Column: How do you define greatness?

Last year was easy. I'm talking about Geno-Auriemma-pushing-the-easy-button-every-night-of-the-season-easy.

And why shouldn't it have been?

The Huskies had Player of the Year Maya Moore paired down low with last year's Most Outstanding Player of the 2009 NCAA Final Four Tina Charles.

And then you had All-American Renee Montgomery leading the charge.

But now, Montgomery is gone. And while that may not seem like much, it is.

UConn was selected as the unanimous preseason No. 1 team in the country. When you have the National Player of the Year returning and you have Auriemma at the helm, there's no question why they shouldn't be No. 1.

But there's something different about this year's team. There is no Montgomery to calm the team when things aren't going smoothly. There is no Montgomery to bring the ball up the floor against the press. There is no Montgomery to lead the break.

What I'm saying is that this year won't be easy for the 10 returning players from last year's team. It's hard to replace someone like Montgomery.

So for those of you who are expecting a repeat of last season, I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch.

But I write this without any cruel intent. I write this because I believe this year's team has what it takes to truly become a great team.

Of course it's easy to win by 30 points a game when you have three of the best players in women's collegiate basketball on your team. But when the playing field's caught up, that's when things will get interesting.

I believe that if this team can win the National Championship this year, they will be the definition of a great team - perhaps an even greater team then they were last year.

But in order to do that, they'll have to overcome a tremendous amount of adversity.

First, there's the strength of this year's schedule.

Last year, the Huskies went up against ranked teams like North Carolina, Oklahoma and Rutgers and they beat them all by at least 20 points.

This year, UConn is scheduled to face No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 6 Duke, No. 12 Texas and No. 23 Louisville.

Call me crazy, but playing three of the top-five teams in the country won't be a walk in the park.

And now, there's the issue of who will serve as the floor general. Senior Lorin Dixon had three years under Montgomery, so there's a chance she picked up some of Montgomery's leadership skills. Can you rely on Tiffany Hayes or Caroline Doty to run the point-guard spot when they're infinitely better playing at shooting guard?

But with all these unknown variables in play, it'll be interesting to see how Auriemma and the Huskies respond.

If I'm being honest, I don't see the Huskies going 39-0 for a second straight season. There will be a lot of close games. But in the end, when it's all said and done, if UConn is cutting the nets down in April, then we'll all be witnesses to one of the greatest women's collegiate basketball teams the NCAA has ever seen.