LOS ANGELES — The No. 1 Connecticut women’s basketball team came to L.A. on Saturday and demolished No. 16 USC, 79-51 – and I’m so sorry, UCLA.

I watched the Huskies – who came into the nationally televised non-conference showdown as 20-point favorites – run the Trojans out of their own gym and couldn’t stop thinking about the No. 4-ranked Bruins.

The better-than-ever Bruins. The big-dreaming Bruins. The now-or-never Bruins who came into this season with a senior-stacked squad, healthier and hungrier and with extended range and improved floor spacing. And, yes, national player-of-the-year candidate Lauren Betts back at center to anchor a team that spent much of last season ranked No. 1 in the nation as a precursor to its first Final Four run in the NCAA era.

That run ended in a blowou

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