A really interesting question bags27.
I am not a big fan of 'tough' and 'toughness' as descriptors in sports or society because too often it gets used in a 'macho' kind of way that can stray further into the territory of 'glorified bullying'. 'Mental toughness' is a little less problematic for me.
I think in its most complementary form it is referring to quiet strength, stamina, determination, and resiliency both physically and mentally.
And I think that is what Kara and Rebecca are referring to - and that can indeed be developed in a team by good coaching and good practice habits, which Uconn has.
Uconn's first practice of each year is reported to be brutal for new arrivals, leading to physical and mental exhaustion, and occasionally regurgitation of an injudiciously large previous meal - that is the introduction to what is required of the players. And the practices do not get easier, but the players become stronger, fitter, and mentally able to concentrate for longer periods of time. By the end of four weeks of practice player have found levels of exertion and concentration that they didn't know they had. They have learned that they can still think and concentrate when their muscles are screaming for 'mental attention', and that their muscles can still function when their mind is screaming for a chance to drift for just a few minutes.
Added to that, their crutches of having answers fed to them by older and wiser coaches are removed slowly - they are encouraged to use their own growing knowledge to figure it out for themselves, and stop looking to the coaches for ever answer to a problem - a mental exercise and a responsibility, and a team building exercise as well because they can solve it with their teammates and not just by themselves. And when they start to feel more comfortable in those mental skills, the questions just get harder and like their bodies their mental 'strength' is pushed further. Win a game with the score 0-0 to start, ok ... now it is 0-10. Figure that one out, ok ... now you only have five minutes to do it, not ten, or you have to do it against a team of six, or a team of seven. Challenge, succeed, increase the challenge figure out how to succeed, succeed, increase the challenge. Make it impossible ... ok, deal with that, too. But every challenge met or every impossible challenge fought against builds mental and physical confidence - Yes this body can function beyond what I thought were its limits, and yes I can mentally accept any challenge and deal with both the successes and the failures that may come. Get my shot blocked in a game, yeah, that happened this week in practice, and the next time I figured out how to score without being blocked, I can handle this! Down 5 points after the first quarter, hey we have 30 more minutes, we solved this in 5 minutes in practice this week, piece of cake! Can't make a shot to save my life, OK, that's like two days ago, but I concentrated on setting up my teammates and defensive stops and my teammates had my back and then I hit a shot without even thinking about it - this can work!
And yes - I think the practice habits of Uconn are different and importantly make a difference. They promote stamina mental and physical, they promote self reliance and teamwork, they promote knowledge and they promote comradely - we're all in this together against those nasty coaches. And the tag team of Geno and CD, Shea and Marisa work together to demand and support, punish* and comfort. So what could become unhealthy if unmitigated is instead challenging and becomes anticipated.
I loved Geno's comment about one team in practice that each day for a week was challenged by more desperate 'situations' with the number of opponents growing from five to six to seven. They got to the end of the week and Geno gave them a situation and only five defenders, and the team was like - what is this, you don't think we can handle seven?! Come on - make us earn it!
And back to your actual question of whether there is a change - I think yes. More players (and parents) expecting special treatment and gentleness from coaches, and hunting for the place they can get it. Not all players, but a lot. I think there were a lot of 'unhealthy' situations with HS and college coaches, so in that respect there has been improvement - but too many coaches want/need to be liked to keep their talented players and that is bad for the players.
*punish used not punitively, but in the sense of a punishing workout, or a punishing schedule.
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