Huskies as contenders.?Still, the Huskies four-peat last year didnt prevent several other interesting storylines from getting no

RIO DE JANEIRO -- France is headed back to a familiar place -- the womens basketball semifinals.Sandrine Gruda scored 14 points and Valeriane Ayayi added 12 to help France beat Canada 68-63 on Tuesday night. The victory set up a rematch of the 2012 gold medal game with the U.S., a game France lost by 36 points.Trailing 52-50 early in the fourth quarter, France (4-2) scored eight straight points. Canada rallied to within 60-59 with 1:55 left, but couldnt get over the top. Kia Nurse missed a jumper 40 seconds later that would have given the Canadians the lead. Olivia Epoupa, replacing injured guard Celine Dumerc, calmly sank two free throws to make it a three-point game.The loss ended a solid Olympic run by Canada, which was trying to make the semifinals for the first time since 1984. Kim Gaucher had 15 points to lead Canada (3-3).---Online:AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.org / Wholesale Authentic Jordans . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Cheap Jordans Usa . Bradwell was scheduled to become a free agent Tuesday. Born and raised in Toronto, Bradwell is entering his sixth CFL season, with all six played for his hometown Argonauts. http://www.cheapjordansusa.com/ . - The Washington Redskins have cut defensive lineman Adam Carriker and punter Sav Rocca. Cheap Jordans Online Usa . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Cheap Jordans From China . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. So when was the last time a team generally regarded as unexpected won the NCAA womens basketball title? That would be 2011, when Texas A&M beat No. 1 seeds Baylor and Stanford, and then fellow No. 2 seed Notre Dame on the way to claiming the championship.The Aggies had a very good team that year, obviously, and you can hardly call a No. 2 seed a Cinderella. But Texas A&M had never won a title before and wasnt a popular pick to win that year.Since then, though, Baylor won as a favorite in 2012, and UConn did the same in 2013-16. When those outside of womens basketball inquired about a dark horse in that time span, it was hard for any of us who follow the game to really believe there was one. (Although No. 5 seed Louisville made a run for it in 2013, with defending champ Baylor its biggest conquest on the way to losing the title game to UConn.)But what about this season? Weve already examined how projections for the national player of the year award and All-American teams might look one way now and rather different when we get closer to seasons end.?Is it a similar scenario for the teams themselves? As the season gets underway Friday, that sense of possibility is in the air more so than has been the case for a while. Or at least everybody is telling themselves that. Well have to see if its actually true.This year is wide open, because you look and say, Who is going to be No. 1? said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, whose team has that distinction in the Associated Press preseason poll.You look at South Carolina, Baylor, Ohio State, Louisville -- theres so many good teams. And obviously, Connecticut, having won four in a row, theyre always in the conversation. But I think youre going to see that No. 1 moving around a little bit, and thats going to be a good thing for the game.UConn coach Geno Auriemma appears to agree with all that.This is a much more realistic picture of what its like in the world of team sports and coaching, Auriemma said of his Huskies being among the teams that have the potential to be champions, not the prohibitive favorites.Weve lived in a world that very few people get to live in. And they may get to live in it once in their caareers.dddddddddddd Some people, twice. But never in a row, 1-2-3-4.Never except for UConn. Yet could the Huskies national-championship string extend to five? Of course it could. UConn, which has won 75 consecutive games, still has a lot of talent, despite losing players who went first-second-third in the WNBA draft. Weve seen UConn rise to the occasion too often to not strongly consider the Huskies as contenders.?Still, the Huskies four-peat last year didnt prevent several other interesting storylines from getting noticed. Perhaps the most gratifying for the participants was the surge in the Pac-12, which got two teams -- Oregon State and Washington -- into the Final Four and felt that, as a conference, it finally got its due.I feel theres a level of responsibility to keep it going, said Cori Close, whose UCLA squad is picked to win the conference this season. Not only to think about our own growth, but how to continue to think strategically about the growth of the conference.And, by extension, the growth of the game nationally.Im not one of the UConn haters in terms of thinking it was bad for the game that they won so much. I dont think so, Close said. I think theyve set a bar thats gotten peoples attention. Like, Wow, the womens game is being played at such a high level.But I also think we need this next phase with other people stepping up to that standard that UConn has done such a great job setting. I think theres this optimism this year, and theres going to be drama in the NCAA tournament. Its an important year to grow the game.Thats a phrase that has been used for a long time, and it can seem trite. Plus, the fact is, other than UConns inevitability, there actually was pretty big drama in the postseason last season, too, with three of the No. 1 seeds -- South Carolina, Notre Dame and Baylor -- all losing before the Final Four.But this season, there does seem a chance that the final page of the script isnt already written. So as we get started, thats something to whet everyones appetite for what were about to see. ' ' '