MOHEGAN — Just over two months ago, Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck sat atop the college basketball world.

Again.

The three had just led UConn to an unprecedented fourth straight national championship.

Now, flung far and wide to three different corners of this large nation, their fortunes are again intertwined.

Just in ways they are not used to.

The three are now rookies in the WNBA and, unlike UConn where winning is a constant companion, they are now learning that life in the WNBA is hardly like it was in Storrs.

Coming into the week, the three teams the UConn trio now play for have the three worst records in the WNBA.

Stewart and the Seattle Storm are best off at 4-9, a .308 winning percentage. The Sun are 3-10 (.231) courtesy of their win over Jefferson and San Antonio (2-9, .182) on Sunday.

In the four years that the three played at UConn, they suffered all of five losses in 156 games.

“It takes some time to get used to,” Tuck admitted. “We came from a program where we didn’t lose many games, but I think Moriah and I both knew that. You’re coming in as a top pick, it’s not going to be like UConn. We came with those expectations and we knew it would be a little bit of a struggle. We have to do what we can to try and help turn it around and I’m sure (Moriah) is thinking the same thing.”

Jefferson and Tuck have another thing in common.

The teams they are playing for aren’t winning a lot, but aren’t losing by a lot.

“I’m having fun,” Jefferson said.

Even at 2-9?

“Yeah, surprisingly,” she said. “If you have seen any of our games, it’s not like we’re getting blown out, it’s small things. We could have won a lot of them. I love my team.”

But she went on to say that it is a little annoying when a two or three minute period in a game causes it to go the other way.

“I think we have to start faster. We always have to fight back in the second half and then by the fourth quarter, we run out of gas,” Jefferson said.

But Jefferson said she steeled herself for some tough times early.

San Antonio coach Dan Hughes likes what he has seen from Jefferson so far and imagined the same could be said of Stewart and Tuck.

“They have such a balanced presence,” Hughes said.

The veteran coach who is retiring at the end of the season said it’s something he has gone through twice in his WNBA career. A coach gets a group of players and when they move on, the franchise has to rebuild. It’s that cycle that the Stars are currently in and when that is going on, there is a characteristic he looks for.

“You look for people who are tough, not only tough physically, but tough mentally, because you are going to take a few hits. It’s not all smooth. I don’t know Tuck as well, but I would guess she’s the same and Moriah has that. She doesn’t like losing. None of us like losing,” Hughes said.

The San Antonio coach sounds like a recording of Connecticut coach Curt Miller when he talks about his team having a young core that is developing its own style. The Stars are in position, salary cap-wise, to add to that young core next season, but the young core will have to struggle through this year.

Struggling is a word that is not in UConn’s vocabulary, even when a player is a freshman.

“When you come into UConn, you really don’t have to do much as a freshman. You come in, you look at the upperclassmen and they have been winning. Now (in the WNBA), it’s just coming in and really trying to make an impact with your minutes,” Tuck said.

Tuck said the three, because of their similar situations, have talked to one another about what they are dealing with outside of Geno Auriemma’s house.

“It’s frustrating, but at the same time, you can’t get too down about it. You just have to keep working and trying to get your points,” Tuck said.

It’s not always easy.

“The whole process is hard,” Jefferson said. “But probably the losing is the hardest thing to adjust my mindset to, not getting focused on that last game and keep pushing forward. Every game is a new game and you have a chance to win.”