The Big West champion had formerly gone to the Las Vegas Bowl, but the now only 6 team conference wasn't much of a seat filler.

Angela Whyte of Canada was a four-time NCAA All-American and five-time Big West champion at Idaho, where she helped lead the women's team to 2001 and 2003 Big West team championships.

LEAD: If the San Francisco Giants hadn't already done it themselves, the Mets unmasked them as pretenders to their own throne last weekend when they swept a four-game series from the defending National League West champions.

Mississippi State will meet Cincinnati on Sunday for a spot against the West champion, Kansas or Syracuse, in the national semifinal next Saturday at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.

Nevada, the Big West champion last season and winner of the Las Vegas Bowl over Ball State, has lost two of its first three games while the Rockets are unbeaten and preening.

The rescheduling resulted in an SEC mini-playoff, as the winner of this game would be the West champion while the winner of the Florida-Tennessee game the same night would take the East.

The Mets figure to play one of three teams in the first round - the Dodgers or the San Diego Padres as the West champions or the wild card, or the St. Louis Cardinals as the Central champs.

In the Final Four semifinals March 30, the East regional champion will meet the West champion, and the Mideast champion will face the Midwest champion.

Stanford jumped out to an 8-0 lead, and behind Ogwumike's double-double (19 points, 11 rebounds) won easily over the Big West champion 79-47.

The Bucks look as competent as any Eastern Conference team with a shot at the finals, and one of only a few teams who might win a shootout against the West champion.