During the 17 weeks of the women's basketball season, there have been four different teams ranked No. 1. Currently, there are no teams in the top five in the nation that have less than three losses. And three of those teams will enter the NCAA tournament coming off of a defeat in its conference's championship tournament.

Indeed, this is a year of parity in collegiate women's basketball. With the NCAA tournament tipping off this weekend, that parity will likely carry over to a March that could be more wide open -- and certainly more madder -- than ever.

"It's very wide open, and that's been evident throughout the season," junior guard Tanisha Wright said. "This year it's anybody's game. It's just who plays well on that night."

The four teams who attained a No. 1 ranking at some point this season are No. 1-seeds Duke (27-3), Tennessee (26-3), Texas (28-4) and No. 2-seed Connecticut (25-4), the defending national champion. These teams have been in constant flux as the top spot in the polls has changed six times since November.

Interestingly, the last time in which there were four different teams ranked No. 1 throughout the season, none won the national championship. That is very good news for second-seed Purdue (27-3) and the East Region's top seed, Penn State (25-5), which never nabbed the top spot throughout the season, but is looking for a trip to the Big Easy for the Final Four and a championship ring while in town.

Part of the reason for the parity is the abundance of phenomenal players, especially in the senior class, spread throughout teams across the country. With the kind of talent that exists in women's basketball right now, it is no surprise that so many teams, top to bottom, can stay in the fight.

"Our senior class all over the country is so great right now," Purdue senior forward Shereka Wright said. "Everybody's fighting for their last chance right now; they don't want to go home."

The parity that results from this kind of widespread talent is really just beginning and should continue to develop as youth girls' basketball programs continue to grow.

"I just think there are more kids playing," Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland said." "If you do what we do in the summer, [you would know] there are just tons and tons of kids who are really good. You can only keep so many."

Regardless of the reason, this year's tournament can truly become any team's stomping ground. While the No. 1 and 2 seeds are talked about the most, teams lower on the totem pole can still rise to the occasion. Consider that this season Penn State lost to an unranked Old Dominion team, Duke fell to an unranked Florida State squad and Connecticut went down to an unranked Villanova team.

That there has been no one dominant team that can overcome anyone on any given day is so exciting to so many teams.

"It's no fun when one team is winning every game all the time," Tanisha Wright said. "It's definitely motivating because anybody can win at any given time, you just have to go out and play. Teams are going down left and right, and it comes down to who comes out to play that day."

Tennessee and Connecticut are No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, in 2004, so the gap between the two programs which have won a combined 10 national championships in 22 tries may still exist. But for this year, Shereka Wright is convinced that with these teams and this postseason, there is no gap at all.

"You might not even see a Connecticut or a Tennessee [in the Final Four] just because the way people are playing right now," Wright said. "So expect the unexpected."