WEST HARTFORD — This Victory Tour was short, did not make all the usual stops. Geno Auriemma didn’t need to take many bows after championship No. 12; it’s enough at this stage of his game to see his players swaggering on campus.
“I’ve come to learn with all this stuff over the years,” Auriemma said, “when you win like this, the players, they’re busy as hell, been involved in so much stuff. I’m glad they’re getting to enjoy it. They’re having a blast with all of this. You can see it when they walk around, they’ve got this look about them, like, ‘I’ve won a national championship.’”
So the champs were here Monday, at the Hartford Golf Club, helping out with Auriemma’s “Geno For The Kids” annual tournament, benefitting Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Most are back on campus now. After the parade in Hartford a few days after they returned from Tampa with the trophy, the opening bell on Wall Street was about it. Auriemma did sound a little disappointed at not being invited to throw out a first pitch in his native Philadelphia. “The Phillies think I’m a traitor,” he said.
Dom Amore: In this storybook’s final chapter, the Class LL title belonged to South Windsor
The coach got his rest and rejuvenation, spent some time in Greece in May, and quickly reloaded the Huskies. The 12th championship was tough to get, nine years after the 11th. Auriemma, who will turn 72 when next March Madness comes, teed off with a nice tan and a team well-equipped to make it a baker’s dozen for UConn women’s basketball.
“Somebody said, ‘Wow, you’re going to be way better than you were last year,’” Auriemma said. “I said, ‘Oh, we just lost the national player of the year, and I don’t remember signing one.’ And nor were we trying to replace Paige (Bueckers), that wasn’t going to happen. What we were hoping to do was fill a couple of needs, if we could. If we couldn’t, we were ready to run it back the way it was, with whoever we have coming in.”
UConn had plenty coming back already. Azzi Fudd, after her big NCAA Tournament, looks more ready than ever to step out from behind Bueckers and become the face of UConn basketball. Sarah Strong, after her freshman season, just may be a player of the year. along with the others who played a big role.
Then the transfer portal opened.
“It just so happened, we felt we needed an experienced post player, and there just happened to be one,” Auriemma said. “Serah Williams was available and was the right kind of kid. And we thought, we could use another guard that’s played college basketball, so there happened to be one available (Kayleigh Heckel). That’s kind of what the portal is for us.”
Things happen. Bueckers is a unique player whose absence will be felt, but let’s put it this way: There is no reason to believe it will be so long a wait this time. UConn is sitting pretty with this roster. Williams, from Wisconsin, and Heckel, from Southern Cal, make for what could be a devastatingly complete UConn team.
Auriemma has 15 scholarship players already fighting for playing time, 10 who know what it took and how it feels to win the national championship, five newcomers who want that experience for themselves. At every position, there is at least one experienced player ready to come off the bench. Could this team be even better?
“It’s been really competitive in our workouts because everybody wants to play,” Auriemma said. “The workouts are more grueling, tougher, more competitive, because they can be. Could we be as good? I don’t know. We’ll find out in the first big, big, big game. If we got somebody we know is going to get 30 points in those big games, we’ll be all right. I think we’ll be all right, we have a pretty good team.”
Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: Is this track star UConn’s top athlete? … Father’s Day memories, and more
Auriemma was heading to Dallas to see Bueckers and Kaitlyn Chen, just re-signed by Golden State, play against each other in the WNBA game. Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Storrs, their former teammates having things well in hand even if, surprise, surprise, they are already 0-1, with a fresh lesson in taking things for granted.
“This group is really, really competitive,” Auriemma said. “They have higher standards than they did before, they’re holding themselves to higher standards. Every day that I watch them, I start to get a sense of that, like the other day, (Chris Dailey) set up a game against the men. It wasn’t a basketball game, it was a “Family Feud” kind of thing, answer questions. And they beat our butt, they were better prepared, were better teammates for each other, celebrated better when they won their trophy, a national championship celebration.
“And our players were like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to win,’ and they got beat. So I want to see, when they play again, if there is any change because they got beat by the guys next door. They should be pissed.”
Rejuvenated, reloaded, the process has begun.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
