Auriemma takes offense after hearing UCONN labeled underdogs

The UCONN Huskies are heading back to the Final Four for the fourth time in five years following their comfortable win over the University of Southern California on Monday night.

And then there were four

Geno Auriemma and the Huskies were the final team to punch their ticket to next week’s Final Four in Tampa Bay, and they did so as a two seed in the Spokane Regional. That leaves them as the “lowest” seed remaining in the tournament since the other three teams are one seeds.

After the 78-64 win over the Trojans on Monday night, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt was talking to coach Auriemma during the postgame celebrations and the SportCenter anchor called the Huskies “pesky underdogs.” The NCAA’s winningest coach of all time didn’t seem to impressed by the label.

“I’m still shocked at the words ‘underdogs’ and ‘UCONN’ coming out of your mouth at the same time,” said coach Auriemma sarcastically, “I just don’t hear that, it’s just funny.”

They may be the lowest seed remaining heading into the final weekend of the Big Dance, but this team is a Final Four regular, they have more national titles than any other team, and they have one of the best players in the tournament in Paige Bueckers leading them.

End of the title drought?

This is the 24th time the Huskies will be in the Final Four, and the fourth time they have been to the national semifinal in the last five years. There is no team more accustomed to making a deep run into the tournament, and no program that comes close to their 11 championships.

While the Huskies are Final Four regulars and the most successful program in history, they are on a near decade long title drought. Auriemma hasn’t won it all since 2016. Since then the South Carolina Gamecocks have taken their place as one of the dominant forces in the game, winning the title in 2017, 2022 and last year. They will be looking to make it back-to-back this year after beating Duke in the Elite Eight.

The other two teams remaining in the tournament are UCLA, and Texas. Texas won it all back in the 1980s, but haven’t been to the Final Four in over two decades. Meanwhile UCLA is in their first Final Four ever, and they will take on UCONN on Friday for a spot in the title game.

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