Storrs — The cities have changed — New Orleans, Minneapolis, Atlanta and others — and so have the dramatis personae: Taurasi to Moore to Stewart. But this much remains true about locker room celebrations during most of the UConn women's 11 national championship nights:

They've all said it in some form: We know what the people who came here before us did. And we didn't want to be the class that let everyone else down.

Holy hardships, Batman.

It's just part of the fantasy that is UConn's reality. Impossible expectations in which anything short of a national championship engenders all the "what happened?" questions.

And so on the day the UConn women have made famous — Senior Day — maybe the greatest example of the romantic delusions the program's greatness has wrought stood there Saturday bathing in the love at Gampel Pavilion.

LOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Katie Lou Samuelson bid adieu, sort of, to the home folks who will see her again in the NCAA tournament. But this was the traditional goodbye, the one the Huskies have perfected with equal parts sentiment and drama.

Katie Lou: A mere 32 3-pointers shy of the most in the history of the country's best program. Katie Lou: fourth on the career scoring list behind Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart and Tina Charles.

And yet we ask: Is she really good enough?

Some people in (and out) of the women's game would look at her numbers and think the mere suggestion of such a question is somewhere between deranged and insulting. But Samuelson hasn't been the "go-to" player the Huskies have needed this season. She battled injury at last year's Final Four, where Louisville (Asia Durr), Notre Dame (Arike Ogunbowale) and Mississippi State (Victoria Vivians) all had more functional late-game options when the time grew desperate.

UConn is 1-2 this year in games against Notre Dame, Louisville and Baylor, three opponents in the top four of the current rankings and with obviously legitimate chances to make the Final Four. Samuelson's numbers:

Notre Dame: 15 points, 5-16 shooting, 0-4 from three.

Baylor: 12 points, 4-16 shooting, 2-10 from three.

Louisville: 16 points, 5-13 shooting 2-5 from three.

Against the best competition, she's a 31 percent shooter from the floor, 21 from three, taking a decent number of shots.

Now a word from Capt. Obvious: Such numbers must change if banner No. 12 is going to happen.

And yet ... how many players across the country would you honestly trade Samuelson for?

Sort of makes you appreciate the true greatness of Taurasi, Moore and Stewart even more. And suggests that UConn coach Geno Auriemma wasn't kidding when he'd explain championships with, "the difference was we threw it to Diana and they didn't."

Maybe here, though, we turn to Taurasi as a beacon for why March could still be magical for Samuelson. It's the true beauty — and essence — of sports. The script has yet to be written.

Taurasi illuminated her inner assassin last summer after her WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury, rallied to beat the Sun in the playoffs. The Mercury faced a few perilous moments in that game.

Taurasi, in a world suddenly awash in analytics, metrics and other abstractions that tug at the core of the human element, spoke of free will that has no metric equivalent.

"We relish these moments," she said. "It's really up to you whether you want to keep playing. Do you want to come back tomorrow? There was a moment there we could have easily said 'we're good, we've had our good moments, let's go back to Phoenix and get ready for USA Basketball.' You get to make that decision."

How many of us, even in daily life, understand the power of Taurasi's words?

We get to make that decision.

Katie Lou gets to make her decision, too. Will she be the player they need her to be against Notre Dame, Baylor and Louisville?

That's the beauty of March Madness, the great unwritten script and how the perpetual legacies of all the UConn greats could inspire Samuelson to heretofore unreached levels.

Easy kid to root for, especially this year, when neither she nor her team is the perceived favorite.

Can't wait to watch.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro