Adapt or else...
How latest UConn injuries have changed Auriemma’s coaching
This is not the season Geno Auriemma envisioned for UConn women’s basketball back in June when 2023-24 players first reported for summer conditioning.
Six months ago, the Huskies had 14 healthy players and were positioned for a dominant season with high hopes of bringing the program’s 12th banner to Storrs.
But two, and perhaps three, season-ending injuries later, plus another player out indefinitely, Auriemma has completely shifted gears — not even 10 games into a season that already includes three losses.
Lineups have been changed. Team chemistry has been rebuilt and even Auriemma, who’s in his 39th season leading UConn, has had to change his coaching style to better fit his team.
“Somebody told me one time that coaching and teaching actually is being able to explain things to people who have a hard time understanding,” Auriemma said. “And I always thought I was really really good at that. And I’m not so good at it anymore.”
No. 17 UConn is coming off a win over then-No. 24 North Carolina Sunday and will face another ranked team Saturday when No. 18 Louisville (9-1) visits Hartford. It will be another test for a team that’s still searching for its new identity amid injuries and inconsistency.
Adapting has become commonplace for the Huskies over the last three seasons. Yet it hasn’t gotten any easier. Instead of spending the early portion of the season perfecting set plays and slowly building up newcomers, Auriemma has started over. Creating lineups and new plays — things he usually does in the preseason — is now his priority as the Huskies begin Big East play next week.
Losing a player to injury, whether for a single game or a whole season, means Auriemma is tasked with finding how to replace that player’s talent on the court. Sometimes that burden falls on one player to step up in one specific way. With Paige Bueckers out last season, Nika Mühl took over as the team’s starting point guard. Other times, it requires everyone to play expanded roles.
With Azzi Fudd, Jana El Alfy, Ayanna Patterson and Caroline Ducharme all out with injuries, Bueckers has been tasked with playing multiple positions — from the guard spots to the forward positions — because of her length and Auriemma’s trust in her to make the right plays.
While Bueckers remains UConn’s best player, weaving her style of play into a new position takes time as she and her teammates adjust. But the more she finds her footing, the more UConn will likely see contributions from other players. “We’re not completely there yet on how to seamlessly incorporate all the other people with the way Paige wants to play. And I don’t know when that will be 100 percent like I like it,” Auriemma said Sunday. “Right now, we just have to, you know, go with what we got and hope that every game we can get more contributions from more people.”
The coach later added: “We have to find a way to get more people consistently engaged around her. If she’s not getting enough assists, that means we’re not doing a good job moving without the ball because she would find you if we are, and that’s been a serious problem for this team for quite some time now.”
And it’s not just Bueckers’ new role. Senior forward Aaliyah Edwards is UConn’s only true experienced forward, which means the Huskies have to find rebounding in other places to prevent her from doing all the heavy lifting.
Practices have become sessions of trail and error as Auriemma experiments with various combinations of players. In nine games this season, he’s used six different starting lineups. Most recently, he started four guards, including three true point guards, along with Edwards.
And since neither Auriemma nor his coaching staff know what the final picture of their puzzle will look like come April, there’s not one right or wrong answer.
“We got to mix and match and find our way,” Auriemma said. “So, every day at practice or in staff meetings ... it’s those guys going, ‘So why don’t we try this?’ ‘No, I hate that.’ ‘Why don’t we try this?’ ‘No, I hate that too.’ ‘Do you like anything?’ ‘No, I do not. I don’t like anything about what we’re talking about.’ Well, you eventually settled on something.”
Six of UConn’s 10 current available players are returners. But before the season opener back on Nov. 8, Bueckers hadn’t played with Edwards and Mühl since the 2021-22 season. And those three hadn’t played all together with Aubrey Griffin since the 2020-21 season. On top of that, add in four newcomers who have never played college ball until now.
Despite all their talent, nothing makes up for the time it takes to build chemistry.
“We’re all still trying to figure out how to play together as a basketball team and get sort of a chemistry within each other,” Bueckers said. “We’re all just trying to figure out how to be the best in our roles that we can be every single night and stay consistent in that.”
And with better chemistry comes better communication. Whether that’s player-to-player both on and off the court, or between player and coach as Auriemma learns how each player needs to be coached.
“You can tell by what kind of communication we have by how many points we score each quarter,” Auriemma said. “… So, I do believe with all my heart that, God bless these kids, you know, they have a lot of great qualities, not just my team but I’m sure every team they have a lot of great qualities, communicating with each other is not one of them. And it’s frustrating as hell to be honest with you and it makes coaching hard as hell.”
Auriemma isn’t naive. He knows the team hasn’t reached its potential yet. What his team looks like now will likely be far different than what it looks like come March.
It’s a process — both good and bad. This is the lowest AP Top 25 ranking for the program in 30 years. UConn has never had three losses this early in a season.
But then again, UConn has never had threestraight seasons of losing multiple key starters and players to injuries.
“It’s a challenge. It’s a real challenge,” Auriemma said. “And, you know, that’s why teams gel hopefully, as the season goes on, as the season goes on it gets better”