Albany, N.Y. — Some of the more recent commentary would indicate that yes, the UConn women's basketball team is playing with a chip on its shoulder after not receiving a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.

And yes, UConn is playing with something to prove after the list of Naismith Award finalists, which identifies the top four candidates for national player of the year, didn't include Huskies' senior All-American Napheesa Collier.

No. 2 UConn (33-2) meets No. 6 UCLA (22-12) in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament at 7 p.m. Friday from the Times Union Center (ESPN), led by Collier, who is averaging 21.1 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, 27.0 points and 13.8 rebounds per game in the postseason.

"Dr. Naismith is rolling over in his grave right now. He is," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said from the dais after the Huskies' second-round win Sunday over Buffalo. "He never envisioned that someone that good would be left off his finalists. I feel bad for her.

"If she played at any other school, she'd be a frontrunner for it with the numbers she puts up, but she plays at Connecticut so what are you going to do? Can you imagine how many games we'd win if we didn't have her? I don't think we'd be sitting here talking. We probably wouldn't have made the tournament. ... I don't know anybody that means any more to their team anywhere in the country than Phees. Can't imagine. Can't imagine."

On Thursday, Auriemma had a different take on any sort of contentiousness his team might be feeling after the perceived slight by the NCAA tournament committee. (The Huskies were ranked first in the NCAA's final bracket reveal, March 4, but did not ultimately receive a spot among the four No. 1 seeds).

The perceived chip on UConn's collective shoulder has been written about considerably since the start of the NCAA tournament, especially following a 110-61 slam dunk of No. 15 Towson in the opening round at Gampel Pavilion.

Auriemma actually wishes the chip was magnified a thousandfold, as the Huskies head into the matchup with hard-rebounding UCLA, whom he calls the "worst draw" of the Sweet 16.

Remember the good old days?

"I don't even know what that means today," Auriemma said of the "chip" theory. "I know what it used to mean. Kids would get (ticked). That's what it meant when they said they had a chip on their shoulder. They were (ticked). They felt disrespected and when they felt like that, you actually saw the results on the court.

"I remember some of my players telling me that after we lost (at the Final Four) in St. Louis in 2001, from the day we got home from that trip until we won the national championship in San Antonio the following year, not one day went by that those kids didn't think about that.

"Today the chip on the kids' shoulders lasts until the next text."

Auriemma admits he can see that the committees-that-be would want to change the narrative of women's basketball, even if inadvertently. He confesses that when the Huskies won four straight titles in the Breanna Stewart era, he got sick of hearing about UConn on TV, too, and it's his team.

He calls the reasoning behind the No. 2 seed "nonsense," however.

"'The way we played down the stretch' ... were you asleep when we won our (conference) tournament without our All-American (Katie Lou Samuelson, who missed the tournament with a back injury)?" Auriemma said.

"I think almost everyone was surprised," Collier said, asked of receiving the No. 2 seed in the Albany Regional behind No. 1 Louisville. "We were surprised. But it's not something we can control, so there's no point in dwelling on it or getting angry about it. We're going to do what we have to do and prepare the way that we need to in order to continue on in the tournament."

For the record, regarding the Naismith, UConn junior point guard Crystal Dangerfield says she's backing Collier, the 6-foot-2 forward and 2,000-point scorer who claimed American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and AAC Defensive Player of the Year honors this season.

"Phee has my vote," Dangerfield said. "You honestly don't think that she had another level in her, but she does (in the postseason). She's proving that she is the best."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

No. 2 UConn vs. No. 6 UCLA

NCAA Sweet 16

Location: Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y.

Tip: 7 p.m. (ESPN).

Records: UCLA 22-12 overall; UConn 33-2.

Last game: UCLA beat No. 3 Maryland 85-80 in the second round Monday; UConn beat No. 10 Buffalo 84-72 in the second round Sunday.

Probable starters: UCLA, 6-0 F Michaela Onyenwere (18.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg), 5-6 G Japreece Dean (14.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.9 apg), 6-1 G Kennedy Burke (15.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.3 apg, 2.0 spg), 6-1 F Lajahna Drummer (9.1 ppg, 8.7 rpg), 6-1 G Lindsey Corsaro (7.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.0 apg).

UConn, 6-1 F Megan Walker (12.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg), 6-3 G Katie Lou Samuelson (18.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.9 apg), 6-2 F Napheesa Collier (21.1 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.5 spg, 1.5 bpg), 5-5 G Crystal Dangerfield (13.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 6.0 apg, 1.6 spg), 5-11 G Christyn Williams (11.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg).

Noteworthy: UConn and UCLA both took part in the Paradise Jam early this season held in St. Thomas, albeit in different divisions. This was not the UCLA team that UConn coach Geno Auriemma recalls watching play. "We may have gotten the worst draw of any team in the country getting UCLA right about now, as well as they're playing and all the great things they've been able to do. It's not the same team I saw in St. Thomas earlier this year. Cori (Close, UCLA coach) has done a phenomenal job with this group. So, we've got our hands full (Friday)." UCLA went 0-3 in the their bracket of the Paradise Jam, with losses to North Carolina, Kentucky and South Florida. The Bruins, in fact, lost four straight twice this season, including a stretch in the Pac-12 Conference with consecutive defeats to then-No. 6 Stanford, No. 10 Oregon State, No. 5 Oregon and USC in January which evened their record at 9-9. What allowed them to rebuild quickly enough, without graduated stars Jordin Canada and Monique Billings, to attain their fourth straight Sweet 16 bid? "Well, if I was smarter, I would have figured it out sooner so we could have turned the tide," Close said Thursday. "I think it was a culmination of a lot of small choices that eventually hit a tipping point when we went to Arizona for that swing to play Arizona State and Arizona (both wins). But I really think it was the commitment to the journey. That's what we really had to have; when it was really uncomfortable, when we weren't being rewarded, to stay committed to growing and giving every day." ... UCLA, which established itself as one of the top rebounding teams in the nation this season, used 27 offensive rebounds in its second-round victory over Maryland. The Bruins were ranked first in the Pac-12 and third in the nation in offensive rebounding this season with an average of 17.2 per game. They average 41.6 rebounds per game in all (UConn is averaging 41.5). "We've got to make sure we do a good job of controlling the defensive boards and we're going to have to fight like crazy for extra possessions on the offensive glass, as well," Close said. "That's where I think the battle will be won, either team. Both teams will say that's a pivotal point. Which team can have the conquering mentality of that will probably come out on top." ... UConn is 5-0 all-time against UCLA, including a regular-season meeting last year that was won by UConn (78-60). The teams met on one other occasion in the NCAA tournament, with UConn topping the Bruins 86-71 in the 2017 Sweet 16 in Bridgeport. ... Michaela Onyenwere scored a career-high 30 points in the win over Maryland, just the second 30-point effort in NCAA tournament history for UCLA. ... Bruins point guard Japreece Dean connected on a school record 40 straight free throws at one point this season and is on target to set UCLA's single-season record. She is currently at 92.9 percent (104-for-112). ... UConn is ranked second in the nation in the Associated Press Top 25. UCLA is 20th.

— Vickie Fulkerson