UConnCat
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from John A's blog: http://courantblogs.com/uconn-women/auriemma-on-playing-nd-depaul-and-south-carolina/
On DePaul: “Doug Bruno [the DePaul coach and Auriemma's great friend] came up to me and said he really wanted to continue the series if there’s any way we can do it,” Auriemma said. “I said, ‘Fine.’ Then it was just a matter of working it out and I didn’t care where the game [next season] would be played. He told me he needed the game to be [in Connecticut]. so it was just a matter of finding a date. That was painless.”
On Notre Dame: “Notre Dame was a different story. It was difficult. But I did see where Muffet said that we need the game more than [the Irish] do. So I really appreciate her giving us the chance to play them again. i don’t know where we would be without their help the last 10 years or so. Any time you get the chance to play The University of Notre Dame, I don’t think you can pass it up.”
On South Carolina: “The South Carolina game was a product of Deb Corum [UConn's senior athletic administrator] trying to spread [the non-conference schedule] around a little. the focus of it is take the five best conferences in the country and figure out how to balance it out [with series] to get a good mix without it being top heavy.”
“For a while it got kind of top heavy with ACC teams, Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia Tech. We tried to set things up with a couple SEC teams [Tennessee and Georgia] didn’t want to play. But South Carolina wanted to play. So that’s how it came about.”
On DePaul: “Doug Bruno [the DePaul coach and Auriemma's great friend] came up to me and said he really wanted to continue the series if there’s any way we can do it,” Auriemma said. “I said, ‘Fine.’ Then it was just a matter of working it out and I didn’t care where the game [next season] would be played. He told me he needed the game to be [in Connecticut]. so it was just a matter of finding a date. That was painless.”
On Notre Dame: “Notre Dame was a different story. It was difficult. But I did see where Muffet said that we need the game more than [the Irish] do. So I really appreciate her giving us the chance to play them again. i don’t know where we would be without their help the last 10 years or so. Any time you get the chance to play The University of Notre Dame, I don’t think you can pass it up.”
On South Carolina: “The South Carolina game was a product of Deb Corum [UConn's senior athletic administrator] trying to spread [the non-conference schedule] around a little. the focus of it is take the five best conferences in the country and figure out how to balance it out [with series] to get a good mix without it being top heavy.”
“For a while it got kind of top heavy with ACC teams, Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia Tech. We tried to set things up with a couple SEC teams [Tennessee and Georgia] didn’t want to play. But South Carolina wanted to play. So that’s how it came about.”
