Geno Auriemma raises predators. The standard with the Connecticut Huskies is competing for national championships, of course, but that doesn’t quite capture it. If you play for Geno, you better play for Geno, and you better do it all the time, regardless of opponent and no matter what the scoreboard says. What I’m trying to say here is:
Welcome to the women’s NCAA tournament, Arkansas State Red Wolves! Your parting gift is a scar.
Let the record show that in their first-ever tourney appearance, the Red Wolves did actually hold a lead over UConn. Fifty-three seconds into the game, it was Arkansas State 2, UConn 0.
UConn scored the next 20 points.
On Friday, Auriemma bristled at being a 45-point favorite: “If you’re not careful, your players actually start to think that the score is actually 45–0 at the beginning of the game.”
Thirteen minutes in, it was 46–7.
The Huskies scored 50 points in the game’s first 15 minutes, a 133-point pace. At the end of the second quarter, the Red Wolves’ Anna Griffin banked in a buzzer-beating three-pointer, which made the halftime score UConn 66, Arkansas State 16. Before Griffin’s shot went in, three UConn players had scored as many points as the entire Arkansas State team: Azzi Fudd (21), Sarah Strong (15) and Ashlynn Shade (13).
The final was 103–34.
None of this is meant as a criticism of Arkansas State, which should be commended for winning the Sun Belt tournament (and was obviously not expected to stay with UConn). Auriemma’s program just breathes different air.
A team can only build a 53-point first-half lead by busting its butt when the lead gets to 50. Strong blocked a three-pointer. Fudd had five first-half steals. UConn had 20 assists, nine blocks and 11 steals in the first half, and every one of those stats tells you the Huskies did not just win on talent.
What this portends for the rest of the tournament is hard to say. Probably not a whole lot. Beating Arkansas State by 20, 40 or 80 does not give you a head start against the USC Trojans a week later.
But it was a reminder: UConn might just be the best team in the country.
The Huskies are a No. 2 seed and haven’t won a national title since 2016. Those are facts, but it is possible to make way too much of them. The Huskies have played in six of the last seven Final Fours. Since December, they have lost one game (at the Tennessee Volunteers by four points) and won every other one by double digits. Yes, most of their opponents were Big East chum. But they also obliterated the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia, S.C.
When USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb grumbled about being the fourth No. 1 seed, the implication was pretty clear: She was upset because being the fourth No. 1 meant sharing a region with UConn.
We have somehow made it this far into this column without mentioning Paige Bueckers, who is a lot like her program: Everybody knows she is great, but sometimes we get distracted by the greatness of others. First it was Caitlin Clark. Then it was JuJu Watkins. Both are incredible players, obviously. But Bueckers is right there with either of them.
Bueckers is a model of offensive efficiency. This season, she was one free throw away from the 50-40-90 club (50% from the field, 40% from three, 90% from the line). She is a relentless defender, a terrific passer and she is never a stat-hunter.
Auriemma has coached more great players than anybody in the history of the sport. He knows what he has in Bueckers.
“Generally speaking, she saves her best basketball for the biggest moments,” Auriemma said this week. “Nobody does it 100% of the time, but she pretty much—you can count on that. That might be because she kind of prepares that way all the time and doesn’t have to do anything different, just because it’s that time of the year.”