Geno Auriemma Quotes (268 Quotes)


    They say you really don't understand what winning is. You really don't appreciate what winning is until you've had your share of losing. I think the opposite is also true. I think you can't quite fathom how much losing hurts when you have had as many chances to win, that we had, over the years.

    Renee is making a real case to be the starting point guard. She makes things happen. She makes plays. She's assertive. She acts like she's a real good player and that goes a long way into believing you're a real good player.

    The first week or so is not bad. It's those last 10 days where they've been cooped up. That's when it's awful. So, for now, the novelty hasn't worn off yet. But it's not an ideal situation. It really isn't.

    I didn't think we were ever going to stop them. I thought they were going to score on every possession down the floor. ... But we didn't panic. I think tonight we learned how tough we are.

    We're incredibly fortunate (to still be playing), and we're going to make the most of it.


    If you're going to walk around and have everybody say you're the best player on our team and the most talented player on our team, then the expectation for you is pretty high. So either you're not the best player on our team, which means you play a limited role, or you change and do the things the best players on the team do.

    No one ever talks about our defense. Our defense has always been good. But when you have great offensive players like I've coached the last 15 years, it's hard to concentrate on our defense. But our defense has been pretty good.

    You're going to do a lot of amazing things in college, ... It'll be a shame if no one sees you do them.

    Even as bad as we played, we get to the free-throw line late in the game and if we make the free throws we take the lead and then who knows what happens Our guys missed the free throws, they make them, they deserved to win.

    It's kind of bittersweet, you know I'm happy for her, and I'm happy she's at a place she enjoys being at, but you hate to see them in that situation.

    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.

    I think, for now, it works. I think its the best way to get her some minutes. And going into conference play, if you were to ask me what you want other than obviously talent, the thing that you probably look for the most going into this part of the season is experience people who have been in that situation a few times.

    The new contract is a reflection of the university's commitment to me and my commitment to the university.

    It's been a long haul here. There's been some pretty emotional games. I think we're going to be really tested Monday, physically and mentally. We'll see if we have anything left.

    In games like this its usually when you do something rather than how many. And I thought today we made great plays, got the lead up, lost our composure a little bit, struggled a little bit offensively for a stretch but these guys have come a long way, Im really proud of them.

    She's very good under pressure. She's not bothered by it. I knew she was going to make those free throws.

    When you lose this game, there's nothing worse. There's nothing worse because this is the game that gets you to the place where all good things can happen. This is the hardest hurdle to get over, because you need 12 more months then to get back here and you didn't put yourself in a position to win the national championship.

    Any time you go on the road and you have to make plays to win and you do make them, it's a huge confidence booster.

    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.

    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.

    Strother is one of those impact players that makes them when you need them. I can't think of anybody we'd rather have shooting the ball. When we get Ann off and running like that, it gives everybody else so much confidence. All of a sudden a three-point game becomes an 11-point game and everybody takes a sigh of relief. It makes everyone around her a better player. She's pretty special when it comes to big moments in games.

    There are serious concerns about our guard play. Good guard play is such a pivotal factor in good basketball teams.

    Nicole probably feels like it's more important to get on with the rest of her life and what she wants to do. Nicole's a smart kid and obviously she put a lot of thought into it.

    For the first time since 1994, there isn't anybody sitting there saying, 'You know, there's three or four teams that can win the national championship Connecticut and three other teams.' First time in 12 years. So, how they react to that is going to be interesting. They might like being in that situation.

    If you would have asked me how would I want it to go ... it went exactly the way I was hoping it would go. I was happy for the kids today because Im not usually one to think in these terms, but if you do what we did on Monday anywhere else in the country, its not a big deal. But what we did on Monday can really scar you for a really long time if you play in this program because youre going to hear about it every minute of every day, everywhere you go from everybody. You have to have pretty tough skin to survive in this environment. I was really proud of our guys to come back after the kind of week that we had to do what we did (Sunday).

    I'm not saying it in a whiny way. I'm not saying woe is us. I'm telling our team that if we win the regular season, it's a hell of an accomplishment. Next year, we'll have all those teams at home. That won't be fair either.

