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 think because of Diana (Taurasi playing for the Mercury), circumstances are different in this one, ... Maybe people sense that the climate is different at Connecticut than it was in the past.
Because of some of the things that we did, the way my players did it, an awful lot of basketball programs decided they wanted to try to be like that. That's probably the thing that I'm most happy about ? the impact that the players at Connecticut had on a lot of players that are playing today.
My initial reaction right now is I saw where it's going to be announced during the Final Four. So if I'm sitting here in Connecticut and there's four teams playing in Boston at the Final Four and I get a phone call, my first reaction is I'm going to be (mad) that I'm not at the Final Four. I can tell you that much. So if I happen to be in Boston with my team and I get that phone call, it'll be kind of a special weekend.
Her conditioning is so-so. I think the rest was really good. But the rest kind of hurts you conditioning-wise because I don't care how long you ride the bike or are in the training room working out or in the pool, you've got to (get in) basketball shape playing basketball. We'll see how many (minutes) she can go and the same thing New Year's Eve (against Army) and then go from there.
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.
Renee Montgomery had maybe the best game she's had since she's been at Connecticut. And I told her (Monday) she should transfer. I asked her, 'How does Mel Thomas have more steals than you? You've just got to get more involved. You've got to do more.' So (Tuesday) she's attacking the basket. She's stripping kids. She's playing like a basketball player. That makes all the difference in the world when you have guards that play like that.
Since I'm not going to be in Boston playing Sunday and Tuesday (at the women's Final Four) I wouldn't mind being in Indianapolis.
I thought we could get away with not playing Ann. I thought we were in pretty good shape at 12-4. I didn't know that was the highlight of the first half ? getting to 12.
Right now she?s playing with a lot of confidence. There?s nothing Barbara can?t do out there; it?s just a matter of being locked in mentally and right now she seems to be.
One of the reasons why we want to play in this tournament when we're eligible is because it's usually a good field and you end up playing pretty good teams. You find out quickly early in the season where you stand. We're a lot better today than we were last week.
She is assembling a really great cast here. She is taking young players and playing them. Once they are older they will know how to play together. Pitt accomplished more (yesterday) then we did.
It's real easy to when we're playing well because everyone contributes a little bit.
You think about playing in the NCAA tournament and playing at this level, there'd be a lot more energy in the crowd and that's not the case. You have to bring your own, and it's not what you would expect at this time of year.
Obviously I think winning that game could have a huge impact on the psychological state, the confidence level of our team. That's obvious. But at the same time, we're home. We're Connecticut. Everybody think we're one of the top-10 teams in the country. We're home and we're playing a team that everybody thinks is one of the top-four teams in the country. Going into the game, yeah, we expect to win this game. That's what you're supposed to think if you're us.