VIRGINIA CAVALIERS

1. Liz Lemon is a Total Geek. You know her now as creator and star of the funniest show on Thursday nights, "30 Rock," but Tina Fey spent her time in Charlottesville avoiding keg parties and being a nerdy drama major. It all paid off two years after graduation from UVa with her acceptance into the renowned Chicago comedy troupe, Second City; she later became the first female head writer in "Saturday Night Live" history. Other famous alumnae: Melissa Stark, Katie Couric and super-hottie Georgia O'Keefe.

2. Stairway to Mezzanine. The Cavaliers ate up every last morsel of that home cookin' this year as they went 16-1 in the inaugural season of John Paul Jones Arena. You may remember John Paul Jones as the 1948 graduate of UVa Law School whose son dropped $35 million towards building the new arena. There's no relation to either the Revolutionary War hero nor the bassist for the entirely overrated 70s band Led Zeppelin. That one home loss? To Stanford. Stupid drunk tree.

3. The Manatee Has Become The Mento. On February 14, 2006, Duke superstar J.J. Redick became the all-time NCAA leader for career 3-point field goals, breaking the record set eight years earlier by University of Virginia shooting legend, Curtis Staples. As a young lad in Roanoke, Virginia, Redick had attended a basketball camp where he was coached by Staples. The Cavaliers retired Staples' jersey No. 5 during a ceremony last November. — Rob Iracane

ALBANY GREAT DANES

1. Jamar Wilson, Mayor of Sm-Albany. This is becoming a rite of spring. Jamar Wilson dominates an America East Final (22, 7 and 6 in the conference title game), and the Great Danes get a bid to the Big Show. Diddly posed the thought on everyone's mind (in the Capital District at least): "I think we're seeing the dawn of a new dynasty with Albany. I just wish they'd change their frigging nickname." Dynasty? Perhaps. Scrap the Great Danes? No can do. The nickname can stay. SUNY Albany is the only college or university with the Great Dane as its mascot. It looks like a wife-beating version of Scooby Doo.

2. The Am East in 58 words or less. Vermont had won 13 straight games and reached the America East championship for the fifth consecutive season. The Catamounts won the tourney in '03, '04 and '05, but have now dropped the last two finals to Albany (last year in scenic Sm-Albany and this year in SyrupLand). Former coach Tom Brennan keeps smarmy Doug Gottlieb in check daily. Albany beat Vermont 60-59 in the America East title game behind Wilson, a huge strip by Carl Ross (#00 in your program, #1 in your heart) and god awful execution by Vermont on the game's final play. It also didn't hurt to have Vermont big man Chris Holm roll his ankle on the opening tip and limp to eight points and three boards (well below the 11 and 12 he averages). Albany ended up out rebounding the nation's best rebounding team. These guys were a 16 last year, and led UConn by 12 with 11 minutes to play, finally losing 72-59.

3. Useless Nuggets. SUNY Albany has hosted the New York Football Giants summer training camp since 1996. This guy ran the merchandise tent in the summer of '96. Extremely good times. On April 17, 2005, students from the University at Albany set and currently hold the record for the world's largest pillow fight with 3,648 participants, observed by Guinness Records officials. It's official. You can Google that. — Tom Doyle

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2. The Am East in 58 words or less. Vermont had won 13 straight games and reached the America East championship for the fifth consecutive season. The Catamounts won the tourney in '03, '04 and '05, but have now dropped the last two finals to Albany (last year in scenic Sm-Albany and this year in SyrupLand). Former coach Tom Brennan keeps smarmy Doug Gottlieb in check daily. Albany beat Vermont 60-59 in the America East title game behind Wilson, a huge strip by Carl Ross (#00 in your program, #1 in your heart) and god awful execution by Vermont on the game's final play. It also didn't hurt to have Vermont big man Chris Holm roll his ankle on the opening tip and limp to eight points and three boards (well below the 11 and 12 he averages). Albany ended up out rebounding the nation's best rebounding team. These guys were a 16 last year, and led UConn by 12 with 11 minutes to play, finally losing 72-59.

3. Useless Nuggets. SUNY Albany has hosted the New York Football Giants summer training camp since 1996. This guy ran the merchandise tent in the summer of '96. Extremely good times. On April 17, 2005, students from the University at Albany set and currently hold the record for the world's largest pillow fight with 3,648 participants, observed by Guinness Records officials. It's official. You can Google that. — Tom Doyle

CONNECTICUT

1. Rashad Anderson, Loveable Flake. According to various reports, Anderson greeted coach Jim Calhoun on his first recruiting visit wearing a wig, floor-length chinchilla coat and fake teeth. Not soon after in his first semester at Storrs, Rashad thought it would be funny to jump out of the bushes in front of a dorm wielding a fake plastic knife and wearing the mask from "Scream." Police found Anderson hiding in the woods, and he was arrested for threatening and breach of peace. When asked by a team manager if this was the first time he's been arrested, Rashad responded "In Connecticut?"

