The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Geno’s still got it
Auriemma once again an expert recruiter and a UConn manager is an NBA coach
Remember when Kevin Ollie was going to be the next coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder?
And Geno Auriemma couldn’t recruit anymore?
That first piece of serious speculation was in April 2015.
The second piece was in November 2018.
Well, the answers to those two questions rolled home Wednesday as sure as UConn has rolled back to the Big East Conference. And it only took six words. Mark Daigneault. Paige Bueckers. Azzi Fudd.
When one of my erudite Twitter pals suggested it was the start of another “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” this wannabe Billy Joel added “Bob Diaco’s name is mud.” Rhymes with Fudd.
Fascinating world, UConn sports.
Who would have guessed in 2015 that a student manager from Jim Calhoun’s UConn teams would be named the Thunder coach on Nov. 11, 2020, at the age of 35?
Maybe nobody.
Who would have guessed
in November 2018 that UConn would land the No. 1 high school players in America in back-to-back years — and not just any No. 1s, but generational talents — in the following two Novembers?
Maybe everybody who wasn’t wishing, hoping, praying that Geno Auriemma had lost his edge.
Auriemma sat there that night in the XL Center two years ago after beating then-No. 16 DePaul by 36 points, a little stung and more than a little bit sarcastic.
“What can I say?” Auriemma said. “It’s over.”
Haley Jones, ESPN’s No. 1 prospect, had committed to Stanford earlier that day. Perhaps even more costly, 6-foot-4 Aliyah Boston, ranked No. 1 by Blue Star Basketball from Worcester Academy, committed to South Carolina. There is a reason the Gamecocks are ranked No. 1 and Cardinal No. 2 ahead of UConn in the 2020-21 preseason poll and UConn has not won a national title since 2016.
Yet those recruiting swings and misses also had led to the semi-ridiculous and fully premature speculation that Geno wasn’t the recruiting magnet he used to be. His perfect hair was getting a little gray. He was losing a step and some of his fire. The whispers were out there. It was a terrific, wishful storyline for those still tired from Breanna Stewart going 4-on-4 and the Huskies pushing the bar to a record 11 national champions.
Only it wasn’t true. Not even close.
With Bueckers, a slick, ultra-confident playmaker, Aaliyah Edwards, Mir McLean, Nika Muhl and Piath Gabriel, the Huskies had the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class last year.
And when No. 1 recruit Fudd, Bueckers’ best friend and a transcendent allaround player, joined No. 5 Caroline Ducharme, No. 15 Amari DeBerry and No. 30 Saylor Poffenbarger, they locked up the best class in America this year.
There’s size. There’s talent. There are various lineup possibilities. No wonder Bueckers sent out a bunch of dancing emojis on social media after Fudd announced her commitment.
“Every year, 2005, 2006 and 2007 (after Diana Taurasi graduated) I read that the program is done, it’s over,” Auriemma said in 2018. “It was. It was over for three years. I think we averaged 29-30 wins. But we fell on hard times. We went through a deep depression. And we should have won 200 in a row. We only won 111.”
So here was Fudd, a 5-11 guard from Arlington, Virginia, at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, the first day of the early basketball signing period, making her announcement on ESPN Instagram Live.
“Do you guys even really want to know my college decision,” Fudd said. “I’m not very good at decisions. Is it really that important?”
You almost could hear the screams from Maryland, UCLA, Louisville and Connecticut: “Yes, it is!”
“I believe I should just not tell you, guys, right? Thanks for tuning in. I guess I’ll post about it tomorrow or something.”
OK, enough with the suspense, kid.
She announced UConn. A UConn jersey with her name was unveiled on the wall behind her. Her dog, a beagle mix, jumped in her lap. “Part Husky now,” she said. The folks there sang “Happy Birthday.” The Next Maya Moore turned 18 on Wednesday.
And the rest of the women’s basketball world felt a little sick.
Fudd said she couldn’t wait to play for Auriemma, his staff and with some of her best friends. She joked she’d major in basketball. She delivered the money quote.
