“I’m not a great sport, I was just happy we lost”: When Geno Auriemma reasoned why Napheesa Collier and Co.’s Final Four loss brought him joy

UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma is one of the most accomplished college coaches of all time. Being at the helm of the UConn coaching staff for about 40 years, the 70-year-old has led the program to an astounding 11 national championships and has even become the winningest women's college basketball coach of all time with 1,235 wins and counting.

But, throughout his lengthy tenure as a coach at the collegiate level, Auriemma has gone through most of the ups and downs of the Huskies through the team's timeline. It has even gotten to the point where he started to develop unorthodox ways to develop players.

During an episode of What Drives Winning in Feb. 2018, Auriemma shared his mentality in the 2016-2017 season, when he had key cogs like Napheesa Collier in the lineup. He reminisced on his two-faced outlook where he would hype his team up before wishing that they would lose in secret for them to become more mature aspirants.

"I said, 'We might not have Stewey, we don't have Moriah Jefferson, Morgan Tuck, all people want to talk about is who we don't have," Auriemma said. "Screw that, man. You know what we have here? We have Conneticut basketball players and as long we have them playing Conneticut basketball, nobody's going to beat us. You got that? (3:20)

"And then, I would go home, 'Please, let this be the day we lose.' And, it just never happened. And then, by the time you get to the Final Four, we played our worst game and the other guys played great. Still, it's in overtime and when that kid (Morgan William) made that shot, I was like, 'Finally,'" he continued.

"Everybody said, 'What a great sport he is.' I'm not a great sport, I was just happy we lost," Auriemma added.

The game Auriemma was talking about was when UConn lost to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the 2017 NCAA Final Four game after going on a dominating, undefeated record of 36-0 prior to the heartbreaking defeat where they lost by a buzzer-beating game-winner (66-64).

UConn Huskies have not won a national title in nine years

Moving on to the present day, it seems as though Geno Auriemma wished for his program to lose too much as the UConn Huskies have yet to win a national championship since the 2015-16 season, a year before the aforementioned Final Four loss, despite multiple chances with deep runs in the March tournament.

Currently in the 2024-2025 season, Auriemma and the current slew of Huskies are poised to reclaim that glory as they hold a 13-0 Big East conference record, 22-3 overall, sitting atop of the standings. The No. 7-ranked team in the nation is now preparing to face the St. John's Red Storm on Wednesday on their home court.