Going into last season's Big Ten women's basketball championships, the Penn State Lady Lions, holders of the regular-season conference crown, entered the tournament looking for a strong performance that would grab them a No. 1 seed in The Big Dance.

The Lady Lions lost a heartbreaker to Purdue in the tournament championship, but still garnered a No. 1 seed. Penn State eventually bowed out to the No. 2 seed in its bracket, the mighty Connecticut Huskies.

Since then, the mighty may not have fallen completely, but they have at least slipped a little, as Penn State and Connecticut enter their respective conference tournaments surrounded by a cloud of questions.

In fact, both teams find themselves in eerily similar positions. Though the Lady Lions will be looking to take care of their seed on the court, Connecticut's spot in the NCAA tournament bracket will be of great interest to Penn State.

The Lady Lions enter this weekend's Big Ten tournament as a No. 3 seed, behind Ohio State and Michigan State. This is the first time in three years that Penn State has not been the top seed entering championship week.

Connecticut had won a remarkable 11 straight Big East regular season championships entering this season, but also enters its tournament as a No. 3 seed behind Rutgers and Notre Dame.

ESPN.com women's bracketologist Charlie Creme currently has the Huskies, ranked No. 14 nationally, as a No. 4 seed and the Lady Lions as a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament, but both will be looking to move up with strong performances in their conference tournaments.

"It's all about the NCAA tournament now," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "I mean, it's about winning the Big Ten tournament because we haven't done it. But it also is about NCAA seeding."

This year's Connecticut squad shares some similarities with the Lady Lions, but one of the teams that Penn State knocked out of the NCAA tournament last year, Notre Dame, is an embodiment of what the Lady Lions want to make sure they do not do this weekend in Indianapolis.

That Irish squad entered the 2004 Big East tournament with a solid, if unspectacular 19-9 record, that included victories over seven ranked teams, including then-No. 4 and eventual national champion Connecticut.

This year's Lady Lions enter the Big Ten tournament with an 18-9 record and six victories over ranked teams, including then-No. 2 North Carolina.

Notre Dame finished the regular season behind Connecticut and entered Big East tournament as the No. 2 seed with a first-round bye. Unfortunately for the Irish, they were upset by Rutgers in the second round, the type of letdown that Penn State is hoping to avoid this year against its first opponent, the winner of today's first round game between Iowa and Michigan.

"Iowa has already come out and made statements after their last game that they can't wait to play Penn State, that they felt we took the game from them when we played at Iowa," Portland said. "They know that they need at least two wins in the Big Ten tournament to be looked at for the NCAA tournament. Would it be a tough matchup? Yeah, it will be a tough matchup."

Notre Dame's early spill in last year's Big East Tournament undoubtedly cost it at least one seed in the NCAA tournament, and the Irish ended up a five seed in a bracket that included Penn State and Connecticut. This is exactly the situation that Penn State is trying to prevent.

Past history suggests that, depending on the outcome of this weekend, Penn State could be seeded anywhere from four to seven, and this would obviously be a huge difference.

"It's really important that we get ourselves in a decent seed, and the tournament would give us a decent seed," Portland said.

Showing some CLASS

Guard Tanisha Wright, who recently won her third straight Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award, was named yesterday as one of 10 finalists for the Bayer Senior CLASS Award, presented each year to the outstanding Division I senior player.

Other Big Ten finalists include Minnesota's Janel McCarville and Ohio State's Caity Matter. Tennessee's Shyra Ely and Texas Christian's Sandora Irvin are also among the 10 candidates for the award, winners of which will be determined by a combination of the national media, Division I women's basketball coaches and fans via on-line voting.