout the Jayhawks in their 72-63 first-round victory over Stephen F. Austin. "They like to push it up the floor and try to create off their natural talents, and they're thin in the post like we are."

Having a lot in common with the Lady Lions would be good news for any team, and it's a fact that has served the Jayhawks well this season. Coach Marian Washington's young squad, 22-5 on the year, split its season series with highly ranked Colorado and lost only one non-conference game before falling to surging Missouri in the first round of the Big Eight tournament.

Kansas is keyed by 6-foot-2 junior forward Angela Aycock, who averaged 16.7 points and 8.7 rebounds a game this season, and Charisse Sampson, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard who tallied 12.6 points and led the team in steals.

Portland said she knows the danger the Jayhawks' two and three spots present, but she's confident her defense can step it up.

"Charisse Sampson and Angela Aycock are their big guns, so Jackie (Donovan) and Katina (Mack) are going to have their hands full with those two," Portland said.

The biggest threat the Jayhawks pose might be on the boards. They averaged nearly five more rebounds a game than their opponents, and against Stephen F. Austin, Kansas grabbed an intimidating 57 boards.

Washington, whose front line averages a respectable 6-foot-2, said that the lack of overpowering height shouldn't keep her squad off the glass.

"I wasn't considered a tall player back in my day, but that never kept me from rebounding," Washington said.

The Lady Lions, good rebounders with a similar lack of height, are well-aware of the Jayhawks' dominance on the boards.

"They've got terrific rebounders," Portland said of the Jayhawks. "They had 57 rebounds. Thirty of those were offensive, and a lot of those were by guards."

Although Kansas will step onto the Rec Hall hardwood as a sizable underdog tomorrow, Washington doesn't sound concerned. Her squad has already shown its ability to win on the road in the tournament, and Washington isn't about to let the nation's No. 2 team scare the Jayhawks out of the game before it starts.

"We don't have any intimidation," Washington said. "As far as I'm concerned, we don't have anything to lose. We're here to play."