UConn women’s basketball has been going through a transformational season. Injuries have seemingly changed expectations and the team’s trajectory moving forward. Yet, under the guidance of head coach Geno Auriemma, the team is still maintaining its winning ways. Auriemma is now the third coach in NCAA Division I basketball history to get to 1,200 wins.
The 2023-2024 season has not exactly gone as planned for UConn women’s basketball. Despite star guard Paige Bueckers returning, the team lost Azzi Fudd, Aubrey Griffin and several other players to injuries. That reality has forced Bueckers and Geno Auriemma to reevaluate the team’s future. Add in the changing NIL landscape, which did not sit well with Auriemma, and the season has been all about adjusting and creating a new norm.
But Auriemma is still managing to thrive in the chaos. On Wednesday, he coached his way to 1,200 wins, joining Mike Krzyzewski and Standford’s Tara Van Derveer as the only three coaches in NCAA Division I basketball history to reach the milestone.
"We helped make something happen that never existed and no one ever thought it could happen"
Geno Auriemma talks with @ChelseaSherrod after his 1,200th career win: pic.twitter.com/AAXEhyPZv7
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) February 8, 2024
Overall, Auriemma was seemingly very grateful for the moment and happy with the achievement, but postgame, he did manage to crack a joke about if he will solely own the record for most wins.
Geno Auriemma was asked if he's thought about getting the most wins ever:
"This isn't a casino ATM, where they just spit out hundreds" 😂 pic.twitter.com/TqQymUfau6
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) February 8, 2024
Here’s what he said:
“I would think more along the lines of single digits, not hundreds. This isn’t a casino ATM, you know? They spit out hundreds. It’s been my philosophy since the beginning that there isn’t a number that I’m searching for…that I’m trying to reach. There is no whale that I’m chasing and obsessed over. When it’s over, it’s over. And, whatever the number is at that time is what it’s going to be…I could probably say with a great deal of certainty that I’ll never be No. 1 in wins…”
