STORRS, Conn. -- Some things you've heard and believed all your life, but then you finally decide to test them. Such as this: It's impossible for an out-of-towner to drive in Boston.

You grow older and get these stupid ideas: "Surely, with a good street map and the right attitude ... "

	Now that Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph are gone, Sue Bird is running the show in Storrs.

And then you find "impossible" is not exactly the right description.

It's more like "unbearable."

What a neat city. A must-visit if you care about American history. But ...

Those rotaries, which seem to have 16 lanes feeding into them: Who has right-of-way? Everybody. Except you.

What does a flashing green light mean? How did "X" street become "Z" street? Oh, that was six miles ago when you missed the "X" veer-off. Where was the sign indicating that?

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

This eventually stops being even the slightest bit quirky or funny, and your mood moves progressively as such: sarcastic disdain, gloomy testiness, grouchy fearfulness, frightened grumpiness, enraged paranoia and, finally, disoriented hopelessness.

But guess what? When somebody else was at the wheel in Boston, I was largely carefree. I'm looking at the water, the leaves, the churches, the sunshine -- enjoying the ride.

This seems a semi-apt comparison to Connecticut's experiences in the NCAA Final Four the past two seasons. And whether it's a good analogy or not, it percolated in my head so long while I drove in circles, triangles and trapezoids around Boston that I'll be darned if I won't use it.

At the 2000 Final Four, the Huskies knew exactly where they were going. Credit Shea Ralph especially for that. The stars were Sue Bird in the semifinal and Kelly Schumacher in the final, but Ralph metaphorically was driving and that made every Huskies player more relaxed. And effective.

But last season, after both Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova went down to injuries, the keys were left to Bird and Diana Taurasi. Swin Cash, Tamika Williams and Asjha Jones were the particularly talented sidekicks.

Bird, being the serious-minded, natural leader that she is, did a good job driving. Taurasi didn't do badly either, especially for a freshman. Until ... the second half of the NCAA semifinal game against Notre Dame.

"We didn't miss Shea and Svet during the tournament because D and Sue knocked in shots and got us to the Final Four," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "Then once we got there, and the shots stopped dropping and we really needed Asjha, Swin and Tamika to step up big time, they were not prepared to do that.

"And I think that, more than anything, bothers them and Sue Bird. The year before, everybody did their part and we won a national championship. Last year, without Shea and Svet, we hit the wall and the four of them were not able to get us over the hump. That just burns them up right now. That's the driving force, the motivation for them."

	UConn's Sue Bird says teammate Swin Cash is "one of the best rebounders I've seen."

Those four are seniors. And they may not vocalize it, but this is their team.

Other people -- especially Taurasi and redshirt freshmen Jessica Moore and Ashley Battle -- need to play well. But UConn's championship foundation rests on the four seniors. And the Huskies are preseason No. 1 because of them.

Bird is going to be at the wheel most of the time -- not just because she's a point guard but because she embraces ultimate responsibility. Typically, it seems like those people are guards, but not always.

Last year, center Ruth Riley was that person for Notre Dame. Chamique Holdsclaw did it at forward for three Tennessee titles. The buck stopped at UConn center Rebecca Lobo in 1995.

It stops at Bird this season.

"What Sue has done the first few weeks of practice is she has become much more aggressive as a result of not having Shea or Svet," Auriemma said. "That's made her more forceful, more of a leader and that's what we needed to have happen.

"She puts an awful lot of pressure on herself to always be in control, always on top of her game. I wish D was a little more like that. But I also wish Sue was a little more care-free like D. I think the two of them are rubbing off on each other a little bit, which is good."

Bird agreed with that assessment of herself and Taurasi.

"Diana is very confident in her ability -- if she misses 10 shots in a row, she's still sure the next 10 are going in," Bird said. "Now, I'm not like that. But hopefully, a little bit is wearing off on me."

Bird and Taurasi are quite interesting contrasts. An essential element of what makes Bird so good is the fuel of self-doubt; with Taurasi, it's the lack of self-doubt.

There won't be many situations where both are misfiring at the same time. But that's what happened in the semifinal, when UConn lost 90-75 after leading 49-37 at halftime. UConn shot 23.7 percent in the second half; for the game, Bird and Taurasi went a combined 8-for-36 from the field.

The "Big Three" of Cash-Williams-Jones didn't have bad numbers, combining for 25 points and 21 rebounds. But, as Auriemma points out, this was a night when "not bad" wasn't enough because Notre Dame's "Big Five" played their roles superbly, as was the case for the Irish virtually all season.

Auriemma thinks that C-W-J can both rise to occasions and fit in as the team players all three always have been. Which is what happened in 2000 and sometimes last season.

"Some days they overshadowed Shea and Svet, but they didn't want to do it on a consistent basis," Auriemma said. "I think they came here because of that reason.

"Swin is the only one out of the three that has an unbelievable, aggressive, dominant-type personality. The other two are more laid-back. But that contributes to the tremendous chemistry we have. And I think they probably say, 'If I'd gone to another school without anybody else as good as these other two, I might not have a national-championship ring.' "

Bird, like all great point guards, has become an expert on her teammates' abilities. Her C-W-J scouting report: "Swin's greatest attribute is she's one of the best rebounders I've seen. She's so quick, it makes her effective on defense and almost impossible to guard on offense.

"Tamika buries her player in the lane. She's a strength player, gets good position. When she does that, you have to get her the ball because she will score.

"Asjha is more of a finesse player. It's actually pretty when you watch her play. Her foul-line jumper is almost automatic. Overall, she's consistent."

Bird sees Battle, forced to redshirt because of an elbow injury last season, as a mix of Cash and Williams. As for Moore, who redshirted for seasoning purposes, Auriemma hopes she fills Schumacher's role.

"They have improved tremendously since they came here," Auriemma said of Battle and Moore. "What they lack is game experience, which I'm not worried about. They'll get enough of that by March."

Along with the lost seniors, guard Kennitra Johnson transferred. So UConn doesn't have as much talented depth as past years. But that really might not matter in regard to winning a national championship. It didn't last year with Notre Dame or in '99 with Purdue. Or with the '95 UConn team.

"Last year, I played a lot of players because I had to, because they were there," Auriemma said. "That doesn't necessarily mean that my best players played the most minutes. This year, my best players are going to play the most minutes.

"I've grown to understand that you almost have to have two kinds of teams: a regular-season team and an NCAA Tournament team. If those teams are the same because you only really have seven players, that's fine. You just have to hope you stay healthy and get a little lucky."

And that nobody takes you out in the rotary.

Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.