Auriemma Confident as NCAAs Loom

It's no surprise that Auriemma frankly about his team's chances to win back-to-back-to-back titles.

The Huskies have nine national titles under Geno Auriemma. There's the very real chance that in a few weeks, they'll have No. 10. That's not hubris talking, it's the cold, hard reality of women's NCAA basketball right now, where UConn is the most dominant team in the country.

So it's no surprise that Auriemma, shortly after the Huskies beat USF to win the American Athletic Conference Tournament, spoke frankly about his team's chances to win back-to-back-to-back national championships.

"I'm not bragging, but I am rarely wrong in that scenario," Auriemma said, via the Hartford Courant. "After you've spent five months with your team, you know it pretty well. There have been many years when we entered the postseason feeling we were the best team in the country and we were the best team in the country. We proved it. There have even been times when we went to the Final Four and I've felt that unless something magical happened we would win. I just knew it, but I don't let the players know it.

"There are years when you don't give it a second thought; we're going there, we're going to win and that's all there is to it. Your team tells you a lot over five months. But this team is not very loud. They haven't said a lot. They are constantly quiet. So I am surprised by some of the things they do because when I watch them I sometimes think it isn't possible.

"But I also know that if our four starters play the way they did this weekend, and like they did in some of the big games we played this season, we are going to be really hard to beat."

And that's the thing. Other teams -- even the really good ones -- have a Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis or Moriah Jefferson or a Morgan Tuck. The Huskies have all three in their starting lineup along with the best player in the country, Breanna Stewart. Oh, and then there's Kiah Stokes, Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams.

So yeah, Auriemma makes a good point.

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