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
ask best conference experience few obviously people season situation
I think, for now, it works. I think it?s the best way to get her some minutes. And going into conference play, if you were to ask me what you want other than obviously talent, the thing that you probably look for the most going into this part of the season is experience ? people who have been in that situation a few times.
coming conference difficult easy game life lose minutes takes work
Obviously, coming off a game like that, we've got a lot of work to do. It's never easy to lose, and especially difficult to lose when a conference championship is at stake. It's magnified when we play as well as we did for 15 minutes and then go completely the other way. It takes the life out of you completely.
against biggest conference learned ncaa ourselves road season seem team tonight tournament win
This was probably the biggest win we've had this season because of all the things that go with it. Conference game, we're still in first place, on the road against a team that's going to be there in the end. It may not seem that big right now, but come NCAA Tournament time, some of the things we learned about ourselves tonight will really come in handy.
awards conference gets impress individual kid share teammates time
I think the only time individual awards really impress upon you as a kid is when you get to share them with your teammates. What you share with your teammates is the big award, the conference championship. So if you get an individual award and the team gets nothing, you feel kind of like half-empty.
against conference good happen hard minutes ncaa nine panic score seen shape situation team tough tournament
I think we're going to be a hard team to play against in the NCAA tournament. We play good defense. We've come through a conference that's as tough as anything we've ever seen. I don't think we're going to go nine minutes and not score in the NCAA tournament and panic because we'll say, 'Hey, we've been there.' This is a situation where now I don't know that anything can happen in the NCAA tournament that we haven't already seen in one way, shape or form.
amount bigger challenges coaching conference difficult easy forward last looking lose program staff tremendous
It's never easy to lose and it's especially difficult to lose if there's a conference championship at stake. So there's a tremendous amount of frustration right now and it's going to take us a while for us to get over that. This is one of the bigger challenges that we've ever had as a coaching staff and as a program in the last 10, 15 years. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, I know how difficult it's going to be.
ankle bad definitely saturday serious sure whether
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.
credit extend guess lead looking plays pressure
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.
couple gone itself needs seen stretch
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.
anybody darned finishing good league strength teams
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.
ankle broke hard standing time
The time she broke her ankle standing still. Do you know how hard that is to do?
defend guard
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.
five great last maybe moments tournament
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.
answer believe duke feels leads lose manner national plays question situation sure win
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.