The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Even former pro coach impressed by UConn
Former Stars’ coach likes so much of what he sees in Huskies
STORRS >> For seven days earlier this month former WNBA coach Dan Hughes had a front-row seat for not only five postseason games played by the four-time defending national champion UConn women’s basketball team, but also practices and shootarounds.
Hughes, who retired as the San Antonio Stars’ head coach and general manager after the 2016 season, was part of the broadcasting crew for both the American Athletic Conference tournament and the first two games in the NCAA tournament. His gig gave Hughes, who won 237 regular-season games in the WNBA, a chance to check out UConn coach Geno Auriemma and his staff preparing the Huskies for a run at an unprecedented fifth consecutive national title.
Hughes coached his WNBA teams to the playoffs 10 times in his 17 seasons, including San Antonio’s run to the championship series in 2008, so he has a different take on things than many of those who have been color commentators on UConn games over the years.
“I think they do an incredible job of putting together the pieces from a teaching standpoint,”
Hughes said. “They do a great job of player development, they do a great job of conceptual team things and then they also teach the players to be adult-like in their maturity in the game. They kind of understand it is not just providing information, it is getting them to own the process. They do as good as a job as I see on those different things, so whatever they chose to do comes out in a very mature way.”
Auriemma has often said his teams play its best when it is running offense instead of executing plays. Rather than slowing his players down by demanding that they run things a particular way, he asks them to read what the defense is giving them and act accordingly.
“It is one thing to say, ‘I want you to go here, and I want you to be here, and do this,’” Hughes said. “They teach it in a way that the players know why they are going there more than some. It is not just you go here and do this, they kind of have to own the totality of why they are going there and they do that really well as teachers.”
Hughes had been on the committee which selected the U.S. women’s national teams when Auriemma was the national team coach. It gave Hughes a glimpse into the way Auriemma runs practices and also how he holds his players to a certain expectation level.
“I kind of knew they did it,” Hughes said. “Where I got a good appreciation was being with USA Basketball for the last eight years, watching Geno doing it in short pieces with them. The other thing that is really great is Chris Dailey. I have dealt with her a lot over the years. I dealt with her a lot of the time when the kids are going from college into the pros, and she has been so reliable and understanding that process and the players have been so mature. When I got them they were so mature as teammates, they were mature in how to practice and I didn’t have to do a lot, they came in ready.”
Hughes coached Jen Rizzotti from 2001-03 when he was the head coach of the now defunct Cleveland Rockets. He came full circle when he was able to work with former UConn point guard Moriah Jefferson, who was selected by San Antonio with the second overall pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft.
Many years Jefferson would have been named the WNBA Rookie of the Year, but with her former UConn teammate Breanna Stewart on the scene, she had to settle for being a member of the All-Rookie team.
Hughes is rather certain that will not be the final honor bestowed on Jefferson in the WNBA.
“I believe at some point she will be the best player at the point position in the WNBA,” Hughes said, “She reminded me of me coaching Becky Hammon, she reminded me of me coaching Jen Rizzotti, Dawn Staley, Suzie McConnell-Serio and yet she is 22 years old. It was so much fun for me to have somebody who looked at the game intelligently, was tough, but highly skilled. If you can’t get energy from coaching Moriah Jefferson then you are dead. If you have any pulse going, she just makes you want to be there. She was fun.”