NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - VERMONT VS UCONN

March 17, 2023

Geno Auriemma

Aaliyah Edwards

Lou Lopez Senechal

Gampel Pavilion

UConn Huskies

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. I appreciate you joining us for the pre-practice press conference for the UCONN Huskies. Please note the UCONN locker room is now open to the media. We are joined this morning, junior forward, Aaliyah Edwards, and graduate student guard, Lou Lopez Senechal. We will start up front here.

Q. For both of you. Most teams, by the time the NCAA Tournament rolls around, have long had the lineups the rotation the culture of the team are all set. You are adding two key cogs late in the season. How has that changed the dynamic of this team? How do you think you guys are going to do in terms of figuring out minutes and rotations, and how everyone is going to help everyone else out during the tournament?

AALIYAH EDWARDS: I think, you know, go we had our full team, all 10 players, it was great to play through those rotations and to get everyone adjusted and everyone back into the lineup. I think going into tomorrow, we will go with the same mindset, just being competitive. There will be different lineups and there will be different rotations, but nothing that we haven't practiced before.

LOU LOPEZ SENECHAL: I think she said it all. Throughout whole the year, we were used to facing different situations, I think we adjusted really well towards the biggest tournament. I think our mentality is to have the same mindset that we had during the Big East Tournament and bring it to the NCAA tournament.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the 10-day break and how beneficial it has been physically, emotionally, mentally, have you been able to check out a little bit and recalibrate?

LOU LOPEZ SENECHAL: I think it was definitely needed. We needed that time, I think for ourselves. We were focused on the team, who we really are, work on us mainly during those 10 days to be able to, you know, play tomorrow, the right way, and how the UCONN team normally plays. Like we say, we want to bring the same team that we had during the Big East Tournament. I think the 10 days were beneficial to us. As you say, physically, mentally, it was needed.

Q. Can you guys describe the feeling of having Azzi back? As a team, sort of being almost as complete as you can be and what that means just to have her out there. How significant it will be as she gets stronger and stronger?

AALIYAH EDWARDS: It is great to have Azzi back. I think that she brings and provides a lot for our team offensively and defensively. To have her back in the rotation opens up the floor for many of us, and it allows us to see more, and get more advantages off other team's mistakes and off our offensive flow. She brings a lot of energy, offensive and defensive threat to the team.

Q. Can you describe the identity of the team, especially after what you went through? Is it resilience? Where is your confidence right now, now that you do have everyone back?

LOU LOPEZ SENECHAL: Like you said, it is resilience. We are a strong team that never gives up. We never -- we don't let anyone down, you know. The whole team, the whole staff, we really stick together. Our identity, we found it throughout the whole year, sticking together. Because, you know, it has not been easy at all. I think all the challenges that we had to face made us stronger, and it helped us to be the team that we are right now. Make us ready for the tournament.

Q. A year ago, you were playing for a mid major against a highly ranked team. How did you approach it when you were on the other side?

LOU LOPEZ SENECHAL: It was a different approach. It was my first time being in the NCAA Tournament. For me, first, it was exciting. It was something that team hadn't done in 20 years. I was trying to enjoy the moment. Enjoy the whole experience. We had nothing to lose. We were the underdog, and we were facing one of the best teams in the country at that time. We were just going there, trying to do our best, give it our best shot.

I think, I personally approach it as something that I didn't know if I was going to leave again. And fortunately, by coming here, lucky enough to be able to live this experience again. Hopefully, make it further. You know, just enjoying the whole experience with the teammates. Something that I will do again this year.

Q. Any other questions for them? Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Good morning. Thanks for joining us for the second half of the UCONN Pre-practice press conference. We are joined by Geno Auriemma. Start up front.

Q. Geno, by this time of year, most teams have their identity set, their rotations set. You guys just added two key cogs late in the season. How has that affected all of that? Your identity, the rotations and what you expect from the tournament?

GENO AURIEMMA: Obviously, it changes things, as I said earlier this week, in the Big East Tournament, we added Caroline and Azzi for the most part. The last day, we lost Aubrey. Aubrey hasn't had a chance to practice until yesterday. So, hopefully, she will be 100%, come tomorrow. Close to it anyway. It does change how you go about your rotation. It does change the number of minutes people play. And it can have an affect on the chemistry, and the fluidity, but it is a good problem to have, right? It is better than the other alternative. So, bottom line, we got better. That can only help.

