Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies won their first national title in nine years over coach Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks earlier this year. However, a couple of months before their momentous rematch of the 2022 National Championship game, Auriemma acknowledged how Staley’s Gamecocks have dominated the women’s college basketball landscape in the last decade.
According to an article published by Mike Anthony of the CT Insider in Feb. of this year, Auriemma spoke highly of Staley’s program, saying that they accomplished everything they set out for. The now-71-year-old cited their deep rosters as the driving factor towards their success.
“As has been their want the past three or four or maybe five years, where they’ve had tremendous success, winning national championships, going to the Final Four, I think the depth of their team has been incredibly impressive. Obviously, whoever they put in the starting lineup is really hard to play against, but I think they have a group of players coming off the bench that, if they changed them and put them in the starting lineup, you wouldn’t know the difference,” Auriemma said.
“It’s almost like they have eight or nine starters, not just five. Even if you think we’ve got a handle on this, all of a sudden, another group comes in. They play hard, they’re well coached, they’re aggressive as hell. They have all the things that really good teams have,” he added.
Auriemma and the Huskies finished the 2024-25 season with an overall record of 37-3 (18-0, Big East) en route to defeating Staley and the Gamecocks in the 2025 NCAA title game, 82-59. South Carolina concluded its campaign with an overall record of 35-4 (15-1, SEC).
When Geno Auriemma Acknowledged The Kind Of Capacity Crowd Dawn Staley’s Team Attracts
In the same interview with the CT Insider, Geno Auriemma said that nowadays, the crowd at the Colonial Life Arena, the South Carolina Gamecocks’ home floor, has become intense and fills the entire arena.
This is in contrast to its previous iterations, when the UConn Huskies always defeated the Gamecocks.
“I don’t know about chills anymore. I can’t believe we have to do this again. There’s always a sense of excitement because if you have a passionate fan base, you expect them to be passionate. When you are experiencing that, to me it’s like you walk into an empty gym, or walk into a gym with fans only there to see you, that’s not quite the same,” Auriemma said.
“I think when it’s loud and it’s crazy and people are going out of their mind, it’s an exciting way to coach and exciting way to play,” he added.
Auriemma and the Huskies now head into the 2025-26 season, looking to win back-to-back national championships, while Staley and the Gamecocks are hoping to avenge their 2024 national title loss.
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