North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell was taken aback recently when Jessica Breland, a senior member of the Tar Heels whom she's watched fight through five months of chemotherapy treatments, said she wouldn't change anything about her long struggle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"She said, 'My cancer has been a blessing to me because of the person it has made me into and how I've grown and developed,'" Hatchell said of Breland recently, prior to the team's game against UConn on Jan. 9. "This has made me a better person.

"It's been unbelievable. It's pretty incredible when you have a 21-year-old say something like that to you and they've been through five months of chemo."

Breland, a 6-foot-3 forward, averaged 14.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game last season and was named to this year's preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team and to the watch lists for the Wooden Award and Wade Trophy which honor the national player of the year.

She will not play for the Tar Heels this season, but recently returned to practice for the 10th-ranked Tar Heels (13-3) and joins the team's captains in the center circle prior to games. She traveled to Storrs, as UConn beat North Carolina 88-47.

Breland, whose Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, is now in remission, was diagnosed in May and underwent twice-a-month chemotherapy treatments.

"I've had players whose families, parents, brothers or sisters (have cancer), but I've never had a player that has been in that situation," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "I can't even imagine what you do.

"It's got to be a tremendous source of inspiration for the other players and to the coaching staff to have somebody like that around, especially coming back to practice. I can just imagine the emotions."

Hatchell said it's not only been inspiring, but a good source of knowledge for a young group of post players who can use some of Breland's expertise. The Tar Heels, after losing to UConn, lost again to Virginia Tech in an ACC game Thursday night 79-64.

"She hasn't done any running since April, but just helping out during the drills she looked really, really good," Hatchell said. "She adds some leadership and can show these young post players that we have, 'Hey, this is how it's done.'"

Geno on Marquette

Auriemma had his team take two straight shot clock violations at the end of Wednesday night's 68-43 victory at Marquette. He said after the game it was because he didn't want his players to get "whacked" anymore. He apologized Friday if that was misinterpreted.

"I think it insinuated that Terri's players were playing like that. I didn't mean that at all," Auriemma said referring to Marquette coach Terri Mitchell.

In addition, Auriemma clarified the point that he wasn't mad at his team. He just wanted the game, in which the Huskies were called for 20 fouls including four on Maya Moore and three each on Kalana Greene and Kaili McLaren, to be over.

"I don't generally poll 'em," Auriemma said, asked if he thought the players believed he was mad at them. "… All this stuff was happening. I didn't want anyone else getting knocked down. I didn't want anything else happening. I just wanted the game to end. What's the point?

"I didn't want anybody else getting whacked … but you can't say that."

UConn gives back

The UConn players spent a few hours Monday at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, bringing game posters, signing autographs and spending some valuable time just visiting the patients there.

"It means a lot," UConn senior center Tina Charles said. "It just shows we are very blessed individuals just to be healthy and to be able to play this sport. Just to have everything, not to take everything for granted. Just those children seeing our faces, they were really happy."

They found their hearts in S.F.

When DePaul coach Doug Bruno crafted his non-conference schedule, including games against top 25 opponents Stanford and Florida State, he was expecting to be playing with three senior guards.

That was until leading scorer Deirdre Naughton, a preseason national player of the year candidate, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. And China Threatt, last year's Big East Conference Sixth-Man of the Year, suffered a career-ending knee injury, as well.

"Stanford just plain old schooled us," Bruno said of the 96-60 loss in Palo Alto, Calif., Dec. 13.

It was then Bruno made the decision to stay out west prior to the Blue Demons' three-game series Dec. 19-21 at the Duel in the Desert tournament in Las Vegas. Bruno said assistant coach Candis Blankson told him it would either be the worst decision ever to keep the team together that long or the best decision.

It was for the best, apparently. DePaul went on to win the Las Vegas tournament, with junior guard Sam Quigley named Most Valuable Player.

DePaul was 12-5 overall, 1-2 in the Big East prior to Saturday night's scheduled home game against St. John's.

"I was proud of the players, the way they stuck together," Bruno said of the injuries. "The trip, it was one of those things. There was no meltdowns, there was no drama. They got to see everything there is to see in San Francisco.

"We're very much a work in progress. We're still trying to find those adjustments."

A league of her own

Bruno, by the way, spoke in the most recent Big East Conference call about Quigley, whose older sister Allie was a former DePaul great. Sam, who redshirted the 2007-08 season because of a torn ACL, is leading the Blue Demons with 13.5 points per game in an average of 37.3 minutes.

"She's played in the shadow of Allie," Bruno said. "It's a little bit reminiscent of A League of Their Own, where Dottie's a great player and Kit's scrambling around behind her. … But (Sam) is a leader. She's a tough young player.

"There's a reason she plays every minute and it's because we can't take her off of the floor right now. I can't gush enough about how much she's meant to this basketball team."

Vickie Fulkerson covers the UConn women's basketball team for The Day.