"I threw her out of practice and said go back to California": Geno Auriemma on tossing Diana Taurasi in first week of freshman season at UConn

Geno Auriemma and Diana Taurasi won a treble of NCAA championships together at UConn from 2002 to 2004. But to create that dynasty, Auriemma and Taurasi had to go through their share of ups and downs.

After Taurasi recently announced her retirement from the WNBA, the UConn coach had nothing but praise for the Phoenix legend on multiple platforms.

However, when asked about channelizing Taurasi's talent at UConn, he narrated a hilarious story from the first week of her freshman season.

“Well, the third day of practice her freshman year, I threw her out of practice and I said go back to California,” recalled Auriemma.

Diana Taurasi and Geno Auriemma speak on the sidelines during Spain vs USA [Olympics: Basketball-Women's Team-Preliminary Round ESP vs USA - Source: Imagn]

“You know she's so competitive that she was not having a lot of success in this one drill that we were doing. And so she just turned into this foul machine where she just hacked everybody that came near her, you know, and thought, ‘All right, so if I'm getting beat on this drill, I'm going to take it out on everybody that comes near me.’ And so you know, that's the competitive D,” he further added. (from 1:30 onwards)

Geno claimed that he knew Diana was special from the beginning, however, she needed some fine-tuning, which came under Coach Auriemma's guidance. With teammates like Sue Bird and Swin Cash, Diana Taurasi gained the necessary experience in her sophomore year to lead the team two more times on her own.

A look back at Diana Taurasi's stellar career: Geno Auriemma era at UConn and more

Geno Auriemma rightly mentions that wherever Diana played, she achieved greatness. In college, in the WNBA and in the Olympics, the biggest stages were the moments where Taurasi shone the brightest.

In her four years at UConn, she won three NCAA championships. In her 20-year professional career in the USA, she won three WNBA championships, along with 11x All-Star and 10x All-WNBA First Team selections.

Moreover, she has six Olympic gold medals, six EuroLeague championships and seven Russian league titles.

Diana Taurasi At Pep Rally after UConn wins 2004 NCAA Championship- Source: Getty

There also exists a long impressive list of her individual accomplishments. She won two Finals MVPs, one WNBA MVP, five scoring titles in the WNBA, multiple peak performer awards, as well as the Rookie of the Year in her first season (2004).

Taurasi should be expecting a Hall of Fame induction soon.