Independent Power

The Huskies have something UConn's football and men's basketball teams don't have: the national swag to operate successfully no matter what conference the university lands in.

It is clear, now that it has SNY by its side, that the UConn women could operate successfully as an independent, much like Notre Dame football. The program does not need a conference affiliation to attract recruits, garner attention or win national championships. All they would need is a hall pass from the Big East, should it live that long.

This is not the reality, however. Even Auriemma admits that scheduling 30 games would be a monumental task without the fallback of a conference to complement the nonconference games. But wouldn't it be fun to watch him try?

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Rotation In Motion

Auriemma does not share the opinion that among his top 10 players are two teams of five that can compete, individually, for a national championship.

"My players 5 through 9 couldn't beat a good intramural team," Auriemma joked.

Truth is, his 5 to 9 can beat two-thirds of the Big East's 1 to 5 and give them six points to boot.

"If you don't have eight, you have to zig and zag [for success]," Auriemma said. "Some of our younger players are good, but they are even better when they are out there with our older players.

"But on this year's team, if you get a chance to play, and you play well, you are going to have a chance to keep playing."

Perhaps through the first week of April, as usual.