PHOENIX (AP) \u2014 Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma\u2019s coaching rivalry has had something for everyone on and off the court. It reached a dramatic peak Friday night, and the heated exchange between them stirred all the elements that make their matchups must-see TV.<\/p>\n
Auriemma said it started at the beginning of the game, but the ending is what everyone will talk about.<\/p>\n
A visibly upset Auriemma went over to Staley in the waning seconds of South Carolina\u2019s 62-48 victory<\/a> over his UConn team in the Final Four and appeared to chastise her before the two shook hands. Staley responded with \u201cdon\u2019t do that\u201d while assistant coaches from both teams separated them.<\/p>\n Auriemma later said the exchange was about the lack of a traditional pregame handshake between the coaches. Staley said she was confused.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no idea,\u201d Staley said when asked what happened. \u201cBut I\u2019m going to let you know this: I\u2019m of integrity. I\u2019m of integrity. So if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did. I guess he thought I didn\u2019t shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I didn\u2019t know. I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what he came with after the game, but, hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on.\u201d<\/p>\n The Gamecocks will play UCLA in their third straight title game<\/a> on Sunday, but not everyone was willing to move on from the exchange so quickly.<\/p>\n Auriemma immediately left the court without shaking hands when the game ended, and the moment quickly spread on social media.<\/p>\n Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie, a former Olympic teammate of Staley, posted on X: \u201cIt\u2019s a real shame that #Geno took the low road! We have all had to lose with class! Geno of the @UConnWBB needs to start with an apology!!!\u201d<\/p>\n There were no apologies Friday night, but Auriemma explained why he was frustrated.<\/p>\n \u201cFor 41 years I\u2019ve been coaching and, I don\u2019t know, 25 Final Fours,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cThe protocol is before the game you meet at halfcourt. Anybody see that before? Two coaches meet at halfcourt and they shake hands, correct? Ever see it? They announce it on the loudspeaker.<\/p>\n \u201cI waited there for like three minutes. So it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Auriemma and Staley have been the gold standard in women\u2019s basketball for years, and their battle for supremacy has produced some of the most thrilling moments in women\u2019s college basketball over the last decade.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve coached some of the greatest talent in the game. They have a combined 15 national championships and nearly 2,000 wins with their respective programs, and their teams have faced each other 15 times.<\/p>\n Despite the intensity on the court, Staley and Auriemma have typically exchanged public pleasantries, complimenting each others\u2019 successes and importance to the women\u2019s game. They sparked conversations in 2023 when Staley defended her team after Auriemma criticized the Gamecocks\u2019 physicality \u2014 but their rivalry had never boiled over in the way it did on Friday.<\/p>\n Auriemma ripped the officiating<\/a> in the third after the Gamecocks were not whistled for a foul in the quarter. He continued to voice his displeasure with how Staley spoke to the refs in his postgame news conference.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m of the opinion that if I ever talk to an official like that, I would get tossed,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I just want to make sure there\u2019s not a double standard, that some people are allowed to talk to officials like that and other people are not. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n Staley did not want to talk about the exchange in her postgame news conference. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can ask Geno the question,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s the one that initiated the conversation. I don\u2019t want what happened there to dampen what we were able to accomplish today.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-womens-bracket<\/a> and coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (AP) \u2014 Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma\u2019s coaching rivalry has had something for everyone on and off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[382,11047,7,217,325,2340,6133,2329,3377,17650,55358,86187,40743,4259,66,6135,465],"class_list":{"0":"post-698146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-az-state-wire","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-college-basketball","12":"tag-college-sports","13":"tag-connecticut","14":"tag-connecticut-huskies","15":"tag-ct-state-wire","16":"tag-dawn-staley","17":"tag-lisa-leslie","18":"tag-march-madness-ncaa-tournament","19":"tag-ncaa-womens-bracket","20":"tag-sc-state-wire","21":"tag-south-carolina","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-womens-college-basketball","24":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116347632917878366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}