Geno has always loved everything about Wooden and UCLA
Columbus, Ohio — UConn hadn't even gotten on the plane yet, had won nothing, when coach Geno Auriemma was asked for some historical perspective, with the Huskies headed to their unparalleled 11th Women's Final Four.
Growing up, who was THAT TEAM for Auriemma, the one that sent shivers down his backbone, the one of which he dreamed?
As it turns out, it was the UCLA men's basketball team, which won seven straight NCAA titles from 1967-73 under legendary coach John Wooden.
“I remember my buddies and I would talk all the time about which would you rather do? Would you rather go to a school and play 30 minutes a game and probably never play in the Final Four? Or would you rather go to UCLA and know you're probably going to win a national championship or come close, but you might not play as much?” Auriemma said in a conference call this week.
“Obviously, I was at an age where I could appreciate everything they were doing because you were just captivated by them, everything about them. You know: the way they played, the uniforms they wore, the way they looked on the court, their unbelievable accomplishments, the air about them.
“You could feel it across the TV set.”
Auriemma, whose team met Notre Dame in the national semifinals Friday night at Nationwide Arena, recalls wondering what it would like to be a part of that program every day.
And while he'll never know for sure, he might, in the present day, have some idea.
With their 94-65 victory Monday night over defending national champion South Carolina to win the Albany Regional title and secure a berth in the Final Four, the UConn women's basketball team eclipsed the UCLA men's records of 18 overall Final Fours and 10 straight, making it a total of 19 overall and 11 in a row for the Huskies.
“Now I know why John Wooden retired at still a young age because it's, in some ways, it's exhausting. It really is,” Auriemma said. “… It takes a lot. It takes an unbelievable staff. It takes knowing that you have to get a certain type of player every year.
“Believe me, after all these years I'm still amazed that it turns out the way it does.”
Earlier this year, Auriemma became the third women's basketball coach in history to eclipse the 1,000-win mark, joining Tennessee great Pat Summitt and Stanford's Tara Van Derveer in reaching that milestone. Auriemma, who formerly drove a truck for his father Donato's friend in the supermarket business back in his native Philadelphia, is 1,027-135 and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., as well as the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.
Auriemma, who turned 64 earlier this week, maintained his affinity for Wooden throughout his coaching career, even before there were any parallels to be drawn.
The dialogue surrounding the UConn women and the UCLA men, though Auriemma generally shrugs them off, arose once again Thursday as Auriemma took the interview dais in Columbus.
“The players that they had, the players that we have,” Auriemma said of drawing comparisons between the two storied programs. “The circumstances that they were winning under, the circumstances that we're winning under.
“God rest his soul. I'm glad coach Wooden never had to go through the nonsense he'd have to go through today if he was doing what he did,” said Auriemma, addressing the constant banter surrounding UConn's dominance and whether it's good for the game. “Everybody just left him alone and said, 'Yeah, he's the greatest coach of all time and that's the greatest program of all time' and they left it at that.”
And more
UConn played its first game of the season against Stanford at Nationwide Arena in the Countdown to Columbus. No. 1 UConn topped then-No. 10 Stanford 78-53 and No. 9 Louisville defeated No. 5 Ohio State 95-90 in overtime in the event before 9,711 fans. … In addition to earning WBCA All-America honors for the second straight season, UConn's Gabby Williams was also named the winner of the Senior CLASS Award, which recognizes excellence on the court, in the classroom and in the community. “It definitely means a lot,” Williams said. “Athletes get put in this box. … I think there should be things that recognize athletes outside of athletics.” … On Friday, the U.S. Basketball Writers' Association named A'ja Wilson of South Carolina as the Player of the Year, Vic Schaefer of Mississippi State the Coach of the Year and Chennedy Carter of Texas A&M the Freshman of the Year. v.fulkerson@theday.com