Indianapolis - There's got to be a morning after, and there was Monday in Indianapolis, where it rains in the spring time. Dank, dark, dreary, so fitting. The end of a season, the end of an era. It will require a day, a week, but soon, time's passage will properly frame the Maya Moore Years at UConn. And we'll realize how lucky we were to have been there and that we ought to have enjoyed it.

So now we dissect and move on. And moving on means moving on without Moore. It just might make the Huskies mortal again for a while.

Of course, Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey would argue the Huskies were plenty mortal this season. It's just that Moore was the great deodorant, allowing even the exposed parts a winning fragrance. We never really knew until Sunday night, fooled by all the customary blowouts of the Proletariat. Turns out that this really was Maya and the My-ettes. And not even Moore's 36 points were enough of a safety net to prevent the splat.

"One great player can't beat a really good team. Not this time of the year," Auriemma said.

But one great player is almost always necessary.

This goes back to something Sun guard and ESPN analyst Kara Lawson said Saturday at the Final Four: Stars win. Sports have no absolutes, but of the last 14 national championships teams, Chamique Holdsclaw, Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker and Maya Moore - the best four players in that era - have been on 10 of them. Stars win.

UConn has no Maya/Diana level star next year.

And while it's nice to think that Geno will think of something, remember: The years between Taurasi and Moore produced plenty good, but not great Connecticut teams. There were no Final Fours.

Will that happen again?

This is why they play the games.

Surely, they are not helpless. Tiffany Hayes - her no show Sunday not withstanding - is a perfectly good player. As is Kelly Faris. Stefanie Dolson's improvement was encouraging. Bria Hartley and the return of Caroline Doty … and half the coaches in the country would kill for those five. But they are a Toyota Avalon. Upscale. Quality. But not a Porsche.

The freshmen? We'll know when they play. I am no fan of recruiting services and high school all-star games. We'll see when they get in games against Skylar Diggins and Brittney Griner.

And to think practice begins in just 192 short days.

Meanwhile, any reflection on the 2010-11 season should produce more grin than chagrin. For one thing, you got to watch Maya Moore's daily pursuit of being what Auriemma called "maybe the best student-athlete in the history of college basketball." You got an epic against Baylor, a Big East championship that should mean more now given the team you defeated three times. You got a Sweet 16, an Elite Eight, a Final Four.

You got something to look forward to after snow shoveling and roof raking. You got a season.

It's just that when you get this far, you as a fan, coach and player hope you can fool 'em two more nights. A bounce here, a shot there and another title. Turns out the other team was trying pretty hard, too.

I asked Dailey if she'll be sitting on the beach this summer sipping a drink with an umbrella sticking out of it, reasoning that they got about all they could from a team that was as vulnerable as she said it was.

Dailey managed a grin.

"Part of me would say that," she said. "But the other part of me will wonder, 'what if we did this or what if we did that?'"

They've "done this" and "done that" seven other times, evidenced by the banners covering the walls at Gampel. You couldn't do better than Auriemma and his coaches this season, even if they did have Maya Moore.

We get a momentary break from women's basketball until the Sun begin camp next month. Should be a fun summer. Sue Bird is here July 1, Taurasi visits Aug. 26 and Moore returns Aug. 16 with the Minnesota Lynx. Moore brings alone old friend Linsday Whalen, Charde Houston, Taj McWilliams-Franklin and noted Notre Dame rooter Candice Wiggins. A perfect night to cheer and boo.

The book closes now on the Huskies of 2010-11. It was a good read.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.