University of Connecticut Athletics
Geno Auriemma Quotes
10/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Q: How did you like working with TV this summer?
I didn’t have to do much really. I only did one game back in June and it doesn’t involve a lot of traveling which is really good. You just ground at the studio and hang out for a couple hours. But it’s been fun because I’ve had a chance to watch a lot of our players play. I spent the summer watching the Olympics and got a big kick out of that. And then playoffs, you know it was unfortunate for Swin to get hurt but seeing Nykesha [Sales] and seeing what the Connecticut Sun has done and Sue still playing in Seattle, it’s been a good way to keep in touch with those guys.
Q: How do you stay interested when you win, and you win, and you win? What is the challenge for you now? To see how other teams come at you and knock you off the pedestal? How do you keep it fresh for yourself?
I think so much of it is derived from what the players bring to me because if it was just left up to you…take somebody like Lance Armstrong. People will say well what makes that guy go back and go through something like that every summer? You know you got to have your head examined. I mean how can you? I think when you are dealing with other people I think you derive a lot of your energy and a lot of your enthusiasm from them so when they show up to practice October 15 you know you have a bunch of new kids looking a me like, “Hey coach I want you to do for me what you helped do for all those other guys.” So now you feel like a sense of urgency, a sense of responsibility. What was hard about last year was it was the same old guys and they weren’t asking me anything. They weren’t saying, “Hey coach, can you help us do this again?” They were like, “Hey, look, just stay out of my way because we kind of know what’s going on.” This year is kind of reinvigorating for us, so I’m looking forward to it.
Q: You feel pretty good about your young players?
No, actually I don’t. I mean that’s one reason why you’re kind of invigorated because you don’t know what the expected is. It’s a sense of the unexpected this year. I was just talking to Ashley Valley earlier and I asked her how are we going to be? She said, “We are going to be really good.” She said our front court is probably as good as it’s ever been. I said I kind of think the same thing. I was telling a friend of mine if we can get the ball across mid-court next year, I think we’re going to score. (Laughing) She didn’t like that very much. But that’s where we are, I think, if our backcourt play is good.
This is the first time in 10 years that we don’t have a First Team All-American. And that’s a long time to go without a go-to great player who’s been there and done it. So it’s a new territory for us and it’s kind of got everyone juiced up a little bit.
Q: Do you have a feeling for who you think might step into that role and be the next All-American?
No, I don’t know who that would be. I will tell you that based on the past couple years, if Jessica Moore’s injury is fully recovered. And if Barbara Turner and Ann Strother are what I think they are, then I think we got three players that are as good as any other three playing for another team in the country. So beyond that, no I don’t know. But certainly I wouldn’t trade those three for anybody else.
Q: This was Diana’s team. Whose team is it now? Is there someone that you want to take the reins?
I don’t think that we have anybody that has. You know, people often comment on players being able to lead teams, and sometimes it just comes with seniority. Okay, someone’s a senior and they’ve been a starter for three years so that automatically qualifies them to be the leader on the team. Leadership is something that you acquire the ability to do over a period of time. I don’t know if we have anyone that fits that role right now, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Diana was unique as well as Sue as was Jennifer as was Jamelle, Rebecca. A lot of those guys come through here but it takes time to get to that point. So going in I don’t know who that person is.
Q: How have you heard the team is looking?
I hear that obviously our new kids, like we knew they would be based on the individual instructions that we have had with them, are very talented. Charde Houston has scored more points that Miller in California so it’s no secret that she can score. Can she run up and down the floor and play defense and rebound and do all the things we need her to do? Well, we’ll see. We know she can score. Ketia Swanier is the fastest player to ever play at the University of Connecticut. She can go end line from end line with the ball faster than anyone we’ve ever had. When its time to stop, can she stop? Or do we need directions signs when she crosses the court to help her get to the right spot. You know, we’ll see. Mel Thomas makes every shot. She might be the best shooter we’ve had since Wendy Davis back in the day. But can we help her get her shot off until she learns how to do it on her own? All of them bring some unique qualities. Rashidat [Sadiq] is the real X factor because she is a junior college player, very bright, very intelligent, played in the Olympic team for Nigeria, and just has a quiet maturity, really tough, really solid, can score, can defend, can do a lot of different things. I haven’t had this many new players in a long time so it will be interesting to see what they do.
Q: Barbara made a comment that maybe they’re not quite as known around the country as some of the other recruiting classes in the past. Can that help this team do you think to put a hunger factor of trying to prove something?
