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Message: [QUOTE="bballnut90, post: 3301166, member: 2117"] If you rewatch the 1st half of the 2001 Notre Dame Final Four game, you'll see that players like Schumacher and Conlon stepped up in a massive way that was out of the ordinary for those 2. Riley was out with foul trouble and ND played arguably its worst half of the season. Still, UCONN did have a lot of talent in its lineup and they played outstanding basketball, even without Taurasi scoring. And I'm not sure why you bring up championship experience in 2013 when the matchup was in the Final Four. All of Hartley, Dolson, KML, and Faris had played huge minutes in previous Final Four(s) and were double figure scorers in the previous Final Four game vs. ND. They weren't a wide eyed group that lacked experience. Stewart elevated the group to a title, but they were certainly capable of winning even without her. We saw them throw away a game they had essentially won already at ND in triple overtime with minimal contributions from Stewart. We saw them go toe to toe with Brittney Griner and Baylor with zero contributions from Stewart. We saw 4 starters return from a team that lost in overtime to Notre Dame the year prior in the Final Four, with the lone player not returning being Tiffany Hayes who played poorly that game. UCONN was stacked in 2013 and a major title threat, with or without Stewart. [/QUOTE]