The Associated Press

Minnesota coach Pam Borton had a tough time believing it. In fact, she needed to see the result staring her in the face.

"I think it sunk in when I opened the morning paper and saw that we really did beat Stanford," she said. "But this is what we're striving for."

The sixth-seeded Golden Gophers had beaten third-seeded Stanford on the Cardinal's home court, adding to the unprecedented number of underdogs advancing to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

Minnesota is among the seven teams seeded five or lower still playing.

"The game has really grown," Borton said Wednesday. "There's a lot of teams that have the ability to get to the Final Four."

High school and AAU feeder programs are turning out more talent to build solid programs, Borton said.

"Coaches are doing a better job of recruiting," she said. "You still have your elite kids going to the same schools, but the key is to surround your (top) recruit with other good role players."

The 68-56 upset over Stanford in the West Regional landed the Golden Gophers in the round of 16 for the first time, creating a buzz in Minneapolis.

"I had 130 e-mails and 40 phone calls," Borton said. "People are just so excited that we've taken the program to another level."

Other underdogs advancing to regional semifinals: No. 6-seeded Colorado in the Mideast, No. 5 Georgia and No. 6 New Mexico in the Midwest. Louisiana Tech, No. 5 in the West, also advanced. No. 5 Boston College and No. 11 Notre Dame are still playing in the East.

The Fighting Irish, two years removed from their only national championship, knocked off third-seeded Kansas State on the Wildcats' home court in one of several predetermined sites used in the women's tournament for the first time.

The Big East has four teams remaining in the tournament, the most of any conference. That's one more than the Southeastern Conference and possibly another measure of overall progress.

"Our league has obviously gotten better and better every year," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. "I attribute that a lot to Connecticut."

He said UConn coach Geno Auriemma has helped set the standard with three national titles.

UConn and the other top-seeded teams, Tennessee, Duke and Louisiana State, avoided surprises and advanced to the Sweet 16.

Villanova coach Harry Perretta, whose team is seeded second in the Mideast, said if those four team are taken out of the mix, the field is more even. Perretta's Wildcats upset Connecticut two weeks ago, ending the Huskies' 70-game win streak.

"I think parity's coming into the game," Perretta said. "It's still not quite there," Perretta said. "There's better players, and you can spread that talent throughout the country a little better."

But the Huskies had all they could handle Tuesday night at home from TCU, a big, fast team playing with nothing to lose. The defending national champs needed a career-high 35 points from Diana Taurasi to win 81-66.

"This parity stuff sometimes in women's basketball sometimes gets beat up a little bit," Auriemma said. "That's a really good team playing on our home court."