Q. Geno, now that you have had a chance to scout them, what impressed you about Vermont? And the second part of the question, do you remember the coach from Vermont when she was a player at Marist?

GENO AURIEMMA: Did we play Marist? What year?

Q. 2005-2006. You don't remember.

GENO AURIEMMA: Wow. So many former players have come back to haunt me, right? What impresses me the most about them is one, they are incredibly well organized. They execute their stuff. They are precise in their offensive flow. Flow is a big word anymore. They know what they want to do and they do it really, really well. They play like a team that gets players that may be were overlooked by bigger programs, and they play like they have something to prove. They are really well coached. You know, what I have seen so far, I really, really like. They remind me of some of the teams in our league.

Q. Morgan valley was one of our best high school players. What makes her such a good coach for you guys? What made you want to bring her back?

GENO AURIEMMA: Well, after she won the last game of her first year as a coach to go 1-27, I felt like she had gotten over the hump. I felt so bad for her being caught in that environment. She is too good of a coach to be in an environment like that. Everywhere she has been around the country, she has had a huge impact on their program. When Shay left, and we needed a replacement, I couldn't think of anybody better. She knows the school, she knows our program, she knows the kind of kids we want. She completely buys into the philosophy that we have here. Obviously, since she played here, and played here during some iconic times with legendary players. So, her view of the game, because of her experiences outside of UCONN add a lot. And I think that you know, there is another opportunity in the future for her as a head coach. She is a great human being. That is probably as much of a reason as anything else.

Q. Vermont is top 10 in the country in scoring defense. What stood out about their defense, and touch a bit more on why faith looked to you like a lot of the teams in the big east?

GENO AURIEMMA: Well, if you saw a lot of our games, which you did, in the big east, you saw it is not always easy to score points in our league. Those teams are exceptionally well coached defensively because they have to be. They are not the kind of team that is going to run out there and get 90 on most nights. So, they are built around their defense. As I said earlier, they play really, really hard and they compete. And when you have a team that plays defense like that, when you have a team that is committed like that, they don't have to score a lot of points. Even though they shoot the ball really well. Again, they get open shots. That is all you can ask for. If you look at them on film and take away the Vermont jersey, you would say, what team is that? They look as good as a lot of teams that we have on our schedule. So, it is not anything that we haven't seen. I don't think they do anything that, you know, incredibly tricky or complicated. They just execute. They make you -- what was it? Like a six-point game in the second quarter you know, against Indiana. It is not like they are going to roll in here and say, what do you want the score to be? Thanks for the pregame meal. Even though they did eat at my restaurant last night.

Q. Barring the pandemic, TV ratings up for women's college basketball. For what do you attribute this, and where do you see things going from here?

GENO AURIEMMA: That pandemic era, the year of and the year after, I think there was so much apprehension about going out in public, and the hassle of going into an arena, people just being held hostage in their own homes. I think when that kind of opened up, it opened up the gates for people to say, I want to go out. I want to go see a game. We are benefitting from a lot of that. TV ratings are up. I know ours are up. They are the highest they have been since SNY took over our TV rights. Which means people enjoy watching close games. They like the fact that there is some semblance of uncertainty over who is going to win. There has been so many changes in the top 10 all year long, right. Teams are in, they start out at the top, they go out, they come back in. I think that creates a level of excitement. People want to get in. Where do I see it going from here? Well, I think the NCAA -- I think the women's basketball committees have a decision to make. Do they want to improve, keep getting better? Or do they want to stay the same and revert back to where we were years ago? A lot of that is going to involve how the game is officiated. How the game is allowed to be played. This is coming from you know, a coach who, we had the best defense in the country for like 10 years in a row. So, I understand playing defense. What it takes. How physical you need to be. How aggressive you need to be. So, I am not complaining about how the game is being coached or how the game is being taught or played. I think that the basketball committees have to be very clear with the officials. This is what we are going to call, this is what we are not going to call. What are your priorities? If your priorities are, we want scoring to be up. We want fouls to be down. We want movement on the court. Then you have to make those rules, and then you have to enforce them. If you are saying it doesn't matter, then say it doesn't matter. Don't leave it up to each conference to decide, this is how we are going to play. I think that is the biggest issue going forward. You know? Baseball wanted more scoring. They brought defenses in, lowered the mound. I don't think we can juice up the basketball, it doesn't do us any good. I do think that people like to see that. In every sport in America today. You have to understand that the players coming out of high school, they are different than 15, 20 years ago. They are more skilled than they have ever been in some ways. It is funny, today, 2023, is Paige's junior year. That is exactly 21 -- 22 years, since Diana was a junior in the NCAA Tournament in March. The game has changed a lot in those days. But there is still really, really, really skilled basketball players coming out of high school. I would venture to say, there is not as many good basketball players coming out of high school. So what you are being taught at the college level is really, really important. You are basically starting from scratch a lot of times. That's why you see a lot of the mid majors, men's and women's, winning so many big games. Cause they can't get the absolute best skilled or the absolute best athletes in the country. Look at Sacred Heart. That little guard playing for Sacred Heart. That little kids is a stud, right? She is 5'3".

