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
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.
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.
I think players sometimes don?t understand fully the amount of responsibility on their shoulders. As a senior, you have to take on that responsibility every day -- practice, games, travel, locker room, you name it. I think in the Big East tournament, they really, really, really did that. They took it to heart and made sure all the little things that lead to winning were taken care of. I really admire them for that.
We have won some big games on the road against some good teams, which has given the group the confidence that you need to play in these games. I don?t know that we went in feeling like we were good enough to win this thing last year. I think maybe we thought we were, but I?m not sure we really believed it.
Right now, my issue is recruiting, and getting ready for the season and making sure that we put ourselves in position to win a national championship.
With Brittany, you?re not sure what level she?s at. How much will she play during the tournament? I don?t know. How much can she play? I still don?t know.
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.
Fair or unfair, at Connecticut it's not good enough just to win. There's a perception that if we don't go to the Final Four, it's a bad season. I want the players to understand that the one constant in our program, is that we want to make sure we play hard and have fun.
It's a great barometer for not only what is happening with our team at the moment but what could happen, what might happen down the road. There are times we have played them at our place and played unbelievably well and beat them easily and I thought, 'You know what? I think this team can win the national championship.' There's times when we've played them at their place and got our heads handed to us and I left there thinking, 'You know what? I'm not sure we're a national championship-type team.
Our margin for error is so small. I'm not sure we deserved to win.
I'm not sure what happened. Something clicked. Renee has a habit of doing that. She looks kind of lost and not sure and then she looks like the best guard in the country.
I could see her going either way. I don't think there's a bad decision or a wrong decision. It's what your personal feelings are at that time. Knowing Nicole, I'm sure she's given it some thought.
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 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.