INDIANAPOLIS – This is one year when Connecticut isn’t the only team relying on experience in the women’s Final Four.

Sure, the Huskies are two-time defending champions, but is there a point where the law of averages catches up? Consider:

• Just to get to the championship game, UConn will have to beat Big East rival Notre Dame for a fourth time this season, never an easy task.

• If they do that, they might have to play Stanford, which has four straight years of Final Four experience, plus confidence from beating UConn and snapping its 90-game winning streak earlier this year.

“I think that there’s maybe a certain amount of more calmness. That’s all I would say having gone back,” said Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer. “People know a little bit more what to expect.”

None of that phases UConn Coach Geno Auriemma.

“One thing is the absolute truth: There’s only one team playing right now that knows how to win a national championship,” he said. “Only a couple kids playing know how to win a national championship, and I’m fortunate to have them on my team.”

One of those players is Maya Moore, a four-time All-American with 3,000 points and the key to the Huskies’ unprecedented run over the past few seasons.

“Where does she fit in among the great ones? Should we mention her name? I would say you’re not going to be able to mention a lot of names before you get to her name,” Auriemma said.

UConn’s first opponent is a familiar one: Notre Dame. The teams played three times this season and the Irish hung tough in those games, including a three-point loss in January.

Notre Dame Coach Muffet McGraw needs only to look across the bracket for inspiration, since Texas A&M beat Baylor in the regional final after falling to the Bears three times this season.

“We will definitely reference Texas A&M; the fourth time’s a charm,” McGraw said. “I think it’s going to be a mental hurdle to get over. It’s difficult, I hope, to beat a team four times.”

Stanford hasn’t won a title since 1992 and was beaten in the Final Four by Tennessee in 2008 and Connecticut last year.

“For Kayla (Pederson) and I and the other seniors, we’re very focused coming into this Final Four,” Stanford senior Jeanette Pohlen said. “It’s tough making it that far and not coming away with the national championship.”