Spring Break
The quest for perfection continues
Pressure mounts for UConn as 39-0 record draws near
Brittany Perotti
Issue date: 4/3/09 Section: Sports
The pressure to be perfect is real. Each day, the No. 1 women's basketball team deals with this fact: In order to win a national title, it has to continue being perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
Yet, for head coach Geno Auriemma, the record does not mean as much as winning the next game. As he said, the success in the regular season has set up just another opportunity to play once more.
That chance was also earned by the other teams - Louisville, Oklahoma and Stanford - that have made it to the Final Four.
"So, we try to keep it in those terms instead of, you know, what we're trying to accomplish big-picture wise or what it means cosmically," Auriemma said after Huskies' 84-63 win over Arizona State in the Sweet 16.
As an added bonus, the team just happened to win 37 straight games - all by at least 10 points.
Some on the outside call it arrogance. The team calls it confidence.
"You know, we're not shove it in your face," said small forward Kalana Greene. "But I think the way we play speaks for itself. You can mistake it for all you want, we're still winning games. And I think confidence is a whole different realm than arrogance. That confidence, you know, you need that."
"But at the same time, we're humble and we're level because we're never taking a possession off," she continued. "We don't look too far ahead in our future. The fact that we don't believe in losing helps us fight for our goal each time."
And the key for success? Chalk it up to chemistry, at least according to Auriemma, Greene and Maya Moore.
"[If] Tiffany Hayes shot the ball every single time down the floor that she was open, the happiest person on our team would be Renee Montgomery because she's convinced that whoever's open on our team should shoot it and that that's how we win," Auriemma said. "That we don't doubt anybody, you know, we don't have any questions about can so and so help us win the game. Can so and so be trusted? So what's made this team pretty special is they have tremendous amount of trust in each other, they believe in each other."
Absolutely perfect.
Yet, for head coach Geno Auriemma, the record does not mean as much as winning the next game. As he said, the success in the regular season has set up just another opportunity to play once more.
That chance was also earned by the other teams - Louisville, Oklahoma and Stanford - that have made it to the Final Four.
"So, we try to keep it in those terms instead of, you know, what we're trying to accomplish big-picture wise or what it means cosmically," Auriemma said after Huskies' 84-63 win over Arizona State in the Sweet 16.
As an added bonus, the team just happened to win 37 straight games - all by at least 10 points.
Some on the outside call it arrogance. The team calls it confidence.
"You know, we're not shove it in your face," said small forward Kalana Greene. "But I think the way we play speaks for itself. You can mistake it for all you want, we're still winning games. And I think confidence is a whole different realm than arrogance. That confidence, you know, you need that."
"But at the same time, we're humble and we're level because we're never taking a possession off," she continued. "We don't look too far ahead in our future. The fact that we don't believe in losing helps us fight for our goal each time."
And the key for success? Chalk it up to chemistry, at least according to Auriemma, Greene and Maya Moore.
"[If] Tiffany Hayes shot the ball every single time down the floor that she was open, the happiest person on our team would be Renee Montgomery because she's convinced that whoever's open on our team should shoot it and that that's how we win," Auriemma said. "That we don't doubt anybody, you know, we don't have any questions about can so and so help us win the game. Can so and so be trusted? So what's made this team pretty special is they have tremendous amount of trust in each other, they believe in each other."
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