For just the second time since the start of the 2007-08 season, UConn got the experience what it was like to practice after a loss. During that season there was obviously no practice held after the season-ending loss to Stanford so before this week, the last time the Huskies took the court with the bitter memories of defeat fresh in their minds came when UConn lost at Rutgers on Feb. 5, 2008. Four days later the Huskies ran Seton Hall off the court 82-36.

Wednesday's win against Villanova had an eerily similar result as the Huskies won 81-35.

While it was a given that Villanova wasn't going to be able to match up with UConn, the players said they had an extra sense of motivation because they didn't play well against Stanford in a game where the Huskies' NCAA Division I basketball record 90-game winning streak was snapped.

"I really didn't have any doubts," said Tiffany Hayes, who led UConn with 22 points. "I know our team's mentality and I know that all of us, deep down inside, had this attitude that `whoever's next is gonna get it', even though it should have been last game. We all came out with that attitude. We showed it in tonight's game I think."

I asked UConn coach Geno Auriemma if he found humor in the fact that the Huskies so infrequently have to play a game or go to practice after a loss.

"Some humor? I find lots of humor in stuff. The more you're in this, the more you see it, it's inconceivable that it could have happened. I'm just glad that it's over and we don't have to talk about it anymore. It's inconceivable when you think about it that something like that could actually happen. Especially after you see what happened the other day. After the game and even the next day, I heard a lot of `Congratulations, great job', like the season is over now. The streak is over and now you're done, without any regard to the fact that we have three months of basketball left. Yeah, I've found a lot of humor in the last two and a half years."

Now UConn has a rugged stretch facing ranked teams Notre Dame, St. John's and North Carolina on the road in a span of four games.

"This is not a great stretch for us, at Notre Dame, at St. John's, home against Louisville and then at North Carolina," Auriemma said. "It's not ideal, but maybe it's exactly what we need. I don't think Notre Dame plays the same style as Stanford. We're going to be in an environment that we're used to being in, we're playing a team that we know and we've played a lot. I hope that some of the things that we do this week in practice will get us ready for Notre Dame and not necessarily think about what happened out at Stanford. I wanted them to get ready for tonight and obviously you couldn't forget about it, but here on in, going forward I don't really want it to be anything more than that."