My working memory is shorter, but since Stewwie came on board and I became a UConn fan, UConn has lost 7 matches prior to the Tournament and 3 in it (the past three years). In two of the three years where they've lost to a team during the regular season, they've beaten at least one of those same teams in March/April - Notre Dame in 2012-13 and Louisville in 2018-19 (they didn't have the chance for a rematch against Baylor losses in either of those years).
The only exception, as you mention, is the Stanford loss at Maples in 2014-15 - but again, they lost in December, and won in April. And a major reason was because that was Saniya Chong's last game as starter: after that, Geno replaced her with Kia Nurse, even though Chong put 20 on Stanford and went 8-13 in one of her strongest offensive showings of her career. So just the kind of December to March adjustment I'm talking about - not immediately obvious, but clearly the right call in retrospect, the kind that Geno is so good at.
I'm not even sure I can always say who is most polished in November - that largely depends on returning personnel. All I know is that as a Stanford fan, I would always rather see Geno on the other side of the court in November or December than in April. Always.
