Final Four, again!

The elite eight matchup between the University of Connecticut and Baylor turned out to be an instant classic, a great college basketball game featuring two extremely talented teams. It deserved to be for the national championship, but some dubious seeding had placed the defending women’s champs, Baylor, as the second seed in the same bracket with the perennial contenders, top-seed UConn.

It started off — as Day beat writer Vickie Fulkerson aptly put it — with the pace of an Indy 500, an up and down the court affair with UConn ending the first 10 minutes ahead 2624.

The next three quarters reverted to the tough physical contest that had been expected, with the teams exchanging scoring runs.

In the end, UConn walked off 69-67 winners, adding a 13th straight return to the Final Four to its long list of implausible achievements since Coach Geno Auriemma and Associate Head Coach Chris Dailey joined the program in the mid-1980s.

Other implausible achievements include 11 NCAA Championships, 20 Final Fours and six undefeated seasons.

And the women Huskies have a 100% graduation rate under Auriemma and Dailey: not too shabby.

There has been no championship since 2016, however, a long drought by this program’s standards. If the other competitors in the Final Four can’t stop UConn this year, they may not get another chance for a while. The 2021 squad features seven freshmen, no seniors. It should only get better.

Auriemma called the victory far tougher than some of the team’s championship wins. Baylor was bigger and more experienced. Its second-half loss to injury of standout defensive player DiDi Richards may have been the difference. UConn took advantage. It is what great teams do.

Then there was the non-call. Trailing by one, Baylor guard DiJonai Carrington was looking for a last-second shot. Instead, she ran into a wall of 6-foot-3 Aaliyah Edwards and 6-5 Olivia Nelson-Ododa. Did Carrington get fouled? Technically, yes. But the referees had allowed physical play the entire game, keeping fouls to a minimum, contributing to the greatness of the contest. Why change the approach at that critical juncture?

“I'm not going to sit here and apologize for it,” said Geno about the non-call.

Nope, there won’t be any asterisk on this unprecedented trip to the Final Four. Go Huskies!