Big East WBB Media Day: Auriemma Sounds Off On Political Environment As His Huskies Still The Preseason Top Dogs In Move to Newer/Former Conference

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Nine years ago in what became the final preseason women’s basketball media day of the old Big East prestigious configuration, surrounded by the usual crowd hanging on every word, Connecticut Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma off the chit-chats ended up launching a few salvos at the Notre Dame hierarchy, which was about to steer the Irish to the Atlantic Coast Conference with several other prominent members as the great national realignment of powerful collegiate teams loomed on the horizon.

Now after seven years of dominating the American Athletic Conference with perfect regular and postseason records in league play in which just two of the games had single digit differentiations in the outcome, Auriemma returned Thursday with his Huskies and ended up launching more fireworks off a question on the presidential in-person voting moment arriving Tuesday.

This time there was no crowd surrounding him because like the Big East men’s event 24 hours earlier, the current climate dealing with the coronavirus forced the normally combo men’s/women’s gathering on the floor of Madison Square Garden in New York City to be held via webinar, though the upside of the altered state is every word on the topic is out there on video but if you haven’t seen or read of the moment elsewhere, a transcription will be provided near the bottom of this post.

So, in getting on with the normal business first, conference media day, pertaining to the national powerful Huskies, was not much different in news value than it had been the previous seven over at The American.

The coaches’ preseason poll was trotted out and UConn was a techno unanimous pick to win the conference blunted from every ballot under rules that the panel of Big East women’s coaches could not vote for their own teams.

Thus 10 were cast to the Huskies while defending champion DePaul picked up the remaining vote on the way to finishing second.

As for the representative school for individual awards, nothing new there either with junior guard Christyn Williams named Big East preseason player of the year and Paige Bueckers, the nation’s top recruit, named preseason freshman.

When UConn wasn’t part of Thursday’s discussion in terms of makeovers, the other noteworthy item among some others was the absence of Villanova coach Harry Perretta as one of the interviewees following his retirement at the end of his 42^nd season on the Main Line.

In his place is Wildcats alum Denise Dillon, who had a long run of success down Lancaster Ave. at Drexel in West Philadelphia near Center City.

But there’s still some rebuilding going on with the graduation of Mary Gedaka and Bridget Herlihy, thus Villanova being was picked seventh, which Dillon feels is about right for now.

But the Wildcats do have Maddy Siegrist, last season’s Big East freshman of the year breaking records held by all-time Nova star Shelly Pennefather. She is one of several unanimous picks to the all-conference preseason team.

With UConn departed, The American did not have a zoom event but on Wednesday South Florida, which has been traditionally the next best team to the Huskies, was the preseason pick with Temple finishing fifth.

The UConn exit also enabled the Big East to take over postseason tourney operations at the Mohegan Sun near New London, Connecticut as the AAC heads to Texas for its NCAA qualifying tourney, pending disruptions from Covid.

Temple’s Mia Davis shared preseason player of the year honors with Cincinnati’s Ilmar’l Thomas.

Meanwhile, back at the Big East virtual event, three sets of coaches were interviewed in separate sessions, Commissioner Val Ackerman and Mohegan Sun executive Amber Cox, who once was an aide to Ackerman in the Conference but now helps oversee the organization which will house the Big East women’s tournament the next three seasons, shared a session, and then Hall of Fame Auriemma and Williams and Bueckers shared the final session.

In terms of his return to the conference in these times, Auriemma noted the ease of travel.

“You’re getting home at a reasonable time, but we still have our share of charters (air) because of the teams in the Midwest, but the wear and tear on our players will be far more manageable,” he said.

“When they are allowed to attend games again, there will be many for our fans to attend, which they hadn’t been able to in the past, because our fans do travel.”

In terms of the overall vote for predicted finish following the Connecticut and DePaul top of the results were Marquette, St. John’s, Creighton, Seton Hall, Villanova, Butler, Xavier, Providence, and Georgetown.

As for the preseason team, the players picked, which included an extra due to a tie, were Connecticut’s Olivia Nelson-Ododa,Tennessee transfer Evina Westbrook, DePaul’s Lexi Held, Sonya Morris, St. John’s Leilani Correra and Qadashah Hoppie, Creighton’s Temi Carda, Marquette’s Selena Lott, Seton Hall’s Desiree Elmore, and Xavier’s A’riana Gray, and Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist.

Beyond all that, comments dealt with topics not addressed in the past, such as obviously coping with trying to have a season in the face of the coronavirus issues, social justice, and other items.

Schedules from a standpoint of league play have yet to be trotted out though the front portion with perhaps around four games to be played in December might begin to appear next week.

