Five Things About The UConn Women

There is a lot you can tell about a basketball team after eight games, especially if its 0-8. After all, if you can't finish the salad, what's to be expected when steak is served?

Winning eight games does not a championship make. And No. 2 UConn still has heavy lifting ahead, beginning with a real load: No. 1 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., on Dec. 29.

That game — and those that follow against Notre Dame and Baylor — will show what's inside the Huskies.

But there are five things that already seem clear:

Talent Takes Time

This applies to UConn's three freshmen — Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson — and adapting to the work ethic Geno Auriemma wants his entire team to make second-nature.

For instance, here is Auriemma's philosophy on the offensive rebound and why his team might not perform the task very well:

"It's not a mystery that teams that make a lot of outside shots tend to think that everything is going in, and they don't work as hard as they need to on offensive rebounding. Sometimes that happens to us.

"Teams that struggle from the outside work their butts off on offensive rebounding because they understand it can give them another opportunity [to score]."

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis

The sophomore is supremely gifted offensively, capable of breaking open a game.

"She come down the floor four times, scores 12 points [on four threes] and boom, the game is over," Auriemma says.

But Mosqueda-Lewis has been working hard on other aspects of her game that don't come as easily. And as she does this, she has become aware that her teammates are watching her, looking for signs that she is as committed as she says she is.

"I have been working hard all year to earn everyone's trust, not only [Coach Auriemma's]," she said. "I've tried to change as a player, change as a teammate. And I think I've done an OK job to this point. I am still trying.

"I didn't have a good practice the other day and I said, 'I don't want you guys to stop believing in me. I wasn't very good today. It's not going to be like this anymore. I will come back, I will talk … it won't happen again.'"

Toughness

UConn's opponents seem to believe they can beat the Huskies by beating them up. Maryland tried it and so did Penn State. Why shouldn't the Huskies think Notre Dame, Stanford and Baylor will put up their dukes? Maybe even Duke will.

Auriemma wants his players to engage along the front lines, which he made clear when talking about how Stewart needs to learn the facts of strife.

"Breanna does have a tendency to float. She has the talent to do that, until people start knocking her around," Auriemma said. "Then she needs to respond. There comes a point that you need to respond. We just need to teach her what the right response is.

"When Rebecca [Lobo] was a freshman, she would sneak out to the three-point line and launch one. But that's not responding like a tough guy. When you are getting beat up, you go into the lane and foul them out. Then you don't have to worry about getting beat up anymore."