2. We Play In A Mall. Despite UConn's consistent lofty national rating, its fans will never be voted No. 1. For your examination, the notoriously fair-weather supporters bail on the Huskies at the slightest sign of trouble, turning Gampel Pavilion and their home-away-from-home, the Hartford Civic Center, into caverns of silence. The crowd makeup for most games is 75 percent old folks in various forms of UConn sweater, who tend to peter off after the caffeine in their pre-game AARP McDonald's coffee wears off. Most leave to get home in time for "Commander and Chief" and "NCIS."

UConn Has A Football Team ... We Have Uniforms And Everything! UConn is now playing big time Division I football, albeit in the Big East, and has more college bowl game victories in less than a decade of D-I play (1) than Rutgers (0). Note that in 1869 Rutgers played in the first college football game EVER. Coach Randy Edsall's sideburns are shorter than Don Mattingly's after his tongue lashing from Springfield Nuclear Power Plant manager C. Montgomery Burns. And yes, the fans aren't much better at East Hartford's Rentschler Field. — Nick Aquilno, Mike Cardillo, Mike Suppe

ALBANY

1. You Never Forget Your First Time. Saturday, the nation was treated to a tremendous performance from the Godfather of SUNY Albany basketball, Jamar Wilson, who dropped 29 on the hopeless Vermont Catamounts in the America East title game. Wilson has been the central figure in Albany s climb to the top of the America East after joining the conference just five years ago. Hell, the Great Danes have only been in Division I since 1999. It was a year of firsts: First NCAA Tournament berth, first conference regular season and postseason titles, first season above .500 and first 20 win season ... not too shabby for a former D-III program. However, for all the good Jamar Wilson did yesterday, the greatest player Albany ever had was a 5'6", 135-pound JuCo transfer from Brooklyn, Earv Opong. Who you say? Earv "I ll Be Right Back" Opong, an And1 legend breaking ankles 24/7. The genesis of the nickname? Earv earned it on the New York playgrounds, blowing by defenders so often and easily that summer league announcers said "Opong just told the defender, 'I'll be right back.'"

2. Big Purple Growl. Not sure if you noticed, but the place was going nuts during that Am-East tourney final. Forget about Rutgers ... Albany s got the best RACC (Recreation and Convocation Center) in the country. A half-hour before tipoff, the place was sold out (4,500 or so), cheering wildly and waving white "growl towels." The Big Purple Growl. A yearly basketball homecoming of sorts, with booze and food and booze and hoops (women s game before the men s game) and good times all around. Hell, the event is so fun there's even a Mr. Bounce Bouncy.

3. TOGA! TOGA! Year after year, Albany manages to make the Princeton Review s Top 10 Party School list, and year after year I am baffled by this development. Truly bizarre if you ask me, but I guess having been on the U-Albany campus many times, drinking heavily may be the only viable option. Albany was No. 5 this year, and I m shocked the Admissions Department isn t racing to use this quote in their marketing materials: "Albany is a good school, but the partying can take over your normal good student. You have to be mature to learn to balance both." SUNY Albany: You Can t Stop the Party, You Can Only Hope to Contain It. — TJ Doyle

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2. Big Purple Growl. Not sure if you noticed, but the place was going nuts during that Am-East tourney final. Forget about Rutgers ... Albany s got the best RACC (Recreation and Convocation Center) in the country. A half-hour before tipoff, the place was sold out (4,500 or so), cheering wildly and waving white "growl towels." The Big Purple Growl. A yearly basketball homecoming of sorts, with booze and food and booze and hoops (women s game before the men s game) and good times all around. Hell, the event is so fun there's even a Mr. Bounce Bouncy.

3. TOGA! TOGA! Year after year, Albany manages to make the Princeton Review s Top 10 Party School list, and year after year I am baffled by this development. Truly bizarre if you ask me, but I guess having been on the U-Albany campus many times, drinking heavily may be the only viable option. Albany was No. 5 this year, and I m shocked the Admissions Department isn t racing to use this quote in their marketing materials: "Albany is a good school, but the partying can take over your normal good student. You have to be mature to learn to balance both." SUNY Albany: You Can t Stop the Party, You Can Only Hope to Contain It. — Thomas J. Doyle