SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Walking a tight rope is not an image that comes to mind when thinking about the UConn women's basketball team. Yet the UConn staff said the Huskies are performing "without a safety net" in regard to players such as Katie Lou Samuelson, Napheesa Collier and Gabby Williams.
If so, they look about as sure-footed as The Flying Wallendas. Remember how UConn lost its "big three" from last season and was probably going to struggle a bit this year trying to replace those amazing players? Yeah, whatever.
There is a reason most of us picked the Huskies as preseason No. 1, and it wasn't because we went into default mode. It's because there actually was more to see with UConn last season than just being dazzled by Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck. Yes, it could be hard to look away from them -- but when you did, you saw the future was right there with them, and it looked pretty good, too.
Now, the future is the present. Which looks a lot like the past. That's exactly what UConn wanted.
On Wednesday, the Huskies did what they've done so often: throw the proverbial wet blanket on the so-called wide-open race in women's basketball this season. No, it's not. UConn is again the team to beat, with a winning streak that now stands at 83 in a row.
The top-ranked Huskies' 72-61 victory over No. 2 Notre Dame was the best example yet in an 8-0 season of why they're the national championship favorites again. UConn showed off a different "big three" Wednesday; last season's trio left the Huskies and became the top three WNBA draft picks in April. While this season's big three don't yet have the acclaim or the experience of last year's trio, they are very impressive on their own.
Samuelson, Collier and Williams combined for 57 points; they almost outscored the Irish by themselves.
While last year's star trio each had clearly different roles -- Jefferson was the point guard, Tuck the sturdy forward, Stewart the "anything she wanted to be" -- the Huskies' top scorers against the Irish are harder to define position-wise.
"That's one of the things we've learned to use to our advantage," said the 6-foot-3 Sameulson, the tallest of UConn's starters. "You can say that Gabby's almost playing our center, but she's smaller than almost every center in the country. That shows it's a hard matchup. But you have difficult matchups with all three of us. It just opens up the offense a little bit more."
Williams is just 5-11, but her leaping ability adds an edge to her lack of height. She had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists against the Irish. UConn coach Geno Auriemma used a descriptor for Williams' performance Wednesday that he doesn't toss around lightly: "magnificent." Even a fellow tough grader, associate head coach Chris Dailey, said she was eager to watch the game film to see some of Williams' sky-high rebounds.
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw also praised Williams, who was limited by injuries as a high school player in Nevada but is now truly coming into her own.
"She got any rebound she wanted; her stat line was phenomenal," McGraw said. "She really did a lot of damage. I was really impressed with her."
McGraw said the Irish were expecting a challenge with Samuelson and the 6-1 Collier; they're averaging 19.0 and 19.1 points, respectively. But Notre Dame wasn't necessarily expecting Williams to make a massive impact. Everybody better get used to that, though.
"I felt like we were all on the same page tonight, and it was fun," Williams said. "I think I understand my team really well, and I know our dynamic. I'm trying to be that leader that they can go to when we need to stay calm. I want my team to look at me like, 'OK, Gab, what's next?' I think I've really grown in that kind of position."
Samuelson and Collier had their go-to moments Wednesday, just as they have had several times this season. Samuelson acknowledges there are still moments on the court when she looks around and thinks, "Am I really ready to do this?" or "What should I say to my teammates now?"
But it really doesn't show on her face or in the way she plays. She looked very confident against Notre Dame.
"Stewie, Morgan and Mo were calm the whole time last year; nothing fazed them at all," Samuelson said. "I think I'm still looking to other people when I don't know what to do. I'm still trying to learn things.
"One of the biggest things is, even if you're a little down on yourself or not sure what you're doing, you don't want your opponents to know that."
The Huskies didn't show their exhaustion Wednesday. It was a physical, defensive battle with Notre Dame. And three of the Huskies -- Williams, Samuelson and Kia Nurse -- played all 40 minutes.
In highlighting UConn's "big three," we don't mean to shortchange Nurse, the junior guard who is averaging the most minutes (34.4) for UConn. She had eight points and four assists Wednesday and is also a key part of why the Huskies don't seem to have lost any ground -- even though it seems like they should have.
Another unbeaten foe awaits UConn on Sunday, though 9-0 Kansas State is unranked. The Huskies have two more games in December against teams currently ranked in the top 10. They host Ohio State on Dec. 19 and travel to Maryland on Dec. 29.
But what can stop the Huskies' 83-game win streak? (After all, it's still second to the program's 90-game streak.) If Notre Dame couldn't do it, who's going to beat UConn?
"I think up to this point, we've passed every test. I don't know that we've gotten a 100 on every test, but we've passed." UConn coach Geno Auriemma
"This is December 7, and I know there's a long way to go between now and the end of the season," Auriemma said. "We purposely tried to put together a schedule this year that, going into March, there would be no doubt as to what we can and cannot do.
"I think up to this point, we've passed every test. I don't know that we've gotten a 100 on every test, but we've passed. And the tests are going to keep coming. But the fact that we are where we are, I'm kind of surprised."
He probably shouldn't be; he created this juggernaut, after all. And while the names of the stars might change, the overall outcome stays the same.