The answer was not just classic Maya Moore, it was a typical response from a Connecticut women's basketball player.

Facing a Duke team that has 10 players averaging 13 minutes per game, the fatigue factor was a popular topic in the interview sessions both leading up to and following Monday's game.

So when Moore was asked whether fatigue was a concern now that the Huskies rely on pretty much six players against top-flight competition, her reply was equal parts incredulousness and defiance.

"We just play, we don't get tired," Moore said after finishing with 29 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in an 87-51 win over previously undefeated Duke. "We don't talk about that at Connecticut. There are always opportunities to say you are tired but you find a way of getting over it every day in practice. I am not going to look at that and I don't think any of my teammates are going to look at that as an excuse because I know that from my freshman year when we had 14 bodies, I am just as tired in practice this year as I was my freshman year because it is about how hard you compete and how hard you push yourself. I feel like I push myself just as hard yesterday and today as I did when (she was a freshman).

"That is the heart of who we are as a program regardless of what year it is, that is the way we want to play. It is the same Connecticut basketball, just different people and the same spirit Coach (Geno) Auriemma has established."

Auriemma was not in the room when his best player was delivering her sermon but he certainly would have nodded in approval had he been in attendance.

"In so many ways, (being) tired is in your mind. When you are 18, 19, 20 years old the only time you are tired is when your mother or father asks you to do something you don't feel like doing," Auriemma said. "A lot of it is a state of mind. When kids get beyond that and say we are going to practice for two hours and every mistake that happens that we think is a tired mistake then we are going to do it over again. You keep doing and all of a sudden they block all of that out and you just play. It is the kind of people you bring in, that is what they bring to you. Maya would certainly say that and Kelly Faris certainly would say that because those two people are the ultimate competitors. They've made Tiffany (Hayes) a better competitor, they've made Bria Hartley a better competitor, they've made Stefanie Dolson a better competitor. If we were down 20, we might look really tired. When you are making shots and are up 20, the adrenaline is flowing and I think maybe that has something to do with it. I hope that is part of what they think 'hey, I play at Connecticut, I don't get tired.'"

WNBA FREE AGENT SIGNING PERIOD IS UNDERWAY
Following the game I took a couple of minutes to chat with Connecticut Sun Mike Thibault just to make sure nothing has changed since the last time I spoke to him regarding the Sun's pursuit of free agents.

Although today is the first day free agents can be signed, Thibault reiterated what he told me recently and that is that Tan White is the only free agent the team is pursuing. All signs are that White will be returning to the Sun although I do not have a specific time frame for her signing to be announced.