ST. LOUIS — Even though his team has been mowing down every team in its way, Geno Auriemma wants you to believe UConn could lose the national championship.
To a team it’s beaten twice — by 28 and 39 points.
“It’s way too much familiarity for both teams,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “A lot more than you’d like to have this time of year.”
Auriemma insists he has reason to worry about tonight’s title game against Louisville. He’s seen a big difference in the Cardinals from the team UConn dismantled in the Big East championship a month ago.
“What we did in the second game, I don’t think it has any effect on today,” he said. “Different environment. Different day. Different attitudes among the players.”
UConn (38-0) stands on the doorstep of the third undefeated season in school history and the fifth in women’s basketball.
Louisville (34-4), which is looking to become the fourth team to knock off three No. 1 seeds on its way to a title, will have to have a new game plan against Connecticut. Second- year coach Jeff Walz was hard-pressed to find a weakness with the Huskies last time out.
“I think I saw their manager drop a bottle of water,” he said, laughing. “That’s the scary thing about them. They’ve got three of the top 10 players in the country. Then you’ve got Tiffany Hayes, who’s shooting the ball extremely well. We’re going to have to try and control the tempo of the game.”
Walz knows his team can ill-afford a similar start to the semifinal game, in which the Cardinals missed their first 13 shots before rallying to beat Oklahoma.
“If we come out and play the first five minutes the same way (tonight),” Walz said, “instead of losing 11-0, it’s 25-0.”
The Cardinals feel no pressure, and Walz likens his undersized, overachieving team to the lovable Bad News Bears.
“We might not have been the most talented team on the floor the last few games. We’ve been the tougher team and the team with more heart,” he said.
Connecticut has run through its opponents this season, winning by an average of 31 points per game. No opponent has come within single digits, and the Huskies are poised to become the first team — men’s or women’s — to finish the season unbeaten with every victory by double figures.
