Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislative leaders met for about an hour this afternoon in the governor’s office.

“Very cordial,’’ they all said.

But nothing really changed.

The governor, cordially, said he would not sign on to any DFL legislation that calls for any form of tax increases.

And DFLers said, pleasantly, they were not going to sign off on any budget that didn’t have “ongoing revenue” (tax increases).

In other words, nothing new.

But something huge did happen today at the Capitol: We got a huge lesson in how times change attitudes.

Before Capitol reporters could ask the governor questions about his meeting with DFL leaders, he first had the pleasant duty of greeting the Minnesota State University-Mankato women’s basketball team, which recently won the Division II national championship.

The governor smiled, shook hands, made small talk with the players and then mentioned that  “as the father of daughters” how appreciative he was of the 1972 federal legislation known as Title IX, which was all about equal opportunities in education.

At the time, the law, which threw open school gym doors and athletic department budgets to women, was considered hugely controversial and wildly progressive. It was an act that led to fundamental cultural changes and was attacked by conservatives of the period as a case of big government going into places it didn’t belong.

Now, here was a conservative governor singing the praises of both the Mankato basketball team and the federal legislation that made the team’s achievements possible.

“You’ve brought honor to the state,” he said to the players, promising he’d invite them to lunch at the governor’s mansion if they managed to repeat as national champs next year.

By the way, both the governor and legislative leaders said there was still time to come to agreement before Monday’s session deadline.