    I think there's been a lot of progress made and I can usually tell by where the ball ends up. Like does the ball end up in the right player's hand and what's going on in that possession.

    I said earlier this season that this is probably the worst rebounding team we've had here in 15 years and today was a perfect example of why. Forget the fact that we're probably not big enough or athletic enough in some positions, we get caught a lot of times standing around. We were really fortunate that Pitt didn't capitalize.

    They say you don't appreciate winning until you've had your share of losing. But you don't fathom how much losing hurts after all the winning you've done over the years. We played almost well enough to win. We played heroically. But Duke was too good for us to beat tonight.

    February is an important month at Connecticut. I like to think that when February comes you really put your game face on because whats happened up to now its all going to go away if you dont play well the next 60 days. The next 60 days for us, thats the real season coming up right now.

    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.

    I dont think she deserved any more than that, but its certainly beneath her ability. So, hopefully, she takes it as kind of an incentive to want to do more, want to be recognized for being better than that.

    Everybody leaves at some point, ... You can't stay forever. There's going to come a day when I'm not coaching at Connecticut anymore. I would think everybody understands that. Tomorrow Next month No. Next year Probably not. But anybody who says never is lying.

    I always thought Mel has a chance to be the poor mans version of Shea (Ralph) and thats exactly whats shes turned out to be. She cant get to the basket like Shea could. Shes 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.

    To her credit, Wills hung in there this year when it could have gotten away from her. Now youre looking at a possibility of (15) more games, if youre lucky enough to play that long, so maybe somebody like Will in the next month can salvage something pretty darn good out of something that looked like it was really terrible.

    You worry at this time of the year that you get a little bit hesitant, a little bit tentative, and it becomes a walk-it-up, grind-it-out game. I dont want it to be like that. I dont want to be afraid to run and afraid to lose and worry about What if. I just want to go and run up and down the floor and make some plays and see what happens thats when were at our best.

    I knew we would find a different Notre Dame team than the one we played at their place. I knew we would have to play a lot better than we did there. Our post players came up really big. It went exactly the way I thought it would except for the last five or six minutes, considering the kind of week we had.

    The one thing that she can do that is really, really amazing, compared to the other guys. She only has to see things once or twice and shes got it. So you can throw her in a lot of different situations and shes OK with it, which is kind of a comfort level for a coach.

    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.

    Barbara said she knew the shot was in when it left her hand. She's fibbed to me many times the last four years. But that's the biggest one I've heard.

    Barbara said she knew it was in as soon as she shot it. She's told me a lot of lies over the last four years, but that was the biggest one I've ever heard.

    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.

    We needed to get a big lead and execute to withstand the pressure that was coming. That's the way we've beaten them in the past. But we let one play go into another into another and it just completely got away from us.

    Any time you go on the road, you appreciate more what we have back in Connecticut. You think about playing in an NCAA Tournament, at this level, there should be a lot more energy in the crowd. That's not the case. You have to bring your own energy. But you have to be mature enough and handle it right. But it is kind of disappointing. It makes it harder.

    They are obviously playing with a lot of confidence right now. They are going to be harder to play against, because before you knew Meg was going to take 20 shots. If you guarded her that takes care of that. Now you don't know where the shots are coming from, they are coming from everywhere. Everybody is contributing.

    We're 18-2 and it doesn't feel that way. I don't feel overly comfortable or ecstatic. I just like where we are right now, but I know that there's a lot in front of us, so I'm not ready to make any defining statements yet. We've played pretty good basketball, but I don't know that we've played an exceptional game at both ends. So I think there's a lot of room for improvement, a lot of room for growth.

    This time of the year, it's individual players who make the difference. Your style of play, your system as a program gets you to this point and then individual players end up deciding the outcome of the game. Ann stepped up and made some huge plays.

    Nerves are not an issue. To me, Ann Strother is a perfect example of someone who came in here as a freshman and was never afraid to take the big shot, to have the ball in crucial situations. Some kids are just different and they have it in them. She does.

    If you want to be thought of as one of the better players in the country, then you have to go to a place thats 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.


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