JEFF JACOBS
With Geno out, Dailey the perfect substitute
STORRS — Chris Dailey is a perfectionist. The greatest assistant coach in women’s college basketball history is one of the world’s most particular. On this, there is no debate “She’s a stickler for detail,” sophomore Christyn Williams said when asked the difference between a Geno Auriemma and a CD practice. “So is Coach, but she’s really a stickler. So it’s harder.”
Dailey will step in for Auriemma for only the fourth circumstance in three and a half decades on Sunday against Oklahoma at Mohegan Sun Arena. Auriemma underwent a surgical procedure for diverticulitis the other day and is recuperating. Dailey’s record in Auriemma’s absence is perfect, just the way she likes it, just the way she demands it.
When asked for an example of CD The Stickler, Williams asked, “On the court or off the court?”
Either will do.
“When I first got here, of course, I had my tattoo,” Williams said, holding out her forearm. “She was talking about that. Then I had a nose piercing.
Had to take that out. I’m like, ‘OK, there are a lot of rules.’ ”
Williams, the No. 1rated high school player in America in 2018, broke into a laugh. Whether it’s a defensive drill or a matter of decorum, yes, there are rules. Rules for the game. Rules for life. Rules to get right. Every time.
Yet perhaps lost in Dailey’s meticulousness and 35 years as Auriemma’s alter ego is her ultracompetitiveness. And that’s much more than a 90 record when Geno’s not on the bench. Her competitiveness is 11 national championships. Her competitiveness is turning UConn’s best recruits into AllAmericans and all UConn players
into AllAmerican women.
That’s why you couldn’t help but get a kick out of the UConn associate coach’s answer about recruiting Friday at the Werth Family Champions Center. This was UltraCompetitive CD. A year ago around this time, after UConn had missed out on Haley Jones (Stanford) and Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), folks on the outside were beginning to ask if Auriemma and Dailey and staff were losing their touch to attract premier talent to Storrs. That maybe this finally was the beginning of the end.
Then April Fool’s Day hit. And it was no joke. Paige Bueckers, the 2020 No. 1 recruit in America, committed to UConn. Seven days later, Croatian player Nika Muhl committed. Mir McLean followed on June 30, Piath Gabriel on Sept. 19 and Canadian Aaliyah Edwards on Oct. 24. Voila! UConn had the No. 2 recruiting class in the country behind Oregon.
On Nov. 8, Amari DeBerry, the 6foot5, No. 5 recruit in the 2021 class, committed. She will join Saylor “The Greatest Name In Sports” Poffenbarger, who committed July 19. Isuneh Brady, the No. 3rated 2022 recruit, committed Tuesday. And now here’s Bueckers on Thursday tweeting #GetAzziToUConn. Azzi Fudd, the No. 1rated player in the 2022 class, was the first sophomore ever to win Gatorade National Player of the Year.
You can hear it ringing around the gymnasiums of America again. UConn is bad for women’s basketball.
“I’m hoping to be bad for basketball,” Dailey said. “Some people like the underdog role and all of that. I prefer to have the best team. I prefer to have people expect us to do well, because we expect ourselves to do well.
“I laugh at the people that make comments about where our recruiting is. They don’t know anything about what we do or how we do it. I don’t think those same people are making comments now. We don’t worry about it, but it does make me chuckle a little bit.”
Dailey said she read a New York Times headline the other day: “UConn Who? In Women’s Basketball, the West Emerges From the Shadows.”
“UConn Who?” Dailey said. “That made me chuckle, too.”
Dailey doesn’t remember chuckling in 1989 after Auriemma was suspended four games because of a scheduling error that put UConn over the NCAA allowed limit of games.
“I think the only thing I ate in four days was a piece of cake for Kerry Bascom’s birthday,” Dailey said. “That was a lot more stressful, because that was the first time I had ever done it and it was for the Big East championship. That and the fact (Auriemma) was around. It would be better if he wasn’t around. He came to practices and not the games.
“This one he’s not around, so there’s no stress.”
In 1989, Dailey coached the Huskies to their first Big East Tournament title over Providence at Seton Hall. In 1997, Dailey would lead UConn to three victories for its sixth Big East Tournament championship after Auriemma’s father, Donato, had died at age 69.
“There was a different emotion,” Dailey said. “He had lost his dad. That was difficult. It also was more difficult because it was (at Gampel Pavilion). The first time we did it, no one really cared. They didn’t cover it that well. It wasn’t that big a deal. The second time, we’d already won our (national championship), we were playing here at home and the emotion of losing his dad, there was a different level of pressure.”
When it was over, when UConn had beaten Notre Dame for the championship in front of 10,027 fans, the players lifted Dailey above their heads. It was an emotional sight.
Dailey also filled in for Auriemma, who had a stomach virus, for road victories late last February at Tulsa and Wichita State.
“In the past, it happened (in) February, March, so a lot of things have already been in place,” Dailey said. “This one is a bit more difficult because it’s earlier in the season and we have a lot to work on to get better. I don’t know if nervewracking is the word. I want us to play better. I want us to get better.”
In the 10point victory at DePaul on Monday, Dailey said the Huskies played 2830 really good minutes. The goal against Oklahoma is to reduce the remaining 1012.
“This is a dangerous game,” Dailey said. “It’s the game right before the holidays. Everyone’s going to go home Sunday night or Monday morning. They just finished exams. They want to take a deep breath.
“For me personally, it doesn’t go on my record (officially the games go to Auriemma). I definitely want to be 100. I’m not going to hide from that. We tell the players all the time: You have to be ready. You never know whether someone is going to sprain an ankle, get to sick or foul trouble and not be able to go. So as coaches we have to do the same thing.”
So Dailey pushes. She seeks perfection. Megan Walker has been terrific this season. Dailey stresses to her that opponents will focus on her now. How will she handle it? The emphasis to Olivia NelsonOdoda is to play more physically and wander less on the court.
Dailey said over the years UConn’s best players have been hardheaded. There are hardheaded kids on the team right now. Freshman Anna Makurat is one. That’s not a bad thing, Dailey insisted; it comes with the confidence of where you are and what you know.
“Our job,” the greatest assistant coach in women’s college basketball history said, ‘is to keep reminding them they don’t know everything. And there’s a lot to learn.”
Chris Dailey is good at reminding people. She might be the best.