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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Walking a tight rope is not an image that comes to mind when thinking about the UConn womens basketball team. Yet the UConn staff said the Huskies are performing without a safety net in regard to players such as Katie Lou Samuelson, Napheesa Collier and Gabby Williams.If so, they look about as sure-footed as The Flying Wallendas. Remember how UConn lost its big three from last season and was probably going to struggle a bit this year trying to replace those amazing players? Yeah, whatever.There is a reason most of us picked the Huskies as preseason No. 1, and it wasnt because we went into default mode. Its because there actually was more to see with UConn last season than just being dazzled by Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck. Yes, it could be hard to look away from them -- but when you did, you saw the future was right there with them, and it looked pretty good, too.Now, the future is the present. Which looks a lot like the past. Thats exactly what UConn wanted.On Wednesday, the Huskies did what theyve done so often: throw the proverbial wet blanket on the so-called wide-open race in womens basketball this season. No, its not. UConn is again the team to beat, with a winning streak that now stands at 83 in a row.The top-ranked Huskies 72-61 victory over No. 2 Notre Dame was the best example yet in an 8-0 season of why theyre the national championship favorites again. UConn showed off a different big three Wednesday; last seasons trio left the Huskies and became the top three WNBA draft picks in April. While this seasons big three dont yet have the acclaim or the experience of last years trio, they are very impressive on their own.Samuelson, Collier and Williams combined for 57 points; they almost outscored the Irish by themselves.While last years star trio each had clearly different roles -- Jefferson was the point guard, Tuck the sturdy forward, Stewart the anything she wanted to be -- the Huskies top scorers against the Irish are harder to define position-wise.Thats one of the things weve learned to use to our advantage, said the 6-foot-3 Sameulson, the tallest of UConns starters. You can say that Gabbys almost playing our center, but shes smaller than almost every center in the country. That shows its a hard matchup. But you have difficult matchups with all three of us. It just opens up the offense a little bit more.Williams is just 5-11, but her leaping ability adds an edge to her lack of height. She had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists against the Irish. UConn coach Geno Auriemma used a descriptor for Williams performance Wednesday that he doesnt toss around lightly: magnificent. Even a fellow tough grader, associate head coach Chris Dailey, said she was eager to watch the game film to see some of Williams sky-high rebounds.Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw also praised Williams, who was limited by injuries as a high school player in Nevada but is now truly coming into her own.She got any rebound she wanted; her stat line was phenomenal, McGraw said. She really did a lot of damage. I was really impressed with her.McGraw said the Irish were expecting a challenge with Samuelson and the 6-1 Collier; theyre averaging 19.0 and 19.1 points, respectively. But Notre Dame wasnt necessarily expecting Williams to make a massive impact. Everybody better get used to that, though.I felt like we were all on the same page tonight, and it was fun, Williams said. I think I understand my team really well, and I know our dynamic. Im trying to be that leader that they can go to when we need to stay calm. I want my team to look at me like, OK, Gab, whats next? I think Ive really grown in that kind of position.Samuelson and Collier had their go-to moments Wednesday, just as they have had several times this season. Samuelson acknowledges there are still moments on the court when she looks around and thinks, Am I really ready to do this? or What should I say to my teammates now?But it really doesnt show on her face or in the way she plays. She looked very confident against Notre Dame.Stewie, Morgan and Mo were calm the whole time last year; nothing fazed them at all, Samuelson said. I think Im still looking to other people when I dont know what to do. Im still trying to learn things.One of the biggest things is, even if youre a little down on yourself or not sure what youre doing, you dont want your opponents to know that.The Huskies didnt show their exhaustion Wednesday. It was a physical, defensive battle with Notre Dame. And three of the Huskies -- Williams, Samuelson and Kia Nurse -- played all 40 minutes.In highlighting UConns big three, we dont mean to shortchange Nurse, the junior guard who is averaging the most minutes (34.4) for UConn. She had eight points and four assists Wednesday and is also a key part of why the Huskies dont seem to have lost any ground -- even though it seems like they should have.Another unbeaten foe awaits UConn on Sunday, though 9-0 Kansas State is unranked. The Huskies have two more games in December against teams currently ranked in the top 10. They host Ohio State on Dec. 19 