SAN ANTONIO -- I should have known better.
Never leave a Geno Auriemma press conference. At least, not without leaving behind the tape recorder.
While this intrepid reporter was dashing down the hall at the AT&T Center to the Texas locker room to get a quote from Longhorns coach Gail Goestenkors -- who had declined to come to the media room Tuesday night following her team's 83-58 loss to top-ranked Connecticut -- Auriemma made sure that there'd be more to the story than the blowout win.
I came back into the room just as Auriemma was being asked about whether he and Tennessee coach Pat Summitt had greeted one another in the past couple of days.
More Coverage: Blowouts Rule the Night
Here are the rest of the quotes courtesy of John Altavilla's blog for the Hartford Courant. Altavilla has covered Auriemma long enough that he knows better than to leave the room when the coach is at the mic.
Asked whether it is important that Tennessee and Connecticut resume their regular-season matchup, Auriemma responded:
"People have to understand that the only people who wanted this UConn-Tennessee thing were those outside women's basketball. All the others in Div. I basketball were tired of UConn-Tennessee."
- Geno Auriemma "I don't know that it's important any more," Auriemma said. "I'll give you a for instance. Last night [Monday], we had a dinner here for the teams and Carol Stiff [the senior director of programming and acquisitions of ESPN], the person most responsible for putting games on television, was sitting in the audience when the master of ceremonies said, 'For the first time ever, ESPN's College Game Day [for basketball] and everything that goes with it, will be in January [at UConn] when Notre Dame is plays them on Jan. 16.'
"That's huge; Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps, and they will be there all day. There was no response in the room. Dead silence. I was so embarrassed for Carol, after all the hard work she put in. Do you know how the other three programs [Tennessee, Texas and Texas Tech] in the room reacted? They couldn't have cared less; if it isn't about us, we don't care.
"That was embarrassing. So you know what? The biggest game of the year is going to Notre Dame at UConn. The biggest game next year will be UConn at Notre Dame. The year after that it will be UConn against whomever."
Auriemma said ESPN hasn't asked about putting the UConn-Tennessee series back on the schedule.
"Carol knows better than to ask me about that. She knows the answer to that question," Auriemma said. "We've already talked about future matchups and Tennessee's name doesn't come up. I don't bring it up and neither does she.''
UConn and Tennessee played each other 22 times during the regular season from 1995-2007. The Huskies hold a 13-9 series lead, although the Lady Vols won the last three games. UConn is 5-2 vs. Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament, including 4-0 in the title game.
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt pulled the plug on the annual series following the 2007 season after she and Auriemma clashed over the recruitment of Maya Moore, who ended up at Connecticut.
"People have to understand that the only people who wanted this UConn-Tennessee thing were those outside women's basketball," Auriemma said. "All the others in Div. I basketball were tired of UConn-Tennessee. It was like, 'Come on, let's see some other teams.'
"Hey, we used to play them twice. How did it get to once? How did it get to none?"
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michelle,
Bit of history....
TENN will never play UCONN because Pat Summitt caught UCONN (read geno) in a blatent mass recruiting violations and the NCAA did nothing about it... so Pat did what she can do and cost the NCAA the money that they gained through the UCONN/ TENN matchup.
Geno has absolutely ZERO say in the matter... TENN will not play UCONN.
Geno is about as crooked as it comes in College Basketball... he gets by with it and THAT is why no reaction in the room... the rest of the coaches and programs don't care about UCONN because the program is SO tainted.
I am not hater.. just reporting the politics around what you observed. Love the talented players at UCONN... who can argue with Lobo, Taurazzi, and now More?
How crude. How can you state things about the coach and program at Uconn you cannot prove?
State your prove.
The NCAA did an investgation. you think the caoch is bigger than the NCAA?
I don't think so.
So many people hate Uconn for our succes. we Will meet Tennesse agianthis year.
both teams are talented. Lwet the best team win.
That is just a copout, sour grapes. Pat Summitt is just jealous of Geno because he is now the top coach in 'women's' basketball, and that, moreover, Maya chose HIS program, over hers. The 'so-called' recruiting scandal is primarily in HER head. If there was any 'real' substance to it, the NCAA would have taken action--period. Maya Moore loves being at UCONN... and she loves being coached by Geno. He brings the best out of her, and she is well on her way to winning 3 championships at UCONN. The real reason Pat stopped the series is that she knew that once Parker was gone that her program was ready to decline, as it did in 2009 when they god knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round, and that Geno would continues to beat her program. If Pat Summitt were a man and Geno a woman, we'd be calling the TENN coach sexist. The bottom line is that she can't stand the idea of a 'MAN' being better than her in the sport she more or less 'owned' until he came along. The reason that Maya and other top stars go to UCONN is that many of them like the UCONN program BETTER than Pat's...and that many of them think he is a better coach. Pat Summitt is a poor loser, something she has not had a lot of practice at. Like the kid who can't win all the time, so he takes his marbles and goes home, Pat refuses to play the team coached by the man that more often than not beats her. And she is not 'woman' enough to admit it, publicly, so there are surrogates like you who go around making unsubstantiated accusations on her behalf, excuses really, hoping that enough people out there will believe her, without her having to say it herself. I myself like most all women's basketball coaches, men and women....with one exception...that being Summitt. I used to respect her, but the way she has handled herself during this whole saga with Geno has shown her to be such a poor sport--poor loser AND poor winner too--that I now root against her.
Look at you two, reporting and commenting on women's college basketball like it is an actual sport. How cute.
I like that girl who left UConn to play volleyball (at Delaware?).
JUST read she is playing at U Del now
Michelle,
Because one says somehing does not make it so. There is no question thet Pat summerr does not care for Deno. St this point of time i am sure the same can be said of Geno toward Pat.
That they recruited for the same players is absolutly correct and some times Pat won, as she did for years against other teams too and other times Geno won, recently a little more often. If Geno violated NCAA rules in a major way, they would have stepped on him. I am sure there have been minor violations over the years on BOTH sides , however I major violation and no action, with the investigation of things for stories by the media, naaa. Lets face it, they don't like each other, so they divorced but accusing either one of being dishonest is just poor.
fitzyfaltsgraaf you obviously don't have daughters and apparently you don't have a life. perhaps you should go back to reading your sarah palin book
pat sumner got tired of losing big games against uconn . which is one of the best teams we see every year. fortunatly i live in connecticut and we get all the games on pbs, excepting national broadcasts.pat had her rule in women's basketball for years then the torch was passed to uconn. how rare is it to see the men's victory on 1 night then see the women's team win it all the next night. both men and women ncaa champions from the same school. go huskies