HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma gave his team a little time to celebrate making the Final Four.

The Hall of Fame coach even let the top-seeded Huskies cut down the nets following Tuesday’s 66-56 win over No. 2 seed Rutgers in the Greensboro Regional championship.

That’s something he has not let many of his Final Four teams do in the past. Now he’s making his ninth trip back with a squad full of talent, grit and desire, but no Final Four experience in their run for the program’s sixth NCAA title.

“I thought for this particular group, for this particular time and how much of a struggle it’s been for this group to get there. … I wanted them to experience last night’s win for as long as possible,” Auriemma said Wednesday.

One night to be exact.

“Starting today, it’s all over with,” he said.

That’s because the Huskies (36-1) have to prepare for Stanford (34-3), which rolls into Tampa with one of the hottest players in the postseason – senior guard Candice Wiggins.

Wiggins had 41 points in a 98-87 win over Maryland on Monday in the Spokane Regional final. The All-America guard became the first player in tournament history with two games of 40 points or more, following her career-best 44-point performance against UTEP in the second round last week. Finding a way to slow her down will be a challenge, Auriemma said.

“When great players get rolling like that it’s hard to keep them from getting what they want,” he said.

The No. 2-seeded Cardinal get their second look at UConn this season. The Huskies beat Stanford 66-54 on Nov. 22 in a Virgin Islands tournament. At the time, UConn was cruising to double-digit wins over the likes of Old Dominion, Duke and Virginia. That was before season-ending injuries to starters Kalana Greene, the Huskies top defender, and 3-point specialist Mel Thomas.

“The team we had in November doesn’t even resemble the team we had now,” Auriemma said. “It started to show itself (Tuesday) night how much we miss those kids because all three of our perimeter players had to play 40 minutes. Everyone playing has gotten better.”

That includes freshman star Maya Moore, the first rookie in school history to make The Associated Press women’s All-America first team. Moore hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the closing minutes against Rutgers. Although held to a season-low-tying seven points and only her second single-digit performance of the season, she didn’t wilt with the game on the line.

“Throughout the year, we’ve had to deal with a lot of difficult situations in practice and off the court with injuries,” Moore said after the win. “But since we’ve been doing it, we feel like we can overcome anything that’s thrown at us.”

Auriemma’s latest Final Four squad will also have to wade through the distractions that come with the territory of being on the sports biggest stage – the hype, the media and, of course, the feud. The other semifinal features defending champion Tennessee and LSU.

Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt did not renew the yearly regular-season series with archrival UConn this season and Tennessee had alleged that UConn violated a minor NCAA rule when courting Moore, who was also sought by Tennessee. The bad blood between the two Hall of Fame coaches should not be the story line this weekend, Auriemma said.

In fact, he’s tired of talking about it.

“It’s unfortunate its got to this point. We’ve had to answer a lot of questions about how we recruit and I’m quite frankly sick of it,” he said. “Our university had to spend a lot of time defending itself and nothing came of it. I’m worried about Stanford and Connecticut. And that’s it.”