Previewing UConn women's basketball: Brilliantly boring

As a fan of women's college basketball, I find UConn to be too good. In the last six years, UConn has made six Final Four appearances with three titles. In that period of time, they have basically only lost to Brittany Griner and Baylor or Notre Dame and Skylar Diggins.

Why is UConn so good? Well, they probably have the best coach. Mostly, they definitely have the best players. For most programs, signing a single five star recruit is a cause for celebration. For UConn, it's the norm. Three more will be arriving on campus next year, and they are still in the running for the #1 overall prospect. Such is the way of things. Here's UConn's starting lineup:

C Stefanie Dolson #2 post in the country, 2010
F Breanna Stewart: #1 overall recruit in the country, 2012
F Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis: #1 overall recruit in the country, 2011
G Moriah Jefferson: #2 overall recruit in the country, 2012
PG Bria Hartley: #14 overall recruit in the country, 2010

That's just silly. I'm not sure if Dolson was a consensus 5 star recruit, but the rest easily qualify. UConn has more 5 star recruits than Cal has on the entire roster (one; Justine Hartman).

On Tuesday, UConn played #2 ranked Duke on the road. If you believe that Duke is the 2nd best team in the country (I do, and it appeared to be a strong consensus nationally heading into the game) then this was literally the toughest game UConn could possibly play.

They won by 20. It was easy. I watched most of the game, and it was never in doubt. The question this year is not whether the Huskies are the best team in the country. They are. The question is if they'll go undefeated. Considering they are now playing in a weaker conference, in a national landscape without standout challengers like Griner and Diggins, I think the odds are in their favor.

And it's not very much fun. It's not fun knowing that losing by 10 is an excellent performance. It wasn't fun or interesting to watch UConn in 2008-09 when they won every game by at least 10 points, and I doubt it will be any different this season. This is a good game for Cal to play just for the strength of schedule boost. Maybe it will be valuable for the team to measure themselves against the best as well. But barring an amazing performance, this will be another routine win for UConn, because apparently every game they play this year is a routine win.

I don't know what to tell you about UConn that isn't readily obvious. They have the best statistical offense in basketball and the 4th best defense. They have made nearly 60% of their 2 point shots AS A TEAM. They block 10 shots a game. They rebound well. There isn't a statistical weakness to exploit.

Whatever happens tomorrow, don't overreact to it. Unless Cal wins. Then you have my permission to overreact to your heart's content.