"That's an impossible teach": Geno Auriemma and Dan Hurley discuss why UConn's major focus is on offensively skilled recruits

Two UConn basketball coaches, Geno Auriemma and Dan Hurley, shared their insights on the importance of recruiting offensively skilled players in today's landscape. They sat down for a discussion to provide an exclusive look into their coaching philosophies in the second episode of Legendary Basketball.

In a conversation uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday, Auriemma and Hurley broke down their recruiting strategies, highlighting the key attributes they prioritize when evaluating talent.

Geno Auriemma talked about how he hopes recruits live up to the expectations he has for them, but sometimes they end up not being as good as he anticipated.

"I'm going offense. I'm recruiting offense," Hurley shifted the discussion towards his own approach (2:19 onwards). "I've made that mistake. I will not make it again.

"I'm recruiting offensive players that are tough, that will be willing to defend for you. But I'm no longer going off defensive, hard-playing guys that we're going to have to try to teach to play great offense."

"That's an impossible teach," Auriemma agreed with Hurley's sentiment. "I've tried it. If you got enough guys that are going to score 1,000 points, you're going to win a lot of games. I don't care how good they are defensively."

The two coaches have a combined 13 national championships between them, with Auriemma winning 11 titles and Hurley bringing two to Storrs.

Geno Auriemma and UConn Huskies closing in on 5th straight Big East regular season crown

After the 91-49 blowout win at Seton Hall on Wednesday, Geno Auriemma and the No. 5 UConn Huskies continue their undefeated Big East play and are inching closer to their fifth consecutive regular season conference title.

Led by senior guard Paige Bueckers' 23 points and 9 rebounds, UConn further solidified their lead atop the Big East standings.

"I just want to make sure she takes advantage on all the opportunities that she has. The more aggressive she is the better our team is," Auriemma said of Bueckers during postgame.

With a 25-3 overall record and a perfect 15-0 mark in league play, the Huskies are seemingly poised to run away with the conference crown once again. It will be their fifth in a row since rejoining the Big East in 2020 and their 31st overall regular season title.

Geno Auriemma's squad has three games left to play in the regular season — a road game at Butler on Saturday, and then home games against Creighton and Marquette.