In a great story from the 2006 NBA Finals, Miami Heat coach Pat Riley used a unique motivational tactic to push his team toward their first championship.

The Heat had just won its third straight game in the series to take a 3-2 lead as the Finals shifted back to Dallas for Games 6 and 7. Riley wanted no part of Game 7 on the road and made sure his team wouldn’t have to face that situation.

Before the team packed their bags to head to Dallas, Riley instructed the players and staff to only pack for one day – one shirt, one tie, one change of clothes – because they were going to close out the series in Game 6 and be headed back to Miami to celebrate. He even checked the team’s bags before they boarded their flight to make sure everyone complied with his instructions. Riley’s plan worked as the Heat won the championship with a victory in Game 6.

For Geno Auriemma and his University of Connecticut women’s basketball team, they are in the exact opposition situation. When it comes to the NCAA Tournament, they know to pack for two games every weekend as they don’t want to be victims in the single-elimination tournament and see their championship run end early.

UConn is back in the Final Four for the 10^th straight season as they look to win their fifth straight National Championship. They enter their national semifinal game with Mississippi State (Friday, 9:30 ET, ESPN2) with a 36-0 record and riding a NCAA-record 111-game win streak.

We spoke with Seattle Storm teammates and UConn alumni Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart to discuss the success of the program and the expectations that come with playing for the University of Connecticut.

“The thing that makes UConn different is the experience of the coaches to prepare them,” said Bird, who played for the Huskies from 1998-2002. “Everyday in practice is hard, every game you go through is challenging at UConn, so when you get to the tournament it’s kind of just business as usual.”

While the stakes are higher and the season is on the line every time the team steps on the court during the tournament, the preparation remains the same.

“The preparation in a lot of ways has already been done,” Bird said. “They’ve been molded and don’t even know it. I like to joke that they’ve been Miyagi’d throughout the course of the season.

“He’s constantly putting them in difficult positions in practice and mentally challenging them in games because he knows what level they have to get to in order to perform well in the tournament. Throughout the season he’s been getting them ready for these moments and they didn’t even realize their ready.”

Think “The Karate Kid” and imagine Auriemma yelling “wax on, wax off” at his players throughout the regular season in order to prepare them for tournament play. The demands that Auriemma puts on his players in both practice and games are greater than the adversity the players face when the games matter most.

“When you watch their games, the main thing you notice is the consistency, how they’re playing every single night,” said Stewart. “They don’t take any games off, or any plays off, and they’ve been taught how to do that since their freshman year. They know it’s their responsibility every time they step on the court.”

One of the lessons that Auriemma expected his players to learn this season was losing a game. He admitted that seeing the win-streak extend to triple digits was not something he expected after putting together a challenging schedule for his young team.

Of course, that didn’t happen and now the Huskies make history with every consecutive win they pile up. They enter the Final Four with 111 straight victories and hopes to extend it by two more wins to capture the program’s 12th National Championship.

“Most people thought UConn would take a step back after Moriah Jefferson, Morgan Tuck and I finished our careers,” said Stewart. “But I had faith in them, and I knew they would grow as players. They knew that roles needed to be filled, leadership needed to be filled, and people needed to step up. And they did just that. And the fact that everyone thought UConn was going to have a down year – they used that as fuel to the fire.”

This year’s squad is continuing the streak that was started by teams led by Stewart, Jefferson and Tuck; who won four National Championships in their four years in Storrs. It was Stewart that famously announced her goal to four-peat when she arrived at UConn.

“I think as a freshmen you can be a little unaware in my time at least,” said Bird. “When I was in school if I freshmen walked into Coach Auriemma’s office and said ‘I want to win four national championships in a row’ and was dead serious he probably would have laughed in their face. You fast forward 15 years and Breanna Stewart does that and he says ‘let’s do it.’ I think even though the expectations were high when I was there they’re even higher now, but that’s become realistic. The program has evolved that way.”

Bird was a part of two National Championship teams during her time at UConn, capturing the program’s second and third titles in the infancy of their domination of the sport.

“I joke that you go into the UConn practice facility and look up and all the banners and of course you see all the championship banners which is incredible but they also do a great job honoring all the All-Americans and Olympians and when I see my name I see National Player of the Year and I look like a bum,” said Bird. “I was only an All-American one year and I only won two championships, at Connecticut I’m a bum. So, that right there speaks to how dominant the program is.”

The program has a chance to further cement their dominance of the women’s basketball landscape this weekend in Dallas. It comes as no surprise that the Huskies are back in the Final Four. The only question that remains is whether they will be able to take advantage of the opportunity in front of them this time around.

“I think what prepares you the most at Connecticut is that awareness, you embrace the moment, you’re not scared of it or nervous about it, you understand what’s about to happen and what winning means and what losing means and you embrace it,” said Bird. “I think that’s why they’re successful because they meet the challenge head on.”