Tampa, Fla. - There were times during the second half of the season, which included games in 12 different states, when top-ranked UConn looked like a rather weary bunch.

There were fouls committed out of sheer laziness and routine shots which fell a little short.

The Huskies were never in any sort of jeopardy of losing their first American Athletic Conference game, even though they were playing the league's second-best team on the road. When it comes to UConn, success and failure are unable to be measured by margins of victory.

"It has nothing to do with the score," said coach Geno Auriemma after his Huskies completed their 11th undefeated regular-season conference schedule in the last 22 seasons with an 88-65 win over South Florida. "We play basketball and we played against South Florida, the score is irrelevant. What I am measuring my team up against is we went 4½ minutes without scoring during one stretch. If we are supposed to be the best team in the country, how do you do that? We try to point out things even in individuals.

"Moriah (Jefferson) picked up a couple of quick fouls in the second half and she lost a little bit of her aggressiveness. (Morgan) Tuck wants to go to the basket, they stepped in front of her a couple of times and she picked up a couple of offensive fouls. Whatever the score is, the score is. We never judge ourselves by the score because there are some games that we can make the score whatever we want to make it."

UConn has been so dominant in the AAC this season that a 23-point winning margin is like a moral victory for a home team which won 24 games and was previously ranked in the top 25.

In the fishbowl the UConn players live in, no game is brought up more often than the one they happened to lose - even though it happened 3½ months ago. It seems like years have passed since UConn stumbled late and lost in overtime to a Stanford team which would lose nine games during the regular season.

It was after that game that a perturbed Breanna Stewart challenged her teammates publicly. Behind the scenes Stewart took on more of a leadership role. Knowing that actions speak louder than words, she began to work on expanding her game to help her teammates take on larger roles. The result was a 28-game winning streak with no game closer than 16 points. UConn hosted then-No. 1 South Carolina and won by 25. They hit the road to play a Notre Dame squad currently ranked second in the national polls and returned with an 18-point victory.

Looking back on the regular season, it seems the Huskies owe Stanford a debt of gratitude for making them realize that the status quo was simply not acceptable.

"This team has grown a lot," Stewart said. "I think the biggest thing is confidence. You see people have confidence in them that they didn't have. Moriah, she wouldn't have taken 3-point shots at the beginning of the season. Now she is stepping up to the line and making them with confidence and ease. It seems like everyone knows their role on this team and knows what is expected of them."

UConn won't play again until Saturday when it takes on either Central Florida or Cincinnati in the quarterfinals in the AAC tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena. Needing to win three games in three days to secure the title, it will be time for the Huskies to continue to prove how far they have come since Stanford.

"Our players all got better, they all improved from the time they played on the West Coast," Auriemma said, "We are a much better team than we were. The players are excited about next weekend and what comes after that, as anybody would be."