Geno Auriemma Quotes on Time (35 Quotes)

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.

They haven't done anything wrong yet in practice. They love it here. They think this is the greatest place in the world, and they should. In addition, this is probably the most energetic and upbeat group of kids that we've had here in a long, long time. Individually and collectively, they have fun and have outgoing personalities. They are just a joy to be around and I think they are going to contribute because they are that good.

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.

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 don't know if we have played a team this year that was harder to play then Georgia was in every area of the game. For us to get down 15 and come back and win the game, I feel really good about these two Turner and Strother because of the time and effort that they put into it.

The more you look around the NCAA Tournament, you see a lot of teams that had a lot of success and had a lot of trouble sustaining it. One of the things I'm happiest about is that we've been able to sustain it. Ultimately, that's going to be whether or not you were great. We've been able to do that. That's a long time, 13 years.

It's been kind of hectic in some ways because you're here, there and everywhere trying to cram as many activities in as you can in a short period of time. But I think the closer you get to the actual event, the more it hits home with what's real about it opposed to in the beginning it's just an idea, just a thought.

It's interesting when you know somebody when they're 17 and they come out of high school and spend some time with them on the college level. I remember the Duke game was one of the best games she ever had when I was there. Things like that just stick out in your mind.

In these types of pressure environments, I got to tell you, I'm really, really happy for these two in particular. This is as much of a complete game as we've had in a long, long time.

We needed some time. The only days we did anything was Friday and Saturday. Both of the days were more of just getting our heads rather than our bodies ready. We had a talk last night with the team and a lot of really good things came out.

I don't think they've surprised anybody in the Big East with their performance this season. They're going to be an NCAA-level team for a long time.

You don't go in thinking how many can we win by and that's not the point of the game. The point of the game is if we do what we're supposed to do, we're going to win. But as you look at the game, you try to find areas where you know down the road are going to help you. The fact that we didn't turn the ball over (is good). We, for long stretches, got the right shot at the right time. We executed some things pretty well.

I hate it because there's too much dead time. They don't do anything. I mean if sleeping was a sport these guys would be first-team All-American. So what happens is when there's so much dead time you've got to try to get them to understand that you've got to fill that time wisely.

I know she wants to play, and as long as the game is being decided, she wants to be out there. She is a senior and I feel like I owe it to her. At the same time, I don't want to do anything to jeopardize what is coming down the road either.

It seems like we're in the late game an unusual amount of times compared to maybe some other schools. I guess that's a good thing that people want us to be in that game. Or maybe they're trying to keep women and children from being exposed to some of the stuff that we do on the court, and hoping everybody's asleep by the time we play. I do think it's difficult on the players.

Last year I didn't like the fact that you never what the starting lineup was going to be. I'd like it settled by the time the first game comes around. I'd like to be settled. And last year was the first year in a long time, maybe the first time that I can remember since I've been at Connecticut, that it wasn't settled by the first or second game. It never seemed to get itself settled.

What we did on Monday can really scar you for a long, long time. You are going to hear about it every minute of every single day from everybody. You have to have pretty tough skin to survive in this environment, and sometimes you don't come back from stuff like that very quickly.

I told them any time you are open and it's your shot, it's a good shot. I think my job is to instill confidence in shooters. The only way to instill confidence is to tell them every time you are open - shoot it. If we get an open look we are going to make the most of them.

My family's grown up here. I've done a million things here that I'm really proud of. (And) 99.9 percent of the time I've been treated better than I ever envisioned that I'd be treated. So I'm not looking to go anywhere. I'm not looking to run away from anything. I'm not looking to find greener pastures.

It seems like it's going to be settled fairly quickly, even though the competition is tougher this year than it was last year. There's just a lot more parity on our team. But yet, at the same time, you can seem them separating themselves. It's just a matter of time.

He and I talk all the time about playing again and we probably will. They're a really good team to play. I think he runs the kind of program that I would enjoy matching up against from a competitive standpoint and from a personal standpoint that I have a lot of respect for him and I have a really good relationship with him. I would want to do it if we could.

At this time of year, everything is about confidence. About your ability to make the play that needs to be made at the time it needs to be made. That's everything at this time of year. And the bottom line is, if you have those guys that make those plays, you win.

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.

I thought we executed the game pretty well for thirty-some minutes. This is as much as a complete game as we've had in a really long time.

I'd like to be able to dial it up when we needed it. Unfortunately, sometimes you keep waiting and waiting and it never happens. My hope is that some time in the next 24 hours we play as close to our ability as we can. Right now, I think we need to play one of the best games that we've played. I don't know where we are in terms of that, but I'd like to see us come close to that (tonight).

Our defense bails us out a lot of times. Say what you will about both Rutgers games and how bad we were offensively, we had a chance to win. I used to have teams that made every play, every time. Now we're looking at a team that maybe doesn't have the ability to make every play, every time. But what we have to do is make certain plays at key times. If we can do that, we'll be all right.

It's not something that you really consciously spend any time at all thinking about, or gauging your reaction. It's kind of like a spontaneous thing that happens if you ever get a phone call saying you've been selected.

Having a senior athletic enough that she can play inside and outside and can move some of their players away from the basket, not having that allowed them to pack it in. It made it difficult for us to get anything going, but at the same time, Pitt's defense and how physical they were had more to do with it than Turner not playing.

It's not anything that you could ever prepare yourself for. And for someone who spends a lot of time talking, it really is the first thing that really renders you speechless because you just don't know how to express in words what it would mean to be part of this fraternity. And I still haven't figured out how to say it. All I can do is just look around bug-eyed at all the people that are here.

I think if we would have played Wednesday, or Thursday, it might not have been as good as it was (vs. ND). I think we needed some time. It was more of just kind of getting our heads, rather than our bodies, right.

We played pretty good defense and took good care of the ball and got people involved in offense that we wanted to get involved. We got the right shot at the right time. We accomplished a lot.

Barbara ran the floor really hard every single time. She was ahead of the break more today than I have seen her any time this year. She got herself to the free throw line more today than she has at any other time, and those are really good signs.

For whatever reason, this is the time of year when guys get banged up a little bit.

Offensively I think we're doing a lot more things, and a lot better, than we've done them in a long time. But that first half left some things to be desired. No question about that.

Whereas before, we didn't know whether we could go on a run like that and get up big on some teams. Now we know that. And we also know that if they come back, we've got what it takes to finish the job. Whether we do or not next time we're in that situation, I don't know. I don't think anybody comes through 100 percent of the time. ... As long as we have a chance to win with three minutes to go, I like our chances.