This weekend, fans of the men's game wonder what the Dance would be like if players like Elton Brand and Corey Maggette hadn't left early for the NBA. Fans of the women's game, however, wonder what the tournament would be like without ACL injuries.

Last year's Final Four MVP, Shea Ralph, and National Player of the Year, Tamika Catchings, both suffered career-ending tears this year. "It's the cancer of women's basketball," says Penn State head coach Rene Portland.

What can be done? First, women athletes can be trained to better land and cut. Studies show men's hamstrings react more quickly to stress than women's hamstrings. The hamstring stabilizes the knee and therefore protects the ACL. Also, women have wider pelvises, creating a wider angle between the thigh and the calf. That causes extra pressure on a woman's knees.

So genetics may be one reason female athletes are two to eight times more likely to suffer ACL tears than male athletes. Athletic trainers say women basketball players could help prevent tears by learning to land with their knees bent and toes pointed outward.

Watch tomorrow's semifinal games in St. Louis. Some players, like Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles, consistently land with their knees bent. Others often come down or cut with knees locked. After her second ACL injury, Ralph practiced landing differently. She wore a belt strapped to her legs that forced her to walk with her toes pointed forward rather than inward. "I actually had to re-learn to walk," she says. Still, Ralph suffered a third ACL tear late in the season.

Perhaps softer landings need to come with nature, not nurture. "Once you're playing in a game, everything becomes unconscious," says UConn team doctor Thomas Trojian. "Bad landing habits come back just like bad shooting habits." By starting at an earlier age, women can learn proper landing and cutting techniques earlier and then strengthen their ligaments through years of practice.

Many of today's stars, like Ralph, did not start basketball until elementary school or later. Boys, on the other hand, often pick up a basketball as soon as they can walk. Would Ralph have suffered three ACL tears if she starting jump training at age 10 rather than age 20?

For the foreseeable future, the quality of men's game will be damaged by underclassmen leaving early. But there is hope that when it comes to the cancer of women's basketball, there may eventually be a cure.

Eric Adelson covers women's hoops for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail eric.adelson@espnmag.com.