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
You go to college to find out about yourself and I'll bet you nobody found out more about themselves in the four years at Connecticut than Barbara Turner. So you've got to be really happy for the kid.
Most good teams play good at home. But the really good teams, they really separate themselves by playing well on the road. This is probably the biggest win we've had this year.
The really good teams, the way they separate themselves is they play well on the road. I'm really happy with our guys, because we answered a lot of different challenges tonight. When we needed a stop, we got one. If we needed a turnover, we got one. When we needed a bucket ... I liked the way we responded to all the things thrown at us.
I told them before the (Providence) game started, every team that I've ever coached that was consistently good had seniors that were very, very consistent. And it's time now for this group to kind of separate themselves and say, 'Hey, it's time for me to have an impact every single game and not be in those peaks and valleys.' I think they've all kind of made that progression.
I just put it up on the board. The look in their eyes, I don't know what they thought it was going to be, given how they played. But sometimes when you see it ... I don't think there was any more I had to say after that. I think there comes a point where a kid looks at themselves and says, this is what I have to do or I'm not going to be able to help in any way.
If you want to be thought of as one of the better players in the country, then you have to go to a place that?s really, really difficult, tough to play and play really well. Most good teams play good at home, but the really good teams, the way they separate themselves is they play well on the road.
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.