Geno Auriemma

Geno Auriemma
Luigi "Geno" Auriemma is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. He has led UConn to eleven NCAA Division I national championships, a feat matched by no one else in college basketball, and has won seven national Naismith College Coach of the Year awards. Auriemma has been the head coach of the United States women's national basketball team since 2009, during which time his teams won the 2010...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth23 March 1954
CityMontella, Italy
I don?t think she deserved any more than that, but it?s certainly beneath her ability. So, hopefully, she takes it as kind of an incentive to want to do more, want to be recognized for being better than that.
Certainly it has become the game that everybody in the Big East points to.
I don't know that we ever go into a tournament that much under the radar. But if that's the case then this year would be certainly as close to that as I've seen in a while.
Right now, it seems like Will has made a commitment to herself to be one of the better players at her position in our league. And certainly it's not beyond the realm of possibilities for will. If you think about it, she's got all the ingredients.
I know we didn't win the regular season, but I don't know how finishing second was all that great when you have to get the winner of South Florida-Notre Dame in the first round. I'm saying to myself, the four teams with a bye, this is what we get for a great season. I'm not sure that's ever been the case. They've come into this league and dramatically altered the landscape. They certainly have benefited and we have benefited from it also.
We weren't sure whether or not it was real serious or mildly serious or whatever. When we got back, it was X-rayed and there's no fractures. It's just a bad ankle sprain and she's definitely out for Saturday and then we'll take it from there.
We got the big lead and we had a chance, when pressure came, to really make some plays to extend it. But we let one play lead to another to another to another. It just got completely away from us. I guess credit their defense, but I was just looking at the stat sheet.
I've seen (Strother) go through stretches where nothing's gone in, but she had that one stretch where she made everything. It all evens itself out, I think. I think all she needs is a couple to drop. ... She'll come around.
The strength of your league is what is going on in the middle. We have always been good at the top. But we will have teams finishing 10th, 11th 12th in our league who are pretty darned good, and I don't know that anybody else has that.
The time she broke her ankle standing still. Do you know how hard that is to do?
I still don't think we can guard her. But what you can do is make her have to guard you. We made it so she had to defend in the lane.
I sense that this year, there have been more near-upsets and more great moments in this tournament than maybe the last five combined. Which is a sign, I think, that we are going in the right direction.
I've been in their situation enough times where you come in and you feel like you've got every answer to every question that comes up. And you know the only way you can lose is if you don't play to your ability. I'm sure Duke feels the same way. (Duke) plays in a manner that leads you to believe they're going to win a national championship.
As I look at stuff like this I say to myself, it's kind of odd because you always think of coaching as an opportunity for your players to stand up their on that podium and put the net around their neck and celebrate winning championships. You never think of yourself as being in that situation. You're only as good as the people that you get to direct, and if you're fortunate enough to have the best people to direct then you're one of the lucky few. I think that's kind of what this is all about. So it's hard for me to put it into perspective from a personal perspective.