Latest / Coaches Corner / Seg 5 - WBB Show w Geno Auriemma 10-29

Transcript

Seg 5 - WBB Show w Geno Auriemma 10-29 · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: For his sled.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Gino talking about his grandkids. You now have six, right?
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Three and three?
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: We have six now. How much does Santa play for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: his sled? Nothing. It was on the house. Ah!
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: That sounds like a bad dad joke.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Good one, though.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Hey, that's from an 11-year-old.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: He makes me laugh.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Hey, my five-year-old grandson has corny jokes, too.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: They all do. He makes me laugh.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Well, good. Keeps you young, right?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I text him. I go, tell
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: me another one.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: So you have three grandsons now, and you have three granddaughters.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: My daughter, Jana, had three boys right off the bat.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: And then my son, Michael, had a girl. And then
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: my daughter, Alyssa, had a girl. And then Michael just
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: had a second girl.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: So Michael's a girl dad.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, he's a girl dad. And he loves it.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: He loves it. So that's, yeah, six.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Kids change you. Grandkids change you.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: It's a hockey team, man. We're going to put them
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: on hockey. Put them on skates. Put them on skates.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: By the way, your women's basketball team, they like going
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: to hockey games now. They are hooked.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they like going to hockey games. You know, hockey
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: is a lot like basketball, you know?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: You know, you've got five players out there, you know,
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: skating and doing a lot of similar things like basketball
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: players do.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Plus, I think some of them think the players are
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: really cute.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've heard that. And they like the physicality, too.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they like that. Yeah, they do. They like that.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: All right, the schedule. Now, traditionally, we all know this
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: program has a great non-conference schedule. But unlike past years,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: there's no January or February non-conference games this year. First time,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: I think, since 94, perhaps, before Christmas. And it's not
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: like you're playing chintzy teams. We mentioned Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, Louisville,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: South Carolina, Duke, UNLV, Maryland, Notre Dame, Tennessee, LSU. I
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: know we're playing Cornell too. That's all before Christmas. December 20th,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the non-conference schedule is done. I imagine it's more of
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: a challenge to get the non-conference games in January and
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: February with the bigger conferences and the bigger schedules. And
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: they don't want to take that bye week to play
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: UConn probably in January and February. Does that make sense?
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of teams don't like it.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: A lot of teams don't like playing outside the conference
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: or at least playing a team like us outside the conference.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I like it.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: I like in January or February going out and playing
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: somebody completely different. They're not scouting you all year long.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: You're not going to lose the Big East game. if
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: you lose a game out of the conference. But we
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: get a bye week this year. We haven't had one
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: since 1994, right? We have to play all the way through.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: So I think the kids are going to get– they're
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: going to need it. I mean, they're going to get
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: a break because the schedule is very, very, very, very difficult. And,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: you know, two years ago we won a national championship.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: We had three losses, right? So, you know– people can
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: get used to, you don't have to go undefeated to
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: win a national championship. And we might, and we might not. And,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: but we're going to get better. We're going to learn
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: from all those games. And obviously we're going to try
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: to win and we're going to get challenged in a
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: lot of different ways. You know, um, I was a
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: lot different than Maryland and Ohio state is a lot
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: different than Louisville. Um, And Notre Dame's a lot different
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: than LSU. So you got a little bit of everything.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: And they all have one thing in common. They have
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: really good players. They have really good players.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Good coaches, too. And they have really good coaches.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Now, before Christmas, and we haven't played on December 23rd
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: in a while either, it's Villanova. I know.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: I don't like that.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not a fan either.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: I don't like playing that late. I'd rather play 21st.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: You know, go home, spend three or four days at home.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: But at least we don't play until the 31st, I think.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Right, right.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: When we come back.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: So we have a little bit extra time after Christmas.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Villanova's probably the second best team in the league. And
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: I'm happy for Denise that she was able to keep
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Jasmine Bosco.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Jasmine Bosco, if you've not seen her, she is a
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: tremendous point guard from Canada. She'll be a junior this year.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Uh-huh.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: And she's a handful.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Uh-huh. Yeah.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: And.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, not crazy that somebody's going to have a bad
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: Christmas because one team's.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Going to lose that game. But they're good.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: They're really, really good, and they're really well coached, and.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: They always play. What were they up last year at halftime? Three. Three?
