Biding time
For Auriemma, celebration worth the wait
Somewhere along the line in this strange season, Geno Auriemma gave up or gave in and embraced a new perspective for how to view his players.
It set him free. “They’re going to be what they’re going to be and I have to look at all the positives,” Auriemma said Monday night after UConn rolled past Marquette 73-39 in the Big East championship and then rolled around in confetti on the court at Mohegan Sun Arena. “It’s made me change the way I coach. And for the better, I think.”
That is backwards or beautiful or both, a youthful roster without a senior twisting up a coach’s mind, pulling him through early frustration and reliance on old habits, triggering the joy Auriemma felt after the latest conference championship.
“These young kids have come in and really, they’ve reinvigorated everyone associated with our program,” he said. “They are just really unique kids and I’m really happy for them. My life doesn’t change that much, winning another championship. But my life was changed (Monday) because I got a chance to see the way they celebrated. That was worth waiting six months for.”
Auriemma stopped fighting, stopped agonizing over what would once upon a time send him ranting up the sideline. Wouldn’t you know it, UConn, despite its imperfections, rounded into form and stomped its way through the program’s first Big East Tournament since 2013 with power and personality.
The top-ranked Huskies would have been expected to win this event regardless of how their development was trending. But the way they did it, by jumping their opponents early and playing suffocating defense throughout, was a reminder that youthful quirkiness and emerging maturity are a wonderful combination.
Freshman Paige Bueckers was named the tournament’s most outstanding player and she is, in Auriemma’s eyes, the best player in the nation. Junior Christyn Williams, a consistent answer on defense even if her shot comes and goes, was just as terrific at Mohegan.
The Huskies have a rotation to work with. Freshman Nika Muhl is a bull with soft touch. Junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa and freshman Aaliyah Edwards are formidable. Junior Evina Westbrook can be a calming presence. Junior Anna Makurat, back after missing 13 games while injured, and sophomore Aubrey Griffin have roles. Everything fits.
“I’ve never been prouder of any team,” Auriemma said. “They’ve learned to compete on the defensive end as much as they enjoy being on the offensive end. That kind of growth and understanding of team defense and team dynamics
and how everyone is tied into it, and how everyone has to be committed to it — that, to me, is the biggest growth.” Auriemma kept rolling. “I think we became a little bit smarter,” he said of the journey. “We certainly became a little bit tougher. This team is a together team. There’s no doubt about that. They all know who’s who and what’s what. They’ve grown up together.”
What does this mean? With a 12-day break before a strange NCAA Tournament in Texas to be preceded by early arrival and a five-day quarantine, who knows?
But UConn is clicking right now and that can’t hurt. UConn looks ready for a national tournament. The Huskies look the way a good team should look in March — improved, hungry.
It was just December, even if it feels like another lifetime, when Auriemma stopped for an interview with SNY at halftime of a victory over DePaul and called the Huskies “the worst shooting team in America.” It was just a month ago when, after a victory over Georgetown, he said, “We do so many things that just boggle your mind.” There have been other moments when he worried what might become of this entire project, some for the disruptions of a pandemic, some for basic basketball setbacks.
There’s not so much of that worry anymore. Auriemma still sees things that
irk him, of course. He just doesn’t focus on them so much. He doesn’t act on them as often. He accepts them by appreciating what surrounds them or hides them or mutes them.
Yes, he’s changed. He’s found different ways to appreciate a team that sometimes looks scary good and never looks scared.
“I’ve kind of come to my senses in the fact that I’m not changing anything (with the players),” Auriemma said. “It’s pointless. They’re going to do what they do.”
And?
“I have no idea what’s going to happen,” Auriemma said. “I usually have a pretty good idea what’s coming up in the NCAA Tournament. But this year is unlike any other year. I like my team. I like what I see. But this year has taught me one thing if it’s taught me anything. That is, don’t look too far ahead.”
UConn has won 160 conference games in a row. Not all of them were encouraging, related to lofty goals.
These last three? Encouraging. The Huskies dusted St. John’s, Villanova and Marquette, allowing a total of 119 points.
“They were absolutely relentless on the defensive end,” Marquette coach Megan Duffy said. “When you get to a tournament in March, it’s a whole different level. Three games in three days. They turned it up, and we struggled.”
Yes, the Huskies have turned it up.
Maybe, in part, because their coach has chosen to tune out some of what he thought might hold them back. The shift seems to amuse him. A lot with this team does. That is healthy.
“They think I’m kidding,” Auriemma said. “I say, ‘You guys have missed more layups in five months than my teams have missed in 30 years,’ and they think (I’m) exaggerating. I swear to God, everything I say they look at me and go, ‘You’re crazy.’
“You know what (Bueckers) told me this morning? She said, ‘I’m the best defensive player in the country.’ My players don’t talk to me like that, so they make me shake my head. Nika looks at me sometimes and I almost feel like, ‘What are you looking at?’
“I have to start worrying about me. Like, is there something wrong with me? These guys have got my head spinning, all these freshmen. So I just stopped trying to figure out how to help them at things I can’t help them with.”