BOSTON — San Diego State forward Jaedon LeDee was asked Wednesday about getting a rematch of the national championship game against the Connecticut Huskies.

"It could have been anybody," LeDee said. "It could have been UConn. It could have been Kentucky. It could have Boys or Girls Scouts. It doesn't matter."

Actually, it did. It was the UConn Huskies.

These UConn Huskies.

The exhausted, jet-lagged, undersized Aztecs climbed into the ring against the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 overall seed in the Sweet 16, took their swing and ended up on their backs just like UConn's previous eight opponents in the Big Dance. They hung around for a half before losing, 82-52, at Boston's TD Garden, just 85 miles from the Huskies' campus.

That makes UConn 3-0 in the all-time series, all in the NCAA Tournament, all in the Sweet 16 or later. In the previous two, the Huskies won it all.

That makes it nine straight NCAA Tournament wins, all by 15 or more points. The three this year are by an average of 28.7 points.

The UConn Invitational, people are calling it.

There's an expression in cycling when the peloton splits and the lead group starts pedaling away while the other half furiously chases it, that the rubber band stretches and stretches and stretches. And ultimately snaps.

Midway through the second half, the rubber band snapped.

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