Yeah, Randy [Press] and I were talking earlier today about it and he said, “It’s not bad to be a little under the radar.” For at least half the season, anyways. God knows what will happen if we were to win a bunch of games early on. But they certainly don’t come in with all the hype that some of the other recruiting classes have had come in. But I think right now that’s okay because I don’t know if you want to come into this situation and be made to feel like as a freshman, “Look all the hype is that you are the next great thing and they won three in a row and if you don’t make it six in a row after the next three years, then you’re a failure.” So maybe the fact that they don’t have that from an outside standpoint helps them. {Laughing) They don’t realize that they are starting on October 15 they are going to get that from us, but that’s okay.
Q: Do you think the senior class could do something huge?
Oh, well you know, it’s funny. Ashley Battle and Jessica Moore could be two of the few kids ever to go to five Final Fours, because this will be their fifth year. I don’t know who anyone else has done it. So, that could be something that no one has ever done. Do they think about that? You know, I don’t think Jessica Moore and Ashley Battle need any more motivation. They are the two most motivated that we’ve ever had, so I’m not worried about them. For two kids that came here who I thought to myself, I wonder how good these guys can be. Because coming out of high school it was like well you know Ashley Battle is too small to play where she is supposed to play, and Jessica Moore – she’s not really good enough offensively. Where do these guys fit in? How good are they? And now five years later they have a chance to do something no one else has done- and that’s kind of cool.
Q: Some former players of yours have been successes. What is it like to see them play in the Connecticut Sun/ WNBA Finals?
Hey, I pick them [the Connecticut Sun] to win it all so they better not screw up! Well, first of all, the key of the Sun, other than a great coaching staff has done an unbelievable job with that team with a lot of new guys, the key to the team is that Nykesha Sales has played like the Nykesha we knew when she was in college. That’s number one. Number two, they say you can’t win with just a point guard but you certainly can’t win without one. And they drafted to me the best pure point guards coming out of the draft last year, Lindsay Whalen, who has done everything for them that you would expect someone from her caliber to do and more. So you put those two things together and I’m not surprised at the success that they’ve had. I wouldn’t be surprised if they won it all and it makes me feel really good to see Nykesha enjoy that kind of success. I feel great about Diana, Sue, and Swin making the Olympic team. When you think about having three of the 12 best players in the country and now Sue has a chance to play for a WNBA championship, it really is remarkable what’s happened to those kids and how well they have represented the University of Connecticut. I couldn’t be happier for them.
Q: What’s it going to be like coaching against one of your former players, Jennifer Rizzotti [at the University of Hartford]?
I’m sure Jennifer approaches every game like it’s a crusade between her and her kids. She’s fighting for respect, the kind of recognition that allows them to be an NCAA Tournament-type team and she wants her players to represent her the way she used to play. Now you add that against Connecticut and against everything she grew up wanting to be and what she helped make us, and I can imagine that the week leading up to that game is probably going to be a little bit of a circus act. But I’ll tell you, I’ve been trying to get this game put together for a long time. I told her whenever you’re ready, you let me know. The fact that she thinks she’s ready kind of bothers me because I was hoping it would take another 10 years for her to be ready. The fact that she thinks she’s ready – they might have something.
Q: What kind of role is Ann going to take this year?
I think Ann is probably ready to take that final step from when you are a freshman and you aren’t quite sure how to be everyday and what you want to be. As a sophomore you figure it out every once in awhile and now you’re a junior. I think Ann can take that next step and be everyday what she is in the biggest games. She has a tendency to play big in the biggest games. The best games of her career were in the Final Four. Ann had a tendency to lay back and see what Diana was doing and if Diana wasn’t there or if Diana was struggling, Ann would take her game up a notch. Now that Diana’s not here maybe Ann will do that more often because we certainly need her to do that.
Q: You mentioned the last two minutes of a close game, is she’s someone you would look to?
I think she’s one of them. I think we’ve got some players that have made big plays. That’s the beauty of the players coming back. I keep thinking back right here (points to the three-point line), Ashley Battle makes a three against Penn State. She shoots it like she’s Sue Bird. Jessica Moore plays the last seven minutes with a torn ACL in the Final Four. There was a time when we needed two free throws and I knew Ann would make them. And we went right to Ann and she made the two free throws. I think that speaks well for our team because I don’t know if we have one person that feels like they have to do those things. I think we have a group of kids that feel good about being in that position.
