UConn’s road to a dynasty has long been paved, and now it is just up to the players to measure up.

By JOEY JOHNSTON

Tribune Staff Writer

(c) Tampa Bay Times. Originally published April 1, 2015.

TAMPA — It’s not just a successful run. It’s bigger than a dynasty. It’s dependable, precise, coldly efficient.

It’s much more than a juggernaut in women’s college basketball.

It’s … it’s … a machine?

When the No. 1-ranked Connecticut Huskies (36-1) arrive at Amalie Arena this weekend for the Women’s Final Four, it’s a chance to witness domination unlike any other in the sport’s history.

“At some point, Connecticut turned on the gas and just left everyone behind,” ESPN analyst and former Tennessee player Kara Lawson said.

Fun with numbers, UConn style:

In a three-season period, which could very well end with UConn earning its third consecutive national title, the Huskies have played 116 games. They won 111 of them. Three of the five defeats were by two points.

UConn has captured 16 straight NCAA Tournament games in that span, winning by an average margin of 32.9 points. In one postseason mismatch, they held a 74-point advantage. In a Sweet 16 contest, when the stakes are raised and the games generally get more competitive, they prevailed by an unheard-of 51 points.

This season alone, UConn has defeated 19 opponents by 40 points or more while winning by an average margin of 42 points.

“We have some games where we can make the score whatever we want to make it,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who utilizes the all-around excellence of Breanna Stewart, the 3-point marksmanship of Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, the leadership of Morgan Tuck and the playmaking of Moriah Jefferson.

It is unprecedented. It is intimidating. It is, well, machine-like.

“Geno’s comment is, ‘Come catch me,’ and we tried,” said Brigham Young coach Jeff Judkins, whose team lost to UConn 70-51 in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. “The big goal we had was to get Geno to take his coat off and throw it on the bench.”

“Lucky for us, no humans are invincible,” Louisville guard Jude Schimmel said. “But they’re just so disciplined. They do the right thing every single time, every possession. If a basketball team can play great with few breakdowns, there’s a possibility of beating UConn. It’s something to strive for.”

And something so few teams accomplish.

UConn is in the Women’s Final Four with three other No. 1 seeds, matched up with Maryland in one semifinal while Notre Dame and South Carolina meet in the other. It’s a quartet of No. 1’s for only the third time in the event’s history. So, the challenge is formidable.

At least on paper.

Last season, UConn met unbeaten Notre Dame in the national championship game. Final: UConn 79, Notre Dame 58.

Earlier this season, with UConn ranked No. 2 because of an early-season defeat at Stanford, the Huskies hosted No. 1-ranked South Carolina. Some were poised for a changing of the guard, the arrival of the sport’s new superpower. This was the proving ground. Final: UConn 87, South Carolina 62.

“They humbled us,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said afterward.

And all around the nation, other coaches nodded in recognition.

Welcome to the club, Gamecocks.

“We don’t think of ourselves as a machine or some basketball factory,” said UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph, a former Huskies All-American player (1996-2001). “We have a great time together and we love to have fun. But we know how to take care of business, too.

“As a player, as a coach, I felt so prepared every day. That kind of confidence that we carried, people felt. I remember as a captain walking out there several times and knowing we were going to win. The other captains looked so … so … defeated.”

UConn opponents still must grapple with finding the right mentality. And the Huskies, too, must get their minds right.

“It’s OK because it’s something we created, not like somebody dumped it on us and said, ‘Here, you be that team,’ ” Auriemma said. “It has taken us 20 years to create this. Now that we’ve created it, we’ve got to deal with it. And I tend to get kids to come to Connecticut who want to deal with it.”

“We are all chasing what UConn has done, and I think it’s OK to admit that,” said Louisville coach Jeff Walz, whose program has twice met UConn in the national championship game, losing by 22 and 33 points. “If you don’t, I think you’re foolish. You respect everyone, but you surely can’t go into a game fearing them.”

How has it happened?

Obviously, UConn is a preferred destination for high-school All-American players. It’s not like the Huskies must endure a rebuilding season — ever.

“Geno isn’t hoarding all the great players, because he can only have 11 or 12 at a time,” Walz said. “The difference is he gets great players who want to be part of something bigger, who play together as a team. It’s what we all want.”

“I admire UConn’s relentless culture,” said University of South Florida coach Jose Fernandez, whose Bulls came within 14 points of UConn in the American Athletic Conference tournament championship game. “He gets good players, but a lot of programs get good players. He makes them great.”

Even more than that, Auriemma instills a perfectionist style, an unyielding standard that goes beyond the seemingly non-ending array of blowout victories. UConn is chasing something far different.

“They beat a team by 50 and everybody is like, ‘Oh my gosh, what a machine,’ but Geno is picking it apart and getting on them in practice for the smallest things,” ESPN analyst Charlie Crème said. “It’s not the perfect record he’s after. It’s perfect execution.

“He’s looking at how a dribbler came off a screen or how a screen was set. The angle at which you’re blocking out. Even if you scored or got the rebound, it’s still not enough. It has to be right. If someone gets lazy against SMU or Memphis and commits a foul, it doesn’t matter in the moment. But Geno and his coaching staff are going to drill down on that and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Even though it was irrelevant in that game, it could matter later.”

Auriemma sees the game differently.

“I treat it a little bit like golf,” he said. “If you go out to post a certain score, I think you’re missing the point of what the game is all about. You’ve got to put the ball in the hole, I know. But it’s about beating the game of golf, beating the golf course. It has nothing to do with the score.

“We try to get to the point where the game of basketball is played really well. Whatever the score is, the score is. We’re measuring other things.”

UConn players quickly get that message.

“Coach keeps us on edge,” Tuck said. “Doesn’t matter what the score is. We don’t coast. We just don’t.”

Counting her redshirt year, Ralph said she lost 12 games as a UConn player. She described those experiences as “catastrophic … Armageddon … like the sky was falling.”

But each one taught a lesson. Auriemma made sure of that. UConn came back stronger.

“You don’t come here to lose,” Ralph said. “You are reminded of that each day. We’re always after the next goal.”

UConn’s machine rages on.