“I have a feeling we have multiple national championships in our future,” Fudd said.
Yes, the rest of the nation definitely felt a little sick.
Fudd is the 10th national Gatorade Player of the Year to sign with the Huskies and the 12th No. 1 recruit. Not all those No. 1s were created equal. Landing Bueckers and Fudd is an enormous coup. After Auriemma underwent a surgical procedure in December to alleviate symptoms caused by diverticulitis, he talked about how he had used the time to consider his own coaching mortality.
“There’s going to come a time somewhere down the road (where) it’s probably not the right thing to do anymore,” said Auriemma, 66. “When that time comes, I have no idea. Being away for a little bit of time makes you realize that time isn’t here yet.”
Me? I think Auriemma ought to retire from basketball when Sen. Richard Blumenthal — who’s 74 — retires from politics, and run for Blumenthal’s U.S. Senate seat. Yet as long as his health is good and the backcourt of Bueckers and Fudd are winning multiple natties, he’s not going anywhere.
Remember all the fears that Ollie was going somewhere in the springs of 2014 and 2015. Lakers, Knicks, Thunder, et al. UConn had won the national title under Ollie in 2014 and after NBA rumors, a new five-year contract extension worth $ 2.8 million a year was immediately offered and signed. The next spring, when Scott Brooks was fired by Oklahoma City, Ollie, according to several reports, was under very serious consideration. He could keep Kevin Durant from leaving as a free agent, remember? Durant said Ollie had changed the entire culture of the Thunder as a veteran player. Russell Westbrook called Ollie a great role model.
Well, the Thunder ended up hiring Billy Donovan. Ollie? He is still embroiled in the UConn contract mess and is currently in the holistic medicine and acupuncture business. After cutting ties with Donovan, who moved on to coach the Bulls, GM Sam Presti turned to Daigneault. The Thunder are young and so is Daigneault.
“Great kid, smart as heck,” Calhoun said. “He fell in love with it. Obviously, NBA coach, it’s amazing. You think of a lot of different guys you coach over the years, here’s a guy who worked on his sports management degree (getting a master’s at Florida) and worked his way up to be an NBA coach. Pretty special.
“I used to kid him, ‘You’re too smart to be a coach.’ I also always say there are two things you shouldn’t bet against: talent and brains.”
You think about Calhoun’s coaching tree. Dave Leitao, Howie Dickenman, Steve Pikiell, Karl Hobbs, Tom Moore, Glen Miller, Ollie, on and on. Who had Mark Daigneault, student manager from 2003 through 2007, in the pool?
With some urging from Calhoun’s assistant George Blaney, the Leominster, Massachusetts, native joined Holy Cross as an assistant under Ralph Willard. After three years in Worcester, he went on to work for Donovan at Florida. Presti hired him to coach the Thunder’s G League team in 2014, where he won three division titles in five years before becoming a Thunder assistant last season. Presti raved about Daigneault as a curious learner, diligent worker, creative thinker.
“A rare combination of youth and experience,” Presti said.
“I sent a note early on in his behalf, maybe made a phone call, but, really, nothing more than that,” Calhoun said. “This wasn’t like other guys over the years, like Dave and Steve. Mark got himself in that position and worked his way up quickly. One good thing about minor league coaching, players are on two-way contracts. People in the organization can see how you progress as a coach. That’ a bonus. Sometimes you see college coaches and you can’t really tell if he’s great coach or a great recruiter.”
Daigneault thanked Calhoun and Blaney during his virtual news conference. A few years back, he told the Hartford Courant that the big thing he took from Calhoun was that the Hall of Fame coach made his expectations very clear to his players and he didn’t get lost in the details.
“He may have been taking more mental notes than the others,” Calhoun said, breaking into a chuckle. “Maybe when I said, ‘You lazy son of a (gun)’ — I wasn’t saying it to him — but he took in the whole internal interaction. I was talking to George last night after we heard about it. Between George and me, we did have like 80 years of coaching.”