‘Pat Vs. Geno:’ What To Expect
How UConn Grew; Story Of Rivalry
ESPN's new documentary series, “Basketball: A Love Story,” includes a 25-minute segment on the relationship between Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma and the TennesseeUConn rivalry.
The 20-hour, 10-part documentary explores “the complex nature of love as it relates to the game and opens the window to insights and perspectives about race, politics, media, art, business, style and entertainment,” according to ESPN.
The documentary, released Tuesday, includes a long list of basketball legends and current stars — UConn alum Diana Taurasi is featured, as are LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.
The segment, titled “Pat vs. Geno,” touches on the Auriemma's early years at UConn, his relationship with Jim Calhoun and how the UConnTennessee rivalry came to be. It ends with a tribute to Summitt, who died in 2016.
Here's a little of what you can expect from the 25-minute segment:
Early Years At UConn
When Auriemma arrived at UConn the university wasn't known for basketball. The documentary
“He’s someone that I just don’t particularly have a great affection towards in a lot of different ways.”
Jim Calhoun on his relationship with Geno Auriemma
gives a small glimpse of the early years as Auriemma began to build a winning program.
“Most people didn’t even know where UConn was at the time,” Taurasi says in the piece. “I didn’t. I was like ‘UConn? What is that?’ and they’re like ‘It’s in Connecticut.’ ‘What? Who even knew Connecticut was a state?’ ”
Auriemma And Calhoun
It wasn’t much of a secret that Auriemma and Calhoun didn’t like each other during the time they were both at UConn, and Calhoun makes a brief appearance to talk about the tumultuous relationship.
“He’s someone that I just don’t particularly have a great affection towards in a lot of different ways,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun mentioned how after the women won their first title there was a lot of talk about the women’s program being better than the men’s, including a saying about how UConn is “where men are men and women are champions.”
“I’m sure they got tired of hearing how good we were and why couldn’t they be
that good,” Auriemma said.
UConn Vs. Tennessee
When the rivalry first began in 1995 UConn was a program on the rise, while Tennessee had long been the reigning team in women’s college basketball. In the documentary, Auriemma talked about how frustrating that was, despite understanding how Tennessee had come to earn that reputation. The desire to change the narrative is one that drove him during the years of the rivalry, he said.
“There was nobody in the women’s basketball world that was ever going to think of Connecticut like they thought of Tennessee ever, ever, ever, and we were pissed about that,” Aurriema said when recalling the first national championship.
UConn defeated Tennessee in their first meeting, and then again later that season for the national title. After a few more years of beating Tennessee and continuing to solidify their reputation, UConn was making a name for itself.
“I think they realized we weren’t going away, and that didn’t go over well with them,” Auriemma said.
Auriemma Vs. Summitt
As the rivalry intensified, so did the tension between Auriemma and Summitt. There were plenty of verbal jabs and perceived slights to fuel the coaches’ rivalry.
“It probably got a little bit uglier, and Pat didn’t want that,” Taurasi said. “You know, she never was much of the confrontational person.”
The rivalry ended in 2007 after Summitt accused UConn of recruiting violations, including arranging a visit to ESPN for Maya Moore. Auriemma said that despite the way the series ended there was always a mutual respect.
“The thing that most people don’t get to see is no matter how bad it got during those days, it was never out of a lack of respect for anybody,” Auriemma said. “There was a lot of respect.”