UAA

LOCATION: Anchorage

LAST SEASON: 31-4 (14-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference)

POSTSEASON: NCAA semifinals, lost to Minnesota State

COACH: Tim Moser (4th season, 84-15)

GO-TO PLAYERS: The Seawolves lost their biggest go-to-player, All-American center Rebecca Kielpinski, and will rely on a pair of senior guards this year. Tamar Gruwell was the team's third-leading scorer and hit 51 3-pointers last year, and Kiki Taylor led the team in assists and steals and was regarded as the top defensive player on a squad that was second in the nation in scoring defense (49.1 point per game).

ONE SHINING MOMENT: The Seawolves reached the NCAA Division II Final Four for the second year in a row last season and set a school record for wins, including a 19-0 mark at home. UAA won the NCAA West Regional and beat Clayton State in the Elite Eight before falling to Minnesota State in the semifinals.

FAMOUS FACES: Kai Hibbard was runner-up on "The Biggest Loser" in 2006. She lost 118 pounds on the show, going from 262 pounds to 144.

FUN FACTS: Opened in 1954 as Anchorage Community College, the school first held classes at night in the Anchorage High School building, which is now West High.

COASTAL CAROLINA

LOCATION: Conway, S.C.

MOTTO: Ex Libertate Veritas (From Liberty, Truth)

LAST SEASON: 16-14 overall, 8-8 in the Big South

POSTSEASON: Lost to Winthrop in the first round of the Big South Tournament

COACH: Alan LeForce (12th season, 175-164)

GO-TO PLAYERS: 5-10 junior guard Sydnei Moss averaged 12.1 points per game, was fifth in the Big South in rebounds with 209 and was named to the All-Big South Second Team. Katie White, a 6-3 junior center, blocked 47 shots.

ONE SHINING MOMENT: LeForce won his 100th game at Coastal Carolina on Nov. 30, 2004. He is the only head coach with 100 wins for both Division I men's and women's programs and also has more than 100 wins as a public high school coach, a private high school coach and an NAIA men's coach.

ALASKA CONNECTION: Compliance director Jim Curry lived in Alaska for more than seven years, residing in Anchorage and then Eagle River. He attended elementary school and middle school in Alaska. The Coastal Carolina men's team played in the 1991 Shootout and went 0-3, including a double-overtime loss to Idaho.

FAMOUS FACES: Gov. Mark Sanford, a member of the Coastal Carolina Board of Trustees, can often be found hiking the Appalachian Trail, which in his case goes all the way to Argentina. Kelly Sloan, the current Miss South Carolina, is a 2007 graduate of Coastal Carolina. She graduated magna cum laude and is not to be confused with Caitlin Upton, Miss Teen South Carolina 2007, who is famous for her rambling answer to the question: "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?"

FUN FACTS: Coastal Carolina is a sea-grant institute and owns Waites Island, a 1,105-acre barrier island which is used as a natural laboratory. The school's mascot is Chaucy the Chanticleer (SHON-ti-clear), named after the proud, witty rooster from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

WESTERN CAROLINA

LOCATION: Cullowhee, N.C.

MOTTO: Facultas Vestri Mentis (Power Your Mind)

LAST SEASON: 21-12 (14-6 in the Southern Conference)

POSTSEASON: Won conference tournament, lost to Vanderbilt in the first round of NCAA Tournament

COACH: Karen Middleton (first season)

GO-TO PLAYER: Guard/forward Emily Clarke averaged 9.5 points per game and shot 43 percent from 3-point range. The 5-10 junior is the only returning player who started more than seven games last season.

ALASKA CONNECTION: The Western Carolina men played in last year's Shootout. The Catamounts lost to San Diego State by one point in their opening game before rebounding to beat Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois.

ONE SHINING MOMENT: The Catamounts beat the College of Charleston 101-87 in triple overtime to win the Southern Conference championship game last season. Lauren Powell hit a pair of free throws with 1.8 seconds left in the first overtime to force the second stanza, then drained two more free throws in the final seconds of the second overtime to force yet another extra frame. The Catamounts earned a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the highest seed in school history.

FAMOUS FACES: Mel Gibson attended Coastal Carolina. Not the Mad Max/Lethal Weapon Mel Gibson, but Melvin L. Gibson, who played nine games for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1963-64 season.

FUN FACTS: In 1980, Western Carolina's Ronnie Carr sank the first 3-pointer in college basketball history. The ball is on display at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Western Carolina's forensic research facility is called the Body Farm. It is used by researchers and forensic anthropology students to study natural decomposition.

CINCINNATI

LOCATION: Cincinnati, Ohio

MOTTO: Juncta Juvant (Strength in Unity)

LAST SEASON: 14-17 (3-13 in the Big East)

POSTSEASON: Lost 68-58 to South Florida in the second round of the Big East Tournament.

COACH: Jamelle Elliott (first season)

GO-TO PLAYER: Kahla Roudebush, a 5-8 senior guard, led the Bearcats in scoring last season with 16.3 points per game. She also had 41 blocks and averaged 3.9 assists and 3.3 steals.

ONE SHINING MOMENT: The 2001-02 Bearcats went 27-5, won the Conference USA regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to South Carolina.

ALASKA CONNECTION: Cincinnati won the 1998 Shootout, beating top-ranked Duke 77-75 in the championship game. Kenyon Martin was on the Cincinnati team and was named all-tournament, but Duke's William Avery brought home the MVP award.

FAMILIAR FACES: The heaviest American president graduated from the Cincinnati law school -- William Howard Taft, who was 6 feet tall, andweighed more than 300 pounds when elected in 1908. He served one term as president and later was the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

FUN FACTS: The school mascot is named after Leonard K. "Teddy" Baehr, a fullback on the 1914 Cincinnati football team. In a game against the Kentucky Wildcats, cheerleader Norman Lyon chanted, "They may be Wildcats, but we have a Baehr-cat on out side."

-- Compiled by Richard Larson

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