STORRS, Conn. — One year ago, on the night after Super Bowl Sunday, Geno Auriemma sat alongside three stalwart seniors and momentarily imagined a coaching life without them.

“I start to blink because I look out there and start to think that these three are not going to be there next year,” Auriemma, coach of the Connecticut women’s basketball powerhouse, said after a solid road victory over then-unbeaten and second-ranked South Carolina.

He also appeared to be blinking away a tear or two at the thought of losing those three players: Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck.

That moment of emotional reflection for Auriemma, who is better known for biting sarcasm, came after a 60th consecutive victory, to which the Huskies predictably added 15 more on the way to their fourth straight (and 11th overall) national championship.