and travel to Maryland on Dec. 29.But what can stop the Huskies 83-game win streak? (After all, its still second to the programs 90-game streak.) If Notre Dame couldnt do it, whos going to beat UConn?This is December 7, and I know theres a long way to go between now and the end of the season, Auriemma said. We purposely tried to put together a schedule this year that, going into March, there would be no doubt as to what we can and cannot do.I think up to this point, weve passed every test. I dont know that weve gotten a 100 on every test, but weve passed. And the tests are going to keep coming. But the fact that we are where we are, Im kind of surprised.He probably shouldnt be; he created this juggernaut, after all. And while the names of the stars might change, the overall outcome stays the same. Custom Blues Jersey China . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Cheap Blues Jerseys . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. http://www.custombluesjersey.com/ . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. Custom Al Macinnis Jersey . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Custom Blues Jerseys . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. India capped off an unbeaten run at the 4th Asian Champions Trophy with a 3-2 win in the final over defending champions Pakistan to win their second title in Kuantan, Malaysia on October 30. In the course of the round-robin matches, India had beaten Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan and China, while drawing their league match against Korea to top the group. In their semi-final, they came up against the Koreans and drew in regulation time again, before winning the shootout.Though this win will not impact Indias rankings in any way - India went into the tournament as the top-ranked Asian nation, their sixth position is the only one from Asia in the top ten at present - it was important for India to show their supremacy in the continent after having lost the 2012 final to Pakistan and then finishing fifth with a youth team in 2013.Here are the five reasons that made this Asian Champions Trophy win memorable.A final won without Sreejesh All of Indias podium finishes in recent years have owed a large part to PR Sreejesh, who first starred under the bar against Pakistan in the Asian Games final shootout in Incheon in 2014 to book Indias berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics. He was also instrumental in helping India win a bronze medal at the World League Final in 2015 against the Netherlands, as well as the silver medal finish in London at the 2016 Champions Trophy. In Kuantan, Sreejesh injured his ankle during the league phases and then reportedly tore a hamstring in the shootout win over Korea in the semi-final. It could be argued India may not have made it to the final without him in goal, but theres no taking credit away from India in winning the gold medal match without their most consistent performer across the last three years.The youngsters stood up to be counted Akash Chikte replicated Sreejeshs heroics with the starts he got; he had the company of livewires like Affan Yousuf, Lalit Upadhyay and Pardeep Mor who put in good performances right through the tournaments. Mor, in particular, was a revelation, as an attack-minded wing player who repeatedly made his way into the opposition half and created panic in their defence.dddddddddddd His work rate in falling back to help the defenders was admirable too.Sardar led by example in the knockouts When the league matches came to an end, it appeared Sardar Singh was a little unsure of his exact role in the team. After an unsuccessful experiment earlier in the year in Valencia as a forward, Sardar was tried out in defence in the first few matches of the Asian Champions Trophy, but the semi-final and final saw him being put into his favoured central-midfield role. He intercepted crucial passes, distributed the ball well and supplied the pass of the tournament against Pakistan, deep from the defensive third onto the stick of Ramandeep Singh, who slammed the ball across the face of goal and Affans touch put India 2-0 up.Asian flair with a European touch A common criticism of Indian hockey has been the emphasis on individual skills at the expense of defensive organization, but in Kuantan, India were efficient and scored from across the field, scoring 30 goals in seven matches. There were penalty-corners conversions, good individual goals, and several tip-ins executed by younger forwards like Affan and Lalit. These varied methods of scoring are normally associated with European countries like Germany, world champions Australia or even the newly-crowned Olympic champions Argentina.Killing a match off when on top of opponents One area of improvement would be converting an upper hand to closing out matches with greater ruthlessness, as they did against Japan and China. In the final, for example, India did all the running across the first two quarters and could have scored five or six goals if their forwards had been more efficient. If they could do it against the lower-ranked teams in the league stages, they must begin translating that mindset into matches involving teams of greater quality. ' ' '