Storrs — UConn coach Geno Auriemma tries not to worry about the “where” or the “when” when it comes to his team’s placement in the NCAA tournament.

“We’ve won in Lincoln, Nebraska; we’ve won in Dayton, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Greensboro, North Carolina,” Auriemma said Sunday night. “So you just gotta go where you gotta go and if you’re good enough you keep playing. If you’re not, you come home.”

But even with Auriemma’s geographical timeline of the Huskies’ unparalleled NCAA tournament history, he couldn’t help but comment on UConn’s assignment as the No. 3 seed in the Portland (Oregon) Regional 3.

UConn (29-5) opens play against No. 14 Jackson State (26-6) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gampel Pavilion (Ch. 8). No. 6 Syracuse (23-7) is also in the Storrs pod and will face the winner of the play-in game between Auburn and Arizona.

The team which advances from Storrs, will then travel across the country for one of two regionals in Portland, Oregon.

“Well, you can’t get further apart, right? Connecticut? Portland,” Auriemma said.

Auriemma’s problem wasn’t so much his team being sent West for the second straight season. The Huskies lost in the regional semifinal last year in Seattle. Auriemma, however, isn’t a fan of only holding regionals, formerly in four different cities across the U.S., at just two sites.

“I think it’s challenging for a lot of teams because if you’re a West Coast team, you’ve got to go 3,000 miles. If you’re an East Coast team, you’ve got to go 3,000 miles,” said Auriemma, whose teams have been participants in the NCAA tournament every season since 1988-89, winning 11 national championships.

“The game of women’s basketball’s never been better, never been stronger, never been more popular with people watching, so you limit how many places you can watch it? ... I hope this is the last year that we do it or, if we keep doing it, have both of them in Chicago where everybody only has to go halfway.”

The Huskies are coming off one successful postseason tournament entering the NCAAs. UConn won the Big East tournament in a landslide, despite having just seven available players after senior forward Aaliyah Edwards suffered a broken nose in the quarterfinals.

Top-seeded UConn blitzed the field, thanks to a Most Outstanding Player-worthy performance from Paige Bueckers, who finished with 83 points in three games, including 27 in the final.

It was UConn’s 29th overall league tournament title, 22nd in the Big East, and it required an overwhelming amount of resilience due to the injury situation; Auriemma’s team had seven healthy players and seven injured players on the roster.

Auriemma said Sunday that he expects Edwards, who will wear a mask to protect her nose — the same one she wore most of last season also to shield a broken nose — to be 100% by Saturday.

“We’re just glad that we’re in a situation where we feel like given the circumstances that we operated under this year, for us to get a three seed, I think that’s pretty remarkable,” Auriemma said. “I think anything above that would’ve been fabulous but not realistic. We’re pretty proud of ourselves up to this point and happy to be a three seed.”

“Just excitement. It’s what you prepare for the entire season, what you prepare for as a basketball player your entire life,” said Bueckers, who has twice led UConn to the Final Four in her career. “We know that we’re not picked to win it. We’re not favored in any bracket really this year, so we know that and we know we’re sort of the underdog in this situation, but sort of been embracing it.”

Southern California drew the top seed in UConn’s region, with Ohio State as the No. 2, giving the Huskies a possible Sweet 16 rematch.

The Big East had two other teams selected to the NCAA tournament, with Creighton earning the No. 7 seed in Albany Regional 2 and Marquette drawing the No. 10 seed in Albany Regional 1.

Also of local interest, Fairfield, coached by East Lyme alumna Carly Thibault, is the No. 13 seed in Albany Regional 1. Sacred Heart, including New London grad Nalayce Dudley, drew a play-in game and will meet Presbyterian at 7 p.m. Wednesday for the chance to face overall top seed South Carolina in the opening round in Albany Regional 1.

v.fulkerson@theday.com