There will be a time in the future when Huskies coach Geno Auriemma will allow himself to take a few minutes to bask in what has been a historical ride into the record books. It pains him to talk discuss the winning streak publicly.
As he stood outside the interview room Monday, Auriemma, though, took a minute to explain what it means to him at this point in time.
“It means that what were doing is really, really good,’’ Auriemma said. “We do it everyday. That if we go to practice and do what we do this can happen. If you go and you work on things and you keep getting better, if you recruit the right kind of people this can happen. And it probably means different things to me than it would to say somebody else because somebody could say, and they have said, `What’s it mean for the game? Is it good for the game? Is it bad for the game?’ There’s people talking about women’s basketball now that wouldn’t be talking about it at this time of the year because of what we’re doing. We have a way here at Connecticut of making everybody around the country talk about women’s basketball. We’ve been known to do that, for a long time. We have a knack.’’
The only streak standing in the way of immorality in the sport is the 88-game winning streak set by the UCLA men’s basketball team under John Wooden from 1971-74. Auriemma revealed Monday that he has been carrying one of Wooden’s books in his briefcase for about a year now.
“I’ve had it for about three or fours years and usually it’s in my office somewhere,’’ Auriemma said. “But one day I just grabbed it and threw it in my briefcase because I was going on a plane trip. I said, `Let me look through some of this stuff just for the (heck) of it.’ I look through millions of things all year long just to get an idea here and there, get something that maybe I’d forgotten or didn’t know, which is a lot of stuff. And for some reason this one has stayed in my briefcase. And there’s some interesting stuff in there. He’s got some interesting viewpoints. People don’t know that he lost a lot of games at UCLA early before they got good. They didn’t win a whole lot at UCLA. But then when they figured out how to win they won them all, didn’t they. That was fun. That was fun watching that.’’
Auriemma has been compared to Wooden on some fronts because of the level of success he has attained with the Huskies. That, too, makes him uneasy. Wooden is a legend in his eyes. Humbly, he doesn’t put himself in Wooden’s class. And he certainly doesn’t believe that his colleagues in the women’s game hold him in such high regard as the men’s coaches do with Wooden.
“Believe me, I don’t think anybody that coaches in the women’s game looks at me like the men’s coaches look at John Wooden,’’ Auriemma said. “There maybe one or two other coaches in the women’s game that people think is John Wooden. But I don’t know that I’m one of them.’’
Auriemma doesn’t consider himself to be overly superstitious, especially when he has All-Americans like Tina Charles and Maya Moore to lead his team. Yet, with the Huskies struggling offensively in the first half against No. 6 Notre Dame Monday in the Big East tournament semifinals he was hit with a solid dose of superstition.
“Am I superstitious? I used to be more superstitious before Tina and Maya got here,’’ Auriemma said. “I’m kind of less superstitious now. I wear the same watch all the time because my wife got it for me for Christmas. This watch right here is 71-0. This watch has not lost a game. So other than that, I really don’t have a whole lot of superstitions. I should’ve known. I even parked in like spot No. 13 (Monday). Coming down here I thought, `That might not be a good idea.’ Then I said, `Forget it.’ I’m spitting in the face of superstition. At halftime I was like, `(Team manager) Greg (Mihailides) go move my car.’’’
Rich
