About 16 years ago, in 2009, UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma had jokes for how fans and spectators perceived their dominance of the support. In an interview with Jim Fuller of The Register Citizen, Auriemma was looking for ways to motivate his team ahead of that year’s national tournament as they were the favorites once again to win the national title.
Auriemma and the Huskies were heading into postseason play in 2009 with an undefeated record of 33-0, which is why several media narratives and predictions had them winning it all once again. With this, the now 71-year-old placed himself in the point of view of a fan, sharing that he too would be nauseated by the Huskies’ continued dominance.
“I told my players that if I was home watching on TV, I would be a little nauseated listening to them describe Connecticut, Connecticut, Connecticut, Connecticut, hearing about teams and how much we beat them by. After a while, I couldn’t even listen anymore. I told my players that they are not going to announce the brackets and say, ‘OK, here are the brackets and let’s just eliminate all the nonsense and give Connecticut the trophy,'” Auriemma was quoted as saying.
Currently, coach Auriemma and the Huskies have won six national championships since then, with the most recent one being earlier this 2025 after they defeated the 2024 defending national champions by 23 points, 82-59, to give the legendary college coach and the program a record 12 national titles in total. UConn now looks to run it back in the 2025-26 season with the pursuit of consecutive national titles once again.
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Former UConn Husky Kalana Greene Asserted That The UConn Huskies Are Blocking Out The Noise
As coach Geno Auriemma was looking to instil the mentality of still earning the national championship to his players despite all the push from the media and the narratives that they dominate the women’s college basketball scene, former UConn Husky Kalana Greene asserted that they are taking this advice into heart. Greene said this during the same interview with The Register Citizen, in which they were preparing for March Madness.
“It’s not anything different from what we’ve heard all season. I think the difference from us and other teams I have been on is we block that out, because we know everybody is capable of beating any team in the tournament. Nobody is going to hand anything to you because everybody wants to win a national championship,” Greene was quoted as saying.
It seems as though Auriemma’s instilling of mindset to his players worked out for the Huskies as Greene and the rest of the 2008-09 squad won the 2009 NCAA championship, and even won it back-to-back in 2010. During the 2009 iteration, Greene and the squad that was led by then-college superstar Maya Moore defeated the Louisville Cardinals by 22 points, 76-54, to take home the national chip.
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