The Associated Press

ATLANTA - Connecticut always makes it look so easy. Lose four brilliant seniors, replace them with high school All-Americans, and just keep winning.

That's the perception, anyway. The reality, at least according to coach Geno Auriemma, is something else entirely.

"The whole year long it was just really hard," Auriemma said. "Really, really, really hard."

Yet here the Huskies are, making their fourth straight trip to the women's Final Four, in search of their second consecutive national championship and third in four years.

Connecticut (35-1) plays Texas (29-5) in the national semifinals at the Georgia Dome on Sunday night. Tennessee (32-4) meets Duke (35-1) in the day's first game.

UConn made it back with one returning starter, three freshmen and role players from last season's 39-0 team. The team has no seniors, and All-American Diana Taurasi is the only star, though one of considerable magnitude.

It was a combination that Auriemma says has driven him crazy. Nice kids and all, but too laid back in practice, too introverted to suit their demanding, hyperactive coach.

Did he ever throw anybody out of practice to make a point?

"I wanted to get myself thrown out of practice," Auriemma said. "There wasn't a day that I didn't go to practice that I didn't hate it. Every day this year. Every single day. Some days I just hated it less. It was awful."

There were some growing pains, Taurasi said.

"It was a slow process," she said. "A lot of hard times, even though you might look at the record and say, 'How hard could it have been?' But it's been a tough season."

Not hard enough to keep the Huskies from winning, which confounded Auriemma even more. Connecticut won its first 31 games to run its streak to 70, an NCAA record for women, before losing to Villanova in the Big East tournament final.

"It really bugged me that they kept winning," Auriemma said. "I tried everything - made bad substitutions, called the wrong plays, didn't call timeouts - everything I could to make them lose and teach them a lesson.

"And the suckers just kept on winning and winning and winning. It was awful, all those wins. It was torture."

Auriemma was laughing by the time he finished that sentence.

"See, that's why most of the country hates us," he said. "Because we win and I complain."

To keep going, Connecticut will have to beat the owner of the country's longest current winning streak. Texas, in the Final Four for the first time since 1987, has won 17 straight games since a 71-69 loss at Kansas State on Jan. 24.

That loss, Texas coach Jody Conradt said, was the Longhorns' turning point.

"That was the game that gave us the impetus to becoming a much better offensive team," she said. "I had called it pop-a-shot: whoever was open took the first shot.

"This team has never been selfish, but I think they all felt a responsibility to do it themselves for the team. It showed in bad shot selection and not very good offensive flow. All of that improved after the Kansas State game."

Texas won the Big 12 regular-season and tournament championships, then swept through the West Regional with an average victory margin of 23. Now comes the Longhorns' biggest challenge.

"I don't know if we can beat Connecticut or not," Conradt said. "They are really, really good. But I know our team is going to be happy to have the opportunity to measure themselves against what is the standard right now in women's basketball."

Tennessee used to be that standard. The Lady Vols have won six NCAA titles, twice as many has anyone else. But their last championship came in 1998, and Connecticut has moved to the forefront.

But don't overlook a Pat Summitt-coached team. Tennessee might be 0-3 against the Final Four field, including a 76-55 loss to Duke, but the Lady Vols are the deepest and most athletic team. They have won 23 of their last 24.

Duke has slumped offensively in the tournament. All-American Alana Beard is still scoring (21.5 average), but the Blue Devils averaged just 63.5 points in their four regional games.

Coach Gail Goestenkors thinks too much is being made of those numbers.

"There really is nothing wrong with us," she said. "Our goal is to win each game. I don't care if we win by one point or 30 points."