SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Had someone been foolish enough Wednesday night to tell Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw that the sun will still come up in the morning, she might well have reminded them that the wind chill will be in single digits when the sky does lighten in northern Indiana.
There was no bright side to be found.
There was no victory to be had in No. 2 Notre Dame's 72-61 loss to No. 1 Connecticut.
That much was frustrating enough for the one program that has in recent memory solved the Connecticut conundrum, just a few years ago winning seven of eight games between the two to make their rivalry the best the sport has to offer. Notre Dame has now lost six in a row.
Worse, at least to hear McGraw tell it of a game that was entertaining to watch as a neutral, was how little chance the Fighting Irish gave themselves for the kind of performance that could end a rival's 82-game winning streak.
The coach had barely taken a seat for her postgame news conference when she offered a few words of praise for the performance of freshman Jackie Young, a verbal nod to reserve Mychal Johnson's contributions and then spared few others.
"Just really, really disappointed in pretty much everything," McGraw said. "Execution, inability to get the ball to [All-American Brianna Turner]. Just completely ineffective offensively."
Heck, even the silver lining came with an ominous cloud attached after Young was helped from the floor having sustained an ankle injury that leaves the guard who showed off offensive and defensive skills doubtful for a trip to DePaul on Saturday.
Every concern McGraw had about a team deep with talent but short on experience, especially in roles of accountability, came to light. Most notably and painfully in a sluggish first quarter that put the Irish behind by double digits and a disastrous third quarter that wiped out a comeback.
"I think we saw some of [the problems] coming, so it's not a total surprise," McGraw said. "But I don't think to that extent."
The question for the country is: Did it expose what Notre Dame cannot be? Or just what it did not do Wednesday?
Much of Notre Dame's trouble had to do with talent -- not too little of it but too much.
Only point guard Lindsay Allen and Turner are in the same roles as previous seasons. Marina Mabrey, Arike Ogunbowale and Kathryn Westbeld were around for the Connecticut game a season ago, but they had the luxury of supplementing Notre Dame's core. Others, like Young and fellow freshman Erin Boley, weren't around at all. So when Notre Dame struggled early, Ogunbowale took it upon herself to get the Irish back on solid ground. She didn't do poorly, either. Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said the sophomore's aggressiveness forced him to make defensive adjustments. He compared her to former NBA point producer Vinnie Johnson, nicknamed "The Microwave" for a penchant to get hot in a hurry.
"The one thing I see that they are doing is they're playing a little more one-on-one, trying to take advantage of some of the talent they have," Auriemma said. "Which I would, too, if I was them."
Except that was Auriemma being diplomatic (yes, it happens). He knew in moments when it mattered in years past that he had Diana Taurasi or Maya Moore or Breanna Stewart to make points out of nothing. But there is a reason none of them ever led the nation in scoring. Even with some of the sport's iconic individual talents, Connecticut didn't rely on one-on-one sets.
Neither did Notre Dame. Neither will Notre Dame, if McGraw is to be believed.
"It's not our intention to play one-on-one," McGraw said. "That was our problem; we played one-on-one. Our intention was to share the ball and to move the ball. I think our frustration showed early and it turned into one-on-one with our wings. That was another source of disappointment."
When Ogunbowale cooled, the offense was even more broken. That isn't to pick on her. She was doing what has worked for her throughout her entire basketball life. And the Fighting Irish would have been in even more trouble without her points. McGraw's ire fell on everyone.
Notre Dame entered averaging assists on 60 percent of its field goals, the same as a season ago. It had assists on barely half its field goals against the Huskies.
But at the same time, Auriemma wasn't just being magnanimous in saying Notre Dame was a headache to defend at all five positions.
Notre Dame is going to give away something inside to some of its peers this season, Connecticut and South Carolina most notably. But spread some mix of Ogunbowale, Young, Mabrey and Westbeld around Turner -- while remembering to get her the ball -- and let Allen run the show, and a great many defenses will bend well beyond the breaking point. Connecticut nearly did at times Wednesday, which ought to be proof enough.
"Just really, really disappointed in pretty much everything. ... Just completely ineffective offensively." Irish coach Muffet McGraw on her team's play vs. UConn
Among Top 25 teams, everyone talks in terms of actual victories and not moral victories when it comes to the four-time defending champions. None are as convincing about it as Notre Dame. Partly it is that run of success from the spring of 2011 to the spring of 2013. Partly it is the sheer familiarity that at least the coaching staffs still share from each program's days in the Big East.
Mostly it's because in a world without Connecticut, Notre Dame of the past decade would be Connecticut. Even if Allen, 114-2 against everyone else as a starter, wasn't willing to concede as much about an opponent against whom she is now 0-5.
"I think it's not getting over the hurdle, it's being able to play well for 40 minutes and play our game," Allen said. "Coach talked about being efficient offensively, and that was my fault, I think. I think we have to make sure that I'm putting my teammates in a position where they're going to be successful. ... I think at times we were sped up because of their defense. And at times, when we were on defense we just weren't sticking to our assignments."
Notre Dame really does want the measuring stick to be itself, not that team from Storrs. That is why McGraw was so dispirited.
"I think the challenge for any coach, whether it's Muffet or myself or anybody else, is how to take the team you have in front of you and try to make it work ..." Auriemma said. "I think there are some things they do a little bit differently, but they haven't changed that much. It's just that this team as it's constructed right now hasn't played together long enough. ...
"Look, we're not the team we used to be," Auriemma said. "Neither are they."
Both have about four months to work on it. But on this night, yet again, Connecticut was better.