Tampa, Fla. — UConn Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma knew his team would play its first and last game of the regular season in the state of Florida, but other than that, he wasn't quite sure what to expect in his 32nd season at the helm.

After watching the Huskies hold on for dear life in the season opener before escaping with a two-point victory, Auriemma was fairly certain that by the time Monday's game at South Florida (7 p.m., ESPN2) rolled around there would be no winning streaks to protect.

"If we go down there and win, if these guys finish the regular season undefeated, that would be a hell of a thing for this group because I don't think anybody would have predicted that," Auriemma said. "We started in Florida and we finished in Florida, there's been a lot of stuff in between. I don't think if anybody would have told us with six seconds left in the Florida State game, 'don't worry about it you guys will be undefeated.'"

Yet here they are. With a win on Monday, it will be the Huskies' ninth undefeated regular season including three in the last four seasons.

"I said it on more than one occasion that I didn't envision it ever happening based on the schedule we had put together," Auriemma said. "When we were putting the schedule together, it wasn't in anybody's mind that was even remotely possible. You couldn't look at our schedule and go, 'you are going to win them all.' Not even close."

UConn faced eight ranked teams in the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Huskies own wins against No. 2 Maryland, No. 4 Baylor, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 South Carolina, No. 8 FSU and No. 12 Ohio State despite graduating its top three scorers. The Huskies emerged victorious against all comers despite losing 51 percent of the points scored.

Katie Lou Samuelson, the only returning double-figure scorer, embraced a larger role as have Napheesa Collier, Gabby Williams, Kia Nurse and Saniya Chong.

"You feel not more involved but more pressure on you," Samuelson said. "I knew every game last year whether I played or not you were still going to win. It is kind of a different role, taking more responsibility."

The longest stretch of having the same player being UConn's leading scorer was a four-game run by Samuelson. Six different Huskies have finished as the team leader in points scored this season. The Huskies have posted wins over Temple and Tulane, the teams picked to finish second and fourth in the American Athletic Conference, without Nurse and get a chance to sweep USF, the team picked third in the preseason AAC poll. Auriemma has been impressed with the consistent production from players who were role players in the last season or two.

"They are good at putting the past behind them really quickly which I am not," Auriemma said. "Whatever they did, I am going to show it to them on film and I am going to (complain) about it and they don't even want to hear it. That was yesterday, tell me about today and tomorrow."

The production has been impressive enough that Auriemma couldn't even predict which of his players will emerge as a frontrunner for the conference player of the year award.

Samuelson is putting up points at a fast and furious rate, and it is probably not a coincidence that some of UConn's closest games have come when Samuelson struggled to find the range. Collier is the third player in program history with 50 steals and 50 blocked shots in the same season and her jump in scoring average is the second best for a UConn player. She also has 11 double-doubles and 16 games when she made at least twice as many field goals as she missed.

Williams has established career highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots, field goals made and attempted. Nurse has been a steady contributor on offense with 17 double-digit point performances and defensively typically locked up on the other team's best perimeter player. Her true value was illustrated in the recent three-point win at Tulane which happened to be the first game she missed due to a right ankle injury. Chong is on pace to set UConn's single-season mark for assist/turnover ratio and has eight double-digit scoring games.

If opposing AAC coaches have a hard enough time trying to stop UConn's top five players, imagine the challenge on picking one of them to be the conference player of the year.

"Sometimes it is best not to have an opinion," Auriemma said. "We have one of those teams this year where how do you say that one player clearly overshadowed everybody else. They all kind of took turns doing their things so whatever happens, happens. There are more important things but it will be interesting to see how it goes

"They have been pretty even keeled for most of the year. I am sure in their quiet moments, there are goals, aspirations and things that they want to accomplish If you ask about being an All-American this year, 'hell yeah that's why I came to Connecticut.' I am sure that is a big part of their thinking. Even when the other coaches when it comes time to vote call me and say who should I vote for? Don't ask me, you are on your own on this one."