Auriemma

On March 28, 2006, FRANK A. AURIEMMA Sr., beloved husband of the late Peggy Auriemma, loving father of Frank Auriemma Jr., and Pauline Smith and her husband Warren, loving grandfather of Michelle, Kimberly, Katherine and Leslie, loving great-grandfather of James, Nicholas, Jessica and Regina. Relatives and friends are invited to call SCHIMUNEK FUNERAL HOME INC., 9705 Belair Road (Perry Hall) on Thursday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P. M where funeral services will be held Friday, due notice of time.

ST. LOUIS -It is clear Louisville believes in itself, its coach and the righteousness of its quest for the impossible dream - a national title. The Cardinals call themselves "The Bad News Bears" and revel in their self-image as the ragamuffins of women's basketball. They've even suggested they are happy to have another shot to prove it to No. 1 Connecticut, which crushed them twice this season, on the grandest stage of all Tuesday. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has made mental notes. "We're playing a team that has a lot going for it right now, a team that, from what I've heard, really wants to play us," Auriemma said.

RICHMOND, Va. -- In person, an autograph will do. But over the phone, you need a little more when your hero calls. There was no such luck for Sherri Coale, Norman (Okla.) High