Excitement from last season still hangs in the air around the Lady Frogs. Coming off their best season ever, the team has caught the attention of the national press — they’ve been named 35th in the nation in preseason polls by the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN. That makes them the highest ranked of the 14 Conference USA teams.

Can they make their first regular-season conference championship the beginning of a streak? There’s a hill to climb since three key starters left, but having 2000-01 WAC Coach of the Year Jeff Mittie at the helm should help. So should snagging the most highly touted recruiting class in school history, ranked among the top 10 nationally.

And their bench of returners is far from bare — the top scorer from last year is among six veterans looking to turn “A Season of Firsts” into “The Second Go-’round.”

In all, the Lady Frogs play 15 games against 14 teams that made postseason play in 2001. Fresh off a victory over 22nd-ranked Penn State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the team now has experience in big games and will look to further its level of national prominence in the 2001-02 campaign.