DAYTON, Ohio -- They aren't the pair for Connecticut, but Caroline Doty and Tiffany Hayes are most definitely a pair. They're both sophomore starters for the top-seeded Huskies, as well as roommates who have an almost unlimited ability to amuse each other and, occasionally, even their teammates.
This duo also manages the backcourt for a team still rolling along toward repeat perfection despite the graduation of point guard Renee Montgomery after last season's championship.
There was never going to be a way to replace someone like Montgomery, who was a four-year starter, but it didn't hurt the Huskies that the combination of Doty and Hayes is its own kind of unique.
"I had a pretty peaceful summer and pretty peaceful fall," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said during the Dayton Regional. "I enjoyed [coaching] the national team and enjoyed going to Russia, because I think deep down inside I knew we were going to be OK. I didn't think 35-0 OK, but I knew we would be OK, because these two characters have a lot of character.
"They are really competitive at a young age. Both sophomores, they room together, they trust each other, they know they have each other's back, they play off each other."
You can't talk about one without bringing the other into the conversation. They arrived together -- Doty from Pennsylvania and Hayes from Florida -- as the two highest-profile members of a recruiting class in Storrs that was originally supposed to include Elena Delle Donne. Hayes emerged as a star-in-waiting during the NCAA tournament last season, most notably in a 28-point performance against California in the Sweet 16. But she gained her place in the starting five down the stretch and in the postseason only after Doty ceded it following a season-ending knee injury in January.
By the time the Huskies cut down the nets in St. Louis, Hayes had started 17 games and averaged 8.4 points per game. Doty had started 17 games and averaged 8.6 points per game.
When junior point guard Lorin Dixon sustained a hamstring injury in an exhibition game in November -- which effectively removed her from the running to take Montgomery's spot -- Doty and Hayes fittingly opened the post-Montgomery era starting alongside one another for the first time in their careers in the season opener against Northeastern.
Whatever their future roles in Storrs, next season without Tina Charles and in their senior season without Maya Moore, the two will likely always share a sentence.
"They're two kids that you'll always say 'Caroline and Tiffany' -- you'll never say 'Caroline' without 'Tiffany,'" associate coach Chris Dailey said. "It's like Rebecca [Lobo] and Pam [Webber]; it's like Jen [Rizzotti] and Jamelle [Elliott]. I think there are kids that we always say -- Tina and Maya -- I think certain kids get linked together. I think it will always be 'Caroline and Tiffany.'"
Neither is a pure point guard; both are effective shooters with range several feet beyond the 3-point line, and Hayes possesses one of the best first steps in the college game when she goes to the basket. But even in picking up point guard responsibilities in Montgomery's absence, they balance each other. As Auriemma noted, Hayes rarely looked entirely comfortable handling playmaking duties this season. Her 1.40 assist-to-turnover ratio entering the Final Four is good by almost any standard, except perhaps at Connecticut, where guards like Montgomery or Sue Bird have routinely approached or surpassed 2-1 ratios and shown the comfort and command such a statistic implies.
Enter Doty, who might not be the next Rizzotti but has proved more than willing to bear the burden of both the position and Auriemma's demands of it (she is second to Moore in total assists and assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.87).
However the duties are split in a given game, they make it work together.
"I definitely feed off her," Hayes said. "If it's not me driving and kicking to her, it's her driving and kicking to me. If it's not me knocking down shots, it's her. It's just like we feel each other. Whatever I can't do, she's doing. Whatever she can't do, I'm doing. It's nice to have somebody next to you."
It is not just a marriage of convenience, considering they were in some ways battling each other for minutes before Doty's injury last season, and for roles this season without Montgomery. It would be understandable if there was a rivalry, healthy or otherwise. Yet from the start they have been inseparable. Doty forgot to pack her shell when she left for college and seemed to gradually coax Hayes out of hers as their freshman season progressed. They may share traces of Oscar and Felix -- in one of Rebecca Lobo's "Five Questions" segments earlier this season, Hayes divulged that her roommate's most annoying habit is clipping her toenails while watching television in the living room -- but they're perhaps an even better match off the court than on it.
"She's fun to be around," Hayes said. "I'm glad she's my roommate; she keeps me entertained all the time, whether it be her cooking, singing or anything like that. Whenever I'm around Caroline, I know I'm going to get a laugh. And I love to laugh, so that's why I'm glad I'm always around her."
And what is Doty's signature dish?
"Mac and cheese," Hayes confirmed, with the conviction of a satisfied diner.
"Our friendship off the court, I think, helps with everything on the court," Doty added. "We'll look for each other. And since we've been playing with each other, day in and day out since we got here, we know how each other plays, we know what we think, we know where we're going to be. It's just a connection you have that we just always know what's going on and what each other is doing."
Connecticut doesn't need Doty and Hayes to be stars yet, not with Charles and Moore around. It doesn't need them to be the pulse of the team or always come up with the big play when needed -- both roles filled by Kalana Greene -- and it definitely doesn't need them to be Montgomery, a great player and greater leader during her time with the Huskies. What Connecticut needs to be the best this season is for Doty and Hayes to be themselves.
And for both of them, that generally comes when the other is in close proximity.
"They each know how to get done what they need to get done but neither of them is anywhere near where Renee was," Auriemma said. "But they're where Renee was as a sophomore, and that's all I can ask them to do, is to be who they are and do what they can do and make plays when they have to. And I knew they would do it to help us be where we are now. I just never expected it to be this good."
Graham Hays is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. E-mail him at Graham.Hays@espn3.com.