Geno Auriemma Playing Quotations

We're playing a team that doesn't lose at home. I'll be anxious to see how we approach it.

Since I'm not going to be in Boston playing Sunday and Tuesday (at the women's Final Four) I wouldn't mind being in Indianapolis.

She is assembling a really great cast here. She is taking young players and playing them. Once they are older they will know how to play together. Pitt accomplished more (yesterday) then we did.

My initial reaction right now is I saw where it's going to be announced during the Final Four. So if I'm sitting here in Connecticut and there's four teams playing in Boston at the Final Four and I get a phone call, my first reaction is I'm going to be (mad) that I'm not at the Final Four. I can tell you that much. So if I happen to be in Boston with my team and I get that phone call, it'll be kind of a special weekend.

Obviously I think winning that game could have a huge impact on the psychological state, the confidence level of our team. That's obvious. But at the same time, we're home. We're Connecticut. Everybody think we're one of the top-10 teams in the country. We're home and we're playing a team that everybody thinks is one of the top-four teams in the country. Going into the game, yeah, we expect to win this game. That's what you're supposed to think if you're us.

One of the reasons why we want to play in this tournament when we're eligible is because it's usually a good field and you end up playing pretty good teams. You find out quickly early in the season where you stand. We're a lot better today than we were last week.

I thought we ran so much that we got a little bit tired. We need more contributions from more people if we're going to keep playing like this. You worry this time of year that you get hesitant and tentative and it becomes a walk-it-up kind of game. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want to be afraid to run and afraid to lose. I just want to run up and down and make some plays and see what happens.

I was afraid of that. We came off some of the games we just had and we were feeling pretty good. We're playing a game where their No.1 player is hurt, and physically we're not 100 percent coming out of the road trip. You put all those things in the mix, it made for one lousy game.

I thought we could get away with not playing Ann. I thought we were in pretty good shape at 12-4. I didn't know that was the highlight of the first half ? getting to 12.

I think Brittany Hunter is capable of playing lousy against anybody like she did (Sunday) night. And I think she's capable of playing great like she played against Tennessee, against anybody.

I think because of Diana (Taurasi playing for the Mercury), circumstances are different in this one, ... Maybe people sense that the climate is different at Connecticut than it was in the past.

Right now she?s playing with a lot of confidence. There?s nothing Barbara can?t do out there; it?s just a matter of being locked in mentally and right now she seems to be.

Renee Montgomery had maybe the best game she's had since she's been at Connecticut. And I told her (Monday) she should transfer. I asked her, 'How does Mel Thomas have more steals than you? You've just got to get more involved. You've got to do more.' So (Tuesday) she's attacking the basket. She's stripping kids. She's playing like a basketball player. That makes all the difference in the world when you have guards that play like that.

Playing at Louisville, at DePaul, at Villanova, at Notre Dame, at Texas, and we're going to go to Rutgers... I think we've had the toughest stretch of anybody else in the league. And for us to play well and to win, that's a huge step for us because I don't think this group really believed last year that we could win on the road against good teams.

I think this was as complete a game on both ends of the floor as we've had in a while. These guys are really committed right now to keep playing for as long as we can. I love the way we played.

Most good teams play good at home. But the really good teams, they really separate themselves by playing well on the road. This is probably the biggest win we've had this year.

Yeah, we just woke up one night and she was gone. It was kind of like a camp, we check every night on our kids. We got up one morning and did her bed check and she was gone. Next thing you know, we're playing St. John's and there she was in the lineup. It was just one of those things.

We're not taking anyone for granted and we're playing for the Big East championship.

You love going to places you've never been. We're playing a team that doesn't lose at home.

Sometimes you think things and you hope they don't happen. But you kind of know that it's coming. You come off some of the games that we just had and you come home and you walk around like you're feeling pretty good. You're playing a team that's missing their best player, and probably physically we're not 100 percent coming out of that trip. So if you put all those things into the mix, it made for one really lousy performance by us.

It's always good to see Trina. It's interesting when you know somebody when they're 17. Now you look at her and they're struggling and playing us without their leading scorer. It's kind of bittersweet. You hate to see them in that situation.

You think about playing in the NCAA tournament and playing at this level, there'd be a lot more energy in the crowd and that's not the case. You have to bring your own, and it's not what you would expect at this time of year.

It's still very fragile, I think, but the experience we've gotten playing on the road is going to be something we can draw on. I would like to think all these games will come back to help us.

They are obviously playing with a lot of confidence right now. They are going to be harder to play against, because before you knew Meg was going to take 20 shots. If you guarded her that takes care of that. Now you don't know where the shots are coming from, they are coming from everywhere. Everybody is contributing.

It's real easy to when we're playing well because everyone contributes a little bit.

I like playing games here. I wish we played more games here; most of the kids like playing here, too.

Because of some of the things that we did, the way my players did it, an awful lot of basketball programs decided they wanted to try to be like that. That's probably the thing that I'm most happy about ? the impact that the players at Connecticut had on a lot of players that are playing today.

I can't believe there's 64 teams in the country better than that team that are going to be playing in the NCAA tournament.

He and I talk all the time about playing again and we probably will. They're a really good team to play. I think he runs the kind of program that I would enjoy matching up against from a competitive standpoint and from a personal standpoint that I have a lot of respect for him and I have a really good relationship with him. I would want to do it if we could.

Her conditioning is so-so. I think the rest was really good. But the rest kind of hurts you conditioning-wise because I don't care how long you ride the bike or are in the training room working out or in the pool, you've got to (get in) basketball shape playing basketball. We'll see how many (minutes) she can go and the same thing New Year's Eve (against Army) and then go from there.