Who recruited her? Now, there will be 15 teams trying to get her. There is a lot of really tough kids at the mid majors who are making the game exciting and keeping the big schools on their toes.

Q. Geno, the first four finished up last night, to get down to 64 teams, two of the teams that didn't get to the 64 are automatic qualifiers. You have always called the NCAA Tournament a champions tournament. Do you like the format of the first four with the 11 seeds and the 16 seeds or would you rather see it be the last eight at large teams?

GENO AURIEMMA: I do think that everybody who wins a league championship should be in the NCAA Tournament. The question is, is that being in the NCAA Tournament, the play-in game? Well, I guess it is. Yes, you have a chance to win a game and move on. Are there eight teams that belong to ne in there instead of four? When you get to eight, you say there should be 12. You will say the same thing that leaked out recently, that they want 90-some teams in the NCAA Tournament. Which is really saying we want a bunch of 7-9 teams from the big conferences to be in the tournament. Which defeats the whole purpose of the tournament. If a team is 7-9 in a big conference, aren't you sick of watching them? Wouldn't you rather see a really good team from a mid major? Like Vermont has their men's and women's teams in the tournament. Isn't that what this tournament is all about? Not another power 5. Our 7-9 team is better than their conference champion. Tough shit. You had a chance to prove it in your own league, and you couldn't do it. I think, if you are going to add more teams to the tournament, it has to be those mid majors.

Q. The feeling about it is that tournament starts at 64.

GENO AURIEMMA: Now, it should be the tournament should start at 68. 68 teams in the tournament, not 64.

Q. That is why I am wondering, last at large -- if you win your conference championship, you get that automatic bid.

GENO AURIEMMA: Yes, they should. You win, your automatic bid in your tournament, you should go. It is their fault if they have a tournament and their best team doesn't go. You have a team that goes undefeated in the regular season and one bid league, they get upset in the tournament, they don't get to go? It is a travesty. Why are you having a tournament? You are not making money on it, and you are not getting extra teams in the tournament. You are penalizing the best team in the league if they don't win. They spent five months proving it. For us, in the other conference, we are given an opportunity to one or two schools in the league, to win a game or two in the conference tournament, and they will get in because they are that close. They could help themselves a lot more by not having the tournament.

Q. Aaliyah Edwards was named Third Team All-American this week. What are your thoughts of seeing her being recognized at the national level? What do you want her to focus on most during the tournament?

GENO AURIEMMA: Well, I think she deserved that and more, maybe. You know? The way the season went, what we had to deal with. The amount of changes in our lineup, and going through periods where there was, you know, very little production from our guards. All the weight of scoring fell on her and Dorka, you know, to a certain extent. I think that it was well deserved, and she could have gotten more. I think the biggest thing for Aaliyah now going forward, what is it that you feel that you can do to get to the next level, where you are looked up as a first team all-American? What is it? Cause you probably know what it is. The kids always know what it is.

They don't like to admit it. What is that line -- the truth will set you free, but it hurts like hell in the beginning. So sometimes you have to be honest, say to yourself, say okay, what do I have to get better at? Every kid that I had here that became an all-American, that is what they did. They went home, and figured it out. I am at this level. What do I have to get better at to get to the next level? They do. You want to be a better shooter, you want to be a better defender, you want to be a more dominant post player, whatever it is. Cause Aaliyah is very, very good at a lot of things. Now it will turn out to be what am I willing to do to become great at one of those things? Gabby became a great defender, and guarded everybody on the floor, made First team all American. Stefanie Dolson became the best passing big man and the best defensive big man in America. So there has got to be something you can have that is better than everybody else's. She is close. That is the next step for her. Sad to say, I have to leave. Thank you.