TAMPA, Florida — UConn isn’t letting Paige Bueckers leave without a national title, so woe to anyone who tries to get in their way.

Just ask UCLA, which was effectively run off the floor by halftime Friday night and wound up on the wrong end of an 85-51 loss. That would be the overall No. 1-seeded Bruins, mind you. Or Oklahoma, which is still licking its wounds from the 40 points Bueckers dropped on the Sooners a week ago.

Heck, ask South Carolina, which headed for the exits at halftime of UConn’s beatdown of UCLA, having experienced this nightmare once already. UConn shellacked the defending champs on their home court less than two months ago. They didn’t need to watch UCLA get picked apart to know what awaits them in Sunday afternoon’s title game.

Opinion: UConn will steamroll Final Four teams. No one is beating Paige Bueckers this March Madness

There was, oh, three decades or so when everyone hated UConn because the Huskies were just better than everyone else. They collected titles like European royalty – 11 so far, for those counting – and the Final Four might as well have been a scheduled game. UConn coach Geno Auriemma had his pick of All-Americans, the Huskies alums a “Who’s Who” of women’s basketball.

But all dynasties eventually end, and the game had seemingly caught up to UConn these last few years. The Huskies haven’t won a title since 2016, and have only made one appearance in the title game since then. It’s South Carolina that’s the team to beat now, reaching the title game for the third time in four years after routing Texas in the other national semifinal.

We all should have known better.

Since a loss to Tennessee on Feb. 6, no team in the country is playing better than UConn. And the Huskies haven’t just been good. They’ve been ruthless, snatching the very souls from their opponents.

They’ve won 15 in a row, all but two by 20 or more points. They’re outscoring their NCAA tournament opponents by 30-plus points, with Bueckers averaging 29 points on 58.7% shooting in her first three games.

Against UCLA, they had a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter. They’d harassed UCLA into 10 turnovers midway through the second, two more than the Bruins had field goals.

And in perhaps the most audacious moment of the entire night, with less than two minutes left in the first half, Azzi Fudd stripped Elina Aarnisalo and whipped the ball to Bueckers. Bueckers, spotting Kiki Rice at her side, shoved the ball to Kaitlyn Chen, who scored on a layup that put UConn up 39-22.

Bueckers and Chen burst into laughter. UCLA had to want to cry.

But this is UConn and Bueckers’ year.

Bueckers is one of Auriemma’s all-time favorite players – somewhere between 1 and 1,000, she joked last weekend – but her career has not exactly been smooth. She was a freshman during COVID, playing in empty arenas. She missed part of her sophomore season with a knee injury, then tore her ACL weeks before her junior season was to begin.

Last year, Bueckers was healthy but the rest of the Huskies were being held together by bubble gum and sticky tape. That they even got to the Final Four was a minor miracle.

Everything has fallen into place this year for UConn, and the Huskies aren’t about to waste it. They want a title, and they’ll run over anyone they have to to get it.

Consider yourselves warned, South Carolina.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.