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: They were up three last year at halftime. So, yeah. Yeah.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: It's not.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: It's like a WNBA schedule, it feels like, where you
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: don't have time to recover from a game. You know,
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: if you play poorly at Ohio State, you're getting on
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: a plane and you're going right to Louisville, and you
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: don't have a lot of time to recover from that.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: So I probably should have slipped a couple in between
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: some of these games, but it didn't work out that way.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaking of which, your four WNBA players are going
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to a game seven Saturday night in San Francisco to
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: determine the title. Gabby Williams, Caitlin Chen, Tiffany Hayes, Kia Stokes.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: And I remember Gabby as a freshman. And they've all
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: improved greatly. But Gabby, from freshman to now, the jump
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: that she has taken to the talent that she is.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, she was that close. From getting a gold
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: medal for France against the U.S. not too long ago.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: 2024, correct? Yeah.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: In Paris. Her game has just taken off.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: If she didn't step on the line, they would have
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: won the gold medal. Oh, maybe it was.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Overtime, I think.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they would have gone.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: No, I think they would have won because it was
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: a two-point game and that would have been a three.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, you know, Gabby's just a fantastic athlete. I mean,
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: she might be the best athlete in the entire league.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: And as the basketball part caught up to the.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Physical gifts that she has, it's just taken off.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: And I also like the fact that there's different generations
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: out there of those four players.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Right? I mean, how old is Tiffany Hayes? 37? Something
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: like that? Yeah.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: She's carved a nice career for herself. She graduated in 12.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: So that's 14 years ago.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: So 22 and 14. She's 36.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: And Kia just keeps winning wherever she goes.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: And Kia just keeps winning. And has won championships. Caitlyn Chan,
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: nobody plays with more joy. Nobody plays with more exuberance.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Love of the game.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: Nobody's a better teammate than, and nobody makes more tough
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: shots than she does in the lane. So we're very,
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: very fortunate, you know, that they're all still playing. They
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: all still bring a lot of value to their team.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: And they're all still teaching everybody how to win.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, that's the most important thing.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Caitlin Chen. No turnovers in the last three games of
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: her career at UConn. Elite eight, final four, Maddie.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: That's impressive.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: I remember when we played against them when she was
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: at Princeton. That's when Nika got a concussion, right? Yeah,
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: when I found out that she was going into portal
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: because you can't stay in the Ivy League for an
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: extra year. It's conference policy. And, you know, Carla told
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: me she's going to go in the portal. Well, after
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: we had played them, I said, absolutely. I want her
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: on my team. And it was down to us and UCLA.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Her being a California girl.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: And her being a California girl. I was always like
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: really nervous about that. But she wants to win and
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: she's a great kid and, you know, super smart coming
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: from Princeton and. And I remember asking her after we
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: won a national championship. We were just talking about our future.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: And I said, you know, I think you're going to
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: get drafted. And she's like, yeah, I mean, if I do,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: I do. If I don't, I don't.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I said, really? She goes, yeah. I don't need to
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: keep playing. I mean, we just won a national championship.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: What more do I want?
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: Like I've accomplished everything I've dreamed about. I said, yeah,
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: but you're going to get drafted. You're going to be
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: able to play. Or if you don't get drafted, you
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: can go to Europe and you go to great cities and,
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: you know, have a blast for a couple of years.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe I will. Maybe I won't.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Final segment with Gino when we come back, at least
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: on the radio version of the UConn Women's Basketball Coach.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Show next here on Learfield. Stay with us.