{"id":104560,"date":"2025-06-17T10:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T10:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/104560\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T10:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T10:38:12","slug":"geno-auriemma-is-tanned-rested-reloaded-to-get-uconn-women-a-bakers-dozen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/104560\/","title":{"rendered":"Geno Auriemma is tanned, rested, reloaded to get UConn women a Baker’s Dozen"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST HARTFORD \u2014 This Victory Tour was short, did not make all the usual stops. Geno Auriemma didn\u2019t need to take many bows after championship No. 12; <\/a>it\u2019s enough at this stage of his game to see his players swaggering on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve come to learn with all this stuff over the years,\u201d Auriemma said<\/a>, \u201cwhen you win like this, the players, they\u2019re busy as hell, been involved in so much stuff. I\u2019m glad they\u2019re getting to enjoy it. They\u2019re having a blast with all of this. You can see it when they walk around, they\u2019ve got this look about them, like, \u2018I\u2019ve won a national championship.’\u201d<\/p>\n

So the champs were here Monday, at the Hartford Golf Club<\/a>, helping out with Auriemma\u2019s \u201cGeno For The Kids<\/a>\u201d annual tournament, benefitting Connecticut Children\u2019s 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. \u201cThe Phillies think I\u2019m a traitor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dom Amore: In this storybook\u2019s final chapter, the Class LL title belonged to South Windsor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\u2019s dozen for UConn women\u2019s basketbal<\/a>l.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody said, \u2018Wow, you\u2019re going to be way better than you were last year,’\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cI said, \u2018Oh, we just lost the national player of the year, and I don\u2019t remember signing one.\u2019 And nor were we trying to replace Paige (Bueckers),<\/a> that wasn\u2019t going to happen. What we were hoping to do was fill a couple of needs, if we could. If we couldn\u2019t, we were ready to run it back the way it was, with whoever we have coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Then the transfer portal opened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just so happened, we felt we needed an experienced post player, and there just happened to be one,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cSerah Williams<\/a> was available and was the right kind of kid. And we thought, we could use another guard that\u2019s played college basketball, so there happened to be one available (Kayleigh Heckel<\/a>). That\u2019s kind of what the portal is for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things happen. Bueckers is a unique player whose absence will be felt, but let\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0this team be even better?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really competitive in our workouts because everybody wants to play,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cThe workouts are more grueling, tougher, more competitive, because they can be. Could we be as good? I don\u2019t know. We\u2019ll 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\u2019ll be all right. I think we\u2019ll be all right, we have a pretty good team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dom Amore\u2019s Sunday Read: Is this track star UConn\u2019s top athlete? \u2026 Father\u2019s Day memories, and more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Auriemma was heading to Dallas to see Bueckers and Kaitlyn Chen, just re-signed by Golden State,<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group is really, really competitive,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cThey have higher standards than they did before, they\u2019re 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\u2019t a basketball game, it was a \u201cFamily Feud\u201d<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd our players were like, \u2018Yeah, we\u2019re going to win,\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rejuvenated, reloaded, the process has begun.<\/p>\n

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