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
Duke has more good players than any other team in the country right now. You can say (North) Carolina is talented, Tennessee is talented and Maryland is talented. But look at Duke's roster, the size and speed and quickness and shooting and experience and depth. You name it, they've got it all covered.
I don't care if you have the best team in the country or are Cinderella, this is the hardest game to play in that you'll ever play in. The goal for most people is to have an experience of being in the Final Four. After you've been to the Final Four there's no experience like it, except winning a national championship.
With Brittany, you're not quite sure what level she's at. She hasn't been able to practice much since the Big East tournament. It took a little toll on her. But even if she can play in a limited role, at least we have someone in the lane who can counteract some of the teams we can play. But how much, I don't know.
When she's calm, she knows where she's going and we get her in the right spot. I don't think there's anyone in the country that I would trust to make a big shot more than her.
When I look back, that's probably the one thing that I'm going to remember more than anything, not so much the championships, the wins, but I think we made the Big East take women's basketball seriously. I think we made people around the country pay attention to what we were doing. Because of that, it showed a lot of people out there that there's an unbelievable game out there that people were missing.
Anybody that knows Rene, knows that she loves to say things that irritate people and she's one of the best in the country at it.
I think the game was pretty much indicative of what a lot of what this season has been all about. Nothing's come easy. You can't count on anything any more. Everything's a struggle, and maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.
I think that fear factor stuff is gone. I just don't think anybody in the country is afraid of anybody anymore. Teams just think they can walk in any building and win any game.
I always thought Mel has a chance to be the poor man?s version of Shea (Ralph) and that?s exactly what?s she?s turned out to be. She can?t get to the basket like Shea could. She?s not old enough to go slam people just to see what it feels like, like Shea did. But she makes shots like nobody else in the country at this point.
Starting next week, however many games we have left, if there's 20, then in 17 of those games, she's going to have to play like the best point guard in the country for us to win some of the games that we're going to have to win. That's a lot of pressure on a freshman.
I can't believe there's 64 teams in the country better than that team that are going to be playing in the NCAA tournament.
I'm just happy she's been able to have the kind of year, and her team has had the kind of year they've had. Tina desperately wants to win. She loves winning more than anything else. For her team to be No. 1 in the country and to be named the player of the year in the country, it's deserved on all fronts. She's a great kid and, I think, the best player.
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.