So Duke made it into the Sweet 16 for the ninth consecutive time. Yippee. And unless you're one of the 1,600 Dukies who received free iPods, you probably could care less.

The next longest Sweet 16 appearance is two (Washington, Villanova, West Virginia). Great.

Duke's run is second only to North Carolina's 13-straight trips to the regional semifinals (the Tar Heels started the run in 1981; however, they only had to win one game to advance to the Sweet 16, since the field was not expanded to 64 teams until 1985). Awesome.

Duke also has the third-longest record for Sweet 16 appearance (seven from 1986-92). Sweet.

"It shows a level of consistency that we've had since we've been here and over the past nine years," Duke senior guard J.J. Redick told the Associated Press.

Consistency? With players such as Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Luol Deng, Chris Duhon, Mike Dunleavy, Corey Maggette and Jason Williams (not to mention current Blue Devils Redick and Shelden Williams) playing for Duke during their "historic" nine-year-run, it's no wonder how they've escaped the first two rounds.

Duke's Sweet 16 bash would sound exciting and maybe interesting if it wasn't for the Lady Vols of Tennessee, who will be making their 25th consecutive Sweet 16 appearance.

The Lady Vols have been so dominating over the years that they own a perfect 38-0 record, since the NCAA tournament began for women in 1982, in games leading up to the regional semifinals (a full 64-team tournament was not established until 1994).

Over the last 25 years, Tennessee has received a No. 1 seed 17 times. Their lowest seeding was fourth, once in 1986. The Lady Vols have also won six NCAA tournaments (three for Duke).

"It just speaks volumes to the players we've had over the years," UT head coach Pat Summitt told the Associated Press.

Now that is gratitude. One of Summitt's new crewmembers is 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman Candace Parker, who made her NCAA tournament debut in style by dunking twice against Army in UT's 102-54 victory.

The victory marked Summitt's 30th win of the season, the 16th time she has reached that milestone in her 32 years at the helm.

Good ole Rocky Top!

Summitt has, put simply, been outright unreal in the NCAA tournament, where her Volunteers have put up a 91-18 (.833) record.

Summitt sits 23 wins ahead of Duke's head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who surpassed Dean Smith of North Carolina's record of 65 wins to advance to the Sweet 16 last year.

Summitt also holds the record for the most trips to the Final Four with 16 (UCLA legendary coach John Wooden holds the men's record with a dozen).

At the Final Four, every Lady Vol player (since 1976) has played in at least one Final Four game during Summitt's career at Tennessee.

Now, that is impressive.

Too bad Duke just lost.

Shannon is a senior from Nashville, Tenn. Comments can be emailed to her at [email protected].