Paige Bueckers led UConn to their record 12th national championship last season. Geno Auriemma and co. had a near perfect season with 37-3 record. The Huskies went 18-0 in the Big East. Another massive positive for Auriemma and Huskies was that for the first time in her career Azzi Fudd was available for the whole season.
Bueckers leading the team in her redshirt senior season and Azzi playing 34 games was the dream combination for UConn. Bueckers averaged 19.9 points 4.6 assists and 4.4 rebounds. Many believe UConn will miss Paige Bueckers going into next season as she led the Huskies in points and assists. However, Geno Auriemma is not one of them.
Reporter asked Geno what he thought of going into next season with a squad filled with national champions.
Geno revealed at 3:05, how he felt about the upcoming season, “I really didn’t think that much during the offseason about the previous season. I don’t know why, you know, usually if we win a championship, it stays with me a little bit longer. This time it didn’t. So there’s no hangover for me and I don’t think there is from the players. I’d be more worried, let’s say, if we have Paige back.”
It might seem like a surprising statement from coach Auriemma since Bueckers had a great impact on the team all through her career. But the championship season certainly grew her as a player like she hadn’t in any other year. Auriemma continued to explain why he thought that.
He said, “As these guys are going to be overconfident. They’re going to be cocky. They’re going to think that this is going to be easy. I think we all understand last year was great. It was a great year and it came out perfectly. This is a new year. I’m excited for the challenge.”
Geno Auriemma talks about improving himself after 12th NCAA title season
After talking about how UConn needed to move on from Paige Bueckers, Geno Auriemma also self reflected. He talked about what he needs to improve on as a coach.
Auriemma shared how he thinks he needs to learn how to substitute his players and use his squad depth. He said how he has had nobody to sub for 3 or 4 years and how it was easy for him to play with the same trusted formula.
He concluded, “Some of our guys have never played on a full roster, so they have to learn how to be really efficient in a shorter period of time, you know. So there’s a lot of challenges.”
Read more:
Azzi Fudd Reveals 1 Thing She Learned from GF Paige Bueckers Ahead of Last Season with UConn
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