GENO AURIEMMA'S HORIZON LEAGUE PROBLEM?

The column is by John Adams, a sports pundit working out of Knoxville, calibrate your jive-detectors accordingly.

You might wonder that because UConn has been so dominant for so long that last-second losses in consecutive Final Four semifinals suggest one of sports’ greatest dynasties has suddenly lost its edge.

Never mind that UConn has lost only two games in the past two seasons. Or that it still has the game’s preeminent coach in Geno Auriemma.

When you win four consecutive national championships — as the Huskies did from 2013-2016 — the slightest shortcoming is magnified. And another game-winning shot, like the one Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale hit against them, seemingly takes on historical significance.

Yes, losing on a buzzer-beater in the round of four at the national tournament sounds like a good problem to have.  Read on, though, he might be on to something.

The American Athletic Conference is too weak to properly prepare the Huskies for the NCAA tournament — unless they have overwhelming talent, as they did recently when they could entrust the game to superstar Breanna Stewart for four seasons.

They can schedule big-time non-conference opponents as they always have, but for most of January and February the Huskies are winning by laughable margins over AAC opponents. Meanwhile, other teams — like Notre Dame — are getting better through encounters with tougher conference opponents.

Conference memberships come, and conference memberships go, but being the class of a weak conference means ... what?

Meanwhile, outside the power conferences, the final mid-major rankings for 2017-2018 include three Mid-American teams among the top 25, with a fourth receiving votes.  The performance test, though, is breaking through to the round of sixteen, or eight.