Geno Auriemma Ability Quotations

She has too much ability to not play well. She just came out and just shot it and made plays. She found a way to be a real basketball player (Tuesday) as opposed to just somebody who plays point guard at Connecticut and runs up and down the floor. (Tuesday) she was a real basketball player.

I'd like to be able to dial it up when we needed it. Unfortunately, sometimes you keep waiting and waiting and it never happens. My hope is that some time in the next 24 hours we play as close to our ability as we can. Right now, I think we need to play one of the best games that we've played. I don't know where we are in terms of that, but I'd like to see us come close to that (tonight).

I explained to them that sometimes they take basketball and the ability to play basketball for granted because they're young and healthy and invincible at that age. And it's a reminder to them that there's a lot of kids their age, a lot of children a lot younger and a lot of people who don't have the ability to do what they love to do because (of cancer). Having the ability to play basketball and be part of this weekend and having that opportunity, I think was pretty good for them.

I don?t think she deserved any more than that, but it?s certainly beneath her ability. So, hopefully, she takes it as kind of an incentive to want to do more, want to be recognized for being better than that.

Our defense bails us out a lot of times. Say what you will about both Rutgers games and how bad we were offensively, we had a chance to win. I used to have teams that made every play, every time. Now we're looking at a team that maybe doesn't have the ability to make every play, every time. But what we have to do is make certain plays at key times. If we can do that, we'll be all right.

This is probably the first time since 1991 that I feel like we're truly a team that relies so heavily on each other. Everyone has to make a contribution for us to be really good. And obviously, Barbara and Ann have the ability to make huge contributions, and they did. That's what you expect from them. And sometimes we do forget they've won two national championships. They know how to handle these situations.

At this time of year, everything is about confidence. About your ability to make the play that needs to be made at the time it needs to be made. That's everything at this time of year. And the bottom line is, if you have those guys that make those plays, you win.