For the first time in recent memory — and at least the first time in the current players’ careers — UConn isn’t the overwhelming favorite entering the Final Four.
The Huskies aren’t undefeated, they’ve dropped an unthinkable two games during the regular season. This is also far from UConn’s most talented roster over the years, as head coach Geno Auriemma has pointed out throughout the season.
But the last two years, the Huskies were undefeated entering the Final Four. They had five elite players in the starting lineup. And yet, UConn still came up short of the national championship. Winning all those games didn’t prepare the Huskies for the bright lights. Maybe some losses will?
“We know what it's like to lose. We know what it's like to win,” Auriemma said. “For the first time, I can honestly say in a long time, in the UCLA second half and the Louisville game, I was coaching a Connecticut team that wasn't burdened being afraid to lose and was playing to win.”
In the years before this season, UConn was so dominant that it didn’t play close games at all. 30-point wins were more common than single-digit wins. When they were hit with some adversity, the Huskies crumbled instead of fighting back. That much was clear when UConn struggled in a three-point win over Tulane and then lost to Mississippi State two seasons ago.
“I feel like the last couple years, whenever it got close or we got down, it was panic mode like ‘We don’t want to lose this game,’” Katie Lou Samuelson said.
The Mississippi State loss cured the problem. The Huskies knew the feeling of losing and were determined not to let it happen again. At least that’s what they said. But then, one year later, UConn found themselves in the exact same spot: A Final Four loss on a last-second shot, this time to Notre Dame.
“It's something that our first year we were like, ‘We need to use this (loss to Miss. St.), make ourselves better,” Napheesa Collier said. “Then we didn't really take that to heart.”
This time, the lesson looks like it took hold. The Huskies were challenged with tough games all year, from tight contests against Oklahoma and Cal, the losses to Baylor and Louisville and the battles in the NCAA Tournament against UCLA and Louisville. UConn punched back instead of falling apart. Now, they know what it’s like to lose. But they also know how to win those game.
“As much as it sucks to lose games during the year, it does give you that experience. We've had more close games this year than we have in all my years combined,” Collier said. “You're not in that position for the first time on the biggest stage in the biggest game. We know if we get in those positions, we know what to do in order to bring ourselves out of whatever is going on, to stay calm, kind of just trust in ourselves and know we've been here before, there's no reason to panic.”
Auriemma laughed at the idea his team faced much adversity this year, noting teams lose as many games in a weekend as UConn did all year. But he does see value in the Huskies knowing what a loss feels like.
“Our players have already experienced something different than they've experienced the other couple years,” he said. “Our kids have experienced that dramatic feeling of, ‘Oh, my God, we lost.’ They got up the next day, we still had practice, everything was great. I think there's this sense coming out here this year, ‘What's the big deal?’”
Of course, experience alone won’t beat Notre Dame on Friday night. Auriemma knows that the Fighting Irish could end UConn’s season for the second year in a row anyways. But the Huskies are going to be playing for the win. And that’s all Auriemma wants.
“We might get beat. We might get beat tomorrow night,” the coach conceded. “But we're not going to lose. They're going to have to beat our ass. We're not just going to lose because we're afraid to lose.”
