''It was an incredible run,'' UConn coach Jim Calhoun said.

Playing with nine first-year players and no juniors or seniors, UConn (17-13) won its first 11 games, rising to No. 12 in the nation against overmatched opponents including Central Arkansas, Texas Southern and Coppin State.

But the run ended when the Big East season began. The Huskies lost 13 of their final 19, went 6-10 in conference play, barely made the Big East tournament as the No. 12 seed, and lost in the opening game to Syracuse.

The Huskies averaged just 64 points against Big East opponents.

''When it's all said and done, as good of kids as they were, and so on, we never truly got it,'' Calhoun said. ''We never got what it was about, what college basketball was about. That's going to take leadership. That's going to take some kids growing up.''

Calhoun had to replace his top six scorers from a year ago, when the Huskies went 30-4 and lost in the NCAA regional finals. Four of those players: Rudy Gay, Josh Boone, Hilton Armstrong and Marcus Williams are now in the NBA.

''We could have cried and just said, 'We just got absolutely ransacked with players,''' Calhoun said. ''We took the other approach. Why not us? We're young, we've got legs, we'll get better. The biggest thing, we got better, we just didn't get as good as I thought we could.''

Calhoun said he takes a bit of solace in the fact that four of his former assistants -- Howie Dickenman at Central Connecticut, Virginia's Dave Leitao, George Washington's Karl Hobbs and Penn's Glen Miller -- coached their teams into the NCAA tournament.

But come Thursday, while those coaches are beginning postseason play, the Huskies will start their offseason conditioning program.