HARTFORD, Conn. -- To say that the No. 1 seed Penn State Lady Lions and No. 2 seed Connecticut Huskies are different is an understatement.

It seems that in every way the teams can be compared, there are glaring differences. Those comparisons were extremely evident over the past weekend at press conferences, at practice, and during the games.

The differences, while at times subtle, show the vast schism that separates arguably the greatest college sports dynasty ever -- UCONN Women's Basketball -- and the Lady Lions.

Look no further than the press conferences.

Where as Penn State players act like modern-day robots, giving generic, vague answers to questions, sometimes not even answering the questions being asked, the Huskies performances, (and a performance it truly was) have the media in stitches by the end.

Example No. 1: A question was asked to Penn State All-American Kelly Mazzante about playing against Connecticut.

Her answer: "We're not worried about the seedings, we're not worried about where we are, we're just worried about Penn State vs. Connecticut."

Where's the charisma? Where's the excitement that the best player in the history of the Big Ten is supposed to bring?

Oh, that's right. Connecticut's answer to Mazzante, and any other women's basketball player in the world for that matter, Diana Taurasi must have been first in line when they were giving out all the charisma, and she must have taken several doses.

Taurasi, whose confidence is evident in her attitude under the lights, usually answers a question candidly and truthfully.

There were at least a dozen examples of that this weekend, especially when asked to compare Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma's halftime speech to a film.

"It's an independent film," Taurasi said, without missing a beat.

Example No. 2: Practice

Yes, we're just talking about practice, but when watching the two teams run through the motions, it's obvious why one plays loose in big games and the other clams up like a corpse.

After about 20 minutes of running a basic offense, the games had begun for the Huskies. The guards went to one half of the court, while the post players went to the other. The game: Who could hit seven three-point shots first? The game went back and forth and about the fourth time around Auriemma stepped into the drill for the post players. The 1,000-plus fans in attendance went berserk.

The players were jumping all over the place and, most importantly, having fun.

"We were laughing, we usually cry," Taurasi said. "But it was more for the fans."

So where do these different attitudes come from?

Just look at the coaches.

Where Portland is bland, Auriemma is colorful. Where Portland's quotes seem scripted, Auriemma seems to always be talking off the cuff. Where Portland's leash on her players is tight, Auriemma lets his players roam free.

Auriemma doesn't watch over his players like a hawk at press conferences, like Portland does. Auriemma doesn't tell them how to act or how to sit. And Auriemma doesn't put extreme pressure on his players for big games, which Portland does.

So for Penn State to become a truly elite team in women's college basketball, Portland needs hang around Geno for a day. She'll see what changes are needed to make Penn State what Connecticut is and, as long as Auriemma, is around, always will be.