There's no question the Connecticut Huskies are the preseason favorite as we enter the 2000-2001 season.

ESPN's experts, however, had to put some serious thought into defining the one thing -- the key ingredient -- behind the defending NCAA champion Huskies' success.

Here's what the experts said:

UCONN'S KEY INGREDIENT
Bilas	Everything ... but defense is the key I don't think you can put your finger on any one thing that makes the Huskies really good. They've got depth, speed, size and experience. With the numbers they have, the Huskies can come after you defensively and wear you down. They come at you in waves and pressure every opponent. Last season's championship game with Tennessee is a good example. No matter what the Lady Vols did, UConn had them consistently on their heels. -- Jay Bilas, ESPN analyst
Lieberman- Cline	Junior point guard Sue Bird Bird makes everybody on the floor better, and already is the best point guard in college basketball. Bird has everything a coach looks for -- intelligence, sight, leadership ability. I liken her to a young Jennifer Azzi, although Bird is probably even better than Jen was as a college junior. And when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter how good of a coach Geno Auriemma is -- if his point guard doesn't run the stuff, he's just another coach. -- Nancy Lieberman-Cline, ESPN analyst
Mowins	Focus The Huskies all seem to have the ability to see through the distractions during the season and keep their sights set on the national title. They've got an endless stream of high school All-Americans who check their egos at the door and mesh together. They seem unconcerned with playing time, how many points they've scored or how many articles have been written about them. The focus is on long-range team goals and the NCAA Tournament. -- Beth Mowins, ESPN play-by-play announcer
Roberts	Team chemistry Most people at this level say they don't care about how many minutes they play, but at UConn, the players truly don't care who gets the minutes or how much they play. The Huskies are simply unselfish and buy into Geno Auriemma's system. I have never seen a team truly like each other as much as this team. From Svetlana Abrosimova to Marci Czel, they all like each other, they all feel like they have a say, and they all contribute to UConn's success. -- Robin Roberts, ESPN studio host
	Coaching staff Connecticut appears to have enough talent to fill a couple of teams, so how playing time is managed and what motivations are used become even more important factors than they might be with a team that had fewer stars. Geno Auriemma, associate head coach Chris Dailey and assistant coach Tonya Cardoza have been there so long that they have laid that foundation. -- Mechelle Voepel, contributing writer for ESPN.com