The UConn Huskies of old have returned and it couldn't have come at a better time.
After blistering through most of the Big East tournament this past week, UConn could be peaking at the right time after injuries have put a strain on the team's depth all season. Sophomore Azzi Fudd made her return after missing the team's last 14 games, providing some much-needed relief to a team that has had to play its starters north of 30 minutes per game for the majority of the season.
Ahead of UConn's battle with Villanova ahead of the ACC title game, Auriemma said he believes the team is primed for March.
“I guess I just needed to vent that I was tired of using the excuse of being tired, that we’re mentally fatigued and we’re physically fatigued and we play too many minutes and this and that,” Auriemma said. “Practices were a little bit different leading up to this tournament. We may have been guilty throughout the season in that we’re treating [players] like they’re fragile because they are. Every time somebody falls down in practice you go, ‘Oh, boy, there goes another one.’
“After the Xavier game we took a couple of days off, and when we came back it was back to the old days, going to the mattresses.”
Auriemma and his team knows that March is a different beast compared to the regular season.
“You get to March, it’s not the same,” Auriemma said. “That’s all there is to it. It’s not the same. Playing a regular-season game in February, that’s one thing. Playing a tournament game in March, that’s a whole different mindset that you have to have. And you almost have to have two kinds of teams on your team. You have to have a regular-season team, and you have to have a tournament team.”
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