Monday night, Duke and UConn will play for the last time in the regular season. Well, not the last time ever necessarily, but for a while, anyway. Huskies coach Geno Auriemma laments the end, telling the Hartford Courant that "I thought the series was enjoyable. We've had some great games against Duke … It's always been a great trip for us to play at Cameron. The crowds were always great; the intensity level has always been there. It's been one-sided lately, but there have been many great moments, great things we've done, not-so-great things we've done against them. It's always been a game that we've looked forward to, for sure. It's a shame they don't want to play [anymore]."
For her part, Duke's Coach P doesn't care to discuss it. Let's see..what does this remind us of...oh yeah! Same thing happened with Tennessee.
Back in the day, Pat Head Summitt refused to discuss why she wouldn't play UConn again but it was clear she didn't like Auriemma. Apparently it had something to do with the recruitment of UConn great Maya Moore.
Auriemma has now given up, or been forced to give up, two really good rivalry games. When he asks why, he might try looking in the mirror. The guy is an amazing coach but his personality rubs many people the wrong way. Of course that's hard to see or say about oneself.
Incidentally, ESPN would like to revive the rivalry; Auriemma is pretty dismissive of the idea.
UConn, as usual, is really good. Duke takes a big team to Storrs but a young one too, and that's not helpful. A win in this situation would be remarkable.