Perhaps the only thing worse than experiencing the bitter taste of defeat is sitting there and watching the replay of Monday's loss to Stanford over and over again.

Such is the life of a UConn women's basketball player.

UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma wasn't as disturbed that the Huskies lost on the road to a very good Stanford team but it was the manner in which the Huskies let a 10-point second-half lead evaporate.

With nearly a week between games there was plenty of time to break down the tape and then work on fixing the flaws exposed by the Cardinal.

"The young guys, they don't know what to make of it but the older guys I think are a little disappointed more with what we didn't do (as opposed to) some of the things we did do that defy explanation in some cases," Auriemma said. "We talk a lot of about when you win, it rally masks a lot of things that maybe we don't do well. When you shoot well it masks sometimes that your offense is not that good because if you make shots, it makes the offense look good."

The players, especially the five upperclassmen, knew the replay of the game was not going to be pretty and they were right.
"I am not saying it is ever good to lose but it is better to lose now than in the tournament," UConn senior center Kiah Stokes said. "It is a good test for us because we don't want to go through the season thinking we are really good and when we get tested later on, that is what happens. It is better that we got it out of the way now rather than later because we can work on it and focus on it. If we would have won the game, the feeling would have been different that 'this is a great play to help us win' now it is 'those are the plays that help us lose.' I saw a lot of things I could have done better and there were so many things we could have done. Film can only go so far to make sure we fixed it."

The players would love to see a team the caliber of Stanford coming into Gampel Pavilion. However, tomorrow's game against Creighton is the first of four straight against unranked opponents.

Still, the UConn players know a strong performance can wash away some of the bad taste left by the loss to Stanford.

"I watched the game, I learned from it and I can build on it," UConn junior guard Moriah Jefferson said. "It helped a lot. There's a lot of stuff that you feel in the game but you don't know what it looks like until you watch it. Looking back, it is something you don't ever want to see again so that is motivation to make sure I am pushing myself and my team as hard as I can.

"I am ready to get back on the court and show the type of team that we are because that team was obviously not the type of team that we are . We know that, we will learn from it and you will see a completely different team on Sunday."