Which now brings us to where we started at the top of this post.

The interview with Auriemma included the usual fare of perspective and banter that has made him a media favorite in many quarters over the decades.

Then the issue of the current political climate came up and Auriemma was asked what it meant to him personally in terms of this year’s push on voting.

He didn’t name names, though his disdain for the White House occupant was telegraphed several years ago when he gave a negative response to whether the squad might visit upon invitation, should they win the national title, which they did not off an upset in the Women’s Final Four.

That said, if you haven’t found the video yet or reported remarks elsewhere, here’s most of the response to the personal feelings of voting in Tuesday’s election.

 “I’ve kind of experienced all of it from the time of being a kid and not being a citizen, and then from turning 18 and not being a citizen and I couldn’t vote, and becoming a political science major because I was fascinated with the process of how governments work, to becoming a citizen, living through the sixties, experiencing my mother becoming a citizen, but she can’t read, she can’t write, but she’s a great American.

 “And to be honest, I’ve never felt anything like I’m seeing and feeling in today’s world. Never. Not anytime in my life have I ever been so disgusted over so much what I see happening in the country.

 “And you know, the pandemic is one of the least of our problems. There’s a cure for the pandemic. It’ out there, it’s coming. I’m not sure there’s a cure for what’s going on in the country.

 “You can’t make a vaccine for some of the nonsense that’s been going on in this country. You can’t. There isn’t a vaccine for that.

 “The only cure you have is your vote. That’s it. There’s no vaccine. No one can inoculate you from the stuff that’s been happening in this country. The things that are being said. The way people are treating each other.

 “It’s just the most anger I’ve ever felt in my life about anything that’s has been going on in this world, in our world, in this world right now. In America, especially.

 “We as coaches, or teachers, or whatever. We’re always trying to tell people, `Hey, listen. Try to do the right thing.’ We don’t always do. Trust me. I’m as guilty as anybody.

 “I believe it was when we took the team to West Point. A lot of the time they talked about, ‘doing the hard right and not the easy wrong.’

“And I just think that right now, there’s just a lot of easy wrong being done. Why? It’s just so easy to be so angry, to be anti-humanity. It’s just so easy for people. I’ve never felt like this before, ever in my life.

 “And I’ve never had the kind of arguments, the kinds of discussions, the back and forth between close friends where you just say to yourself, Thank God, there’s a bond there because of what’s going on over there in this country, I see it, people who have been life-long friends, losing friendships over what’s going on right now.

 “The anger on both sides towards each other. Politicians lie. That’s just par for the course. You take a course in that when you become a politician. How to be a tremendous liar. So I’m not surprised by that, but, man, never in my life have I’ve seen anything like this. 

 “I feel for my grandkids. I really do. I really do.

 “I’m old enough I think, I didn’t vote in the 1916 election, I’m not that old, look, the easiest things people do when they reach a crisis of conscience is they come up with slogans, they come up with t-shirts, they come up with catchy sayings, they come up with logos, it seems like one giant Forest Gump movie, hey, let’s come up with an iconic saying, whatever it is.

 “Ok, I did my part. Let me put a sign up on my lawn. I did my part. I did my part. That’s as good as all the thoughts and prayers are coming from Washington for some victim when some crazy person, I don’t mean some mentally ill person, I mean someone who’s gotta be deranged, takes a gun and shoots up school kids.

 “Our thoughts and prayers are with you. That sounds good. It’ll be in the headlines. But when it becomes time to vote for any meaningful reform, nah, I’m not going there.

 “But it sounds good and I wear a t-shirt. And I support it. But when it becomes time to vote, nah, I’m not going there. Look I put the sign up on my lawn.

 “C’mon leave me alone. I did my part. But come Tuesday, nah, I’m not going there.

 “You see there’s the outward me that shows you I support change in this country but the inward me for a lot of people when I go vote, nah, not really. Because if it was true, we wouldn’t need signs. We wouldn’t need t-shirts, we wouldn’t need catchy slogans.

 “We wouldn’t need buttons. We wouldn’t need patches on our jerseys. But, yeah, don’t get me wrong. All these things are great. But you know what they all are?

 “They’re symbols of I care. I wanna do my part. 

 “Ok. Colin Kaepernick took a knee. So how did that work out for him. So now, everybody takes a knee. How’s that working out. How many white policemen did it stop, taking a knee. Huh?

 “But it looked good. So everybody’s doing these great things to show their support. 

 “But guess what.

 “Your support comes Tuesday. Tuesday. No slogans. No buttons. No T-shirts. No signs on your lawn. Just show up Tuesday and do the right thing.”