Special Irish season ends with a snoozer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Don’t blame the bright lights. Stage fright never was an issue. It wasn’t the magnitude of the game.

Credit Connecticut.

UConn simply outplayed Notre Dame. From start to finish.

The pre-game juvenile war of words between coaches was a pleasant media diversion that had absolutely no impact on Tuesday night’s 79-58 Connecticut victory over Notre Dame. The victory confirmed what just about everybody who cared already had an inkling about: These Huskies are now the standard for the best of women’s basketball to be judged against.

Notre Dame’s special season ended with a splat. The Irish Final Four frustration is now at four.

Don’t let go of the memories. Notre Dame’s season had too many positives for it to be defined by one final disappointment.

Three victories over defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion Duke were special. The regular-season win at Maryland was a keeper. Who will forget the Elite Eight spanking delivered to Baylor in front of about 9,000 roaring fans?

And then there was Sunday night’s stunning win over Maryland. Against the odds, the Irish made it look easy.

Anybody but Connecticut, though. Right?

The Huskies are who they are for a reason. Swagger doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s earned. Connecticut earned it again Tuesday night. The Huskies left no doubt who the team for the ages was in Nashville.

No strategy was going to make this outcome any different. It got to be so lopsided so soon that panic never really had a chance to become a factor.

Hard to compare what happened Tuesday night to what the Irish football team went through against Alabama a couple BCS championships ago. That was dominance from the first series. This was more of a gradual assertion of power that eroded into a blowout midway through the second half.

The game nearly ended before it began. Before the first half was 10 minutes UConn had a 16-0 spurt – the first double-digit run against the Irish all season – and led by 14.

The absence of Notre Dame’s 6-foot-3 post Natalie Achonwa (knee injury) was acutely evident with the Huskies’ 32-10 edge in points in the paint during the first half.

Notre Dame had no answer for Stephanie Dolson and Breanna Stewart. Even with Achonwa, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

The Irish cut the difference to seven by halftime. The recovery, though, was short-lived.

Wonder how many of those casual basketball fans who had never really been exposed to the women’s game changed the channel midway through the first half?

Not much intrigue.

What was supposed to be an “epic” matchup disintegrated into just another one-sided snoozer that hardly did the game justice.

This was supposed to be women’s basketball’s time to shine and the Irish failed to hold up their end of the bargain. Too bad. All the momentum. All the “juice” this game had was lost within the first 10 minutes.

Considering its full body of work this season, Notre Dame was nowhere as bad as it played Tuesday night.

But, then again, the Irish were nowhere as good as UConn. Three wins over the Huskies last season seemed like distant memories. The head-to-head direction those two powerhouses have gone in a year was dramatic on this one night.

Anybody but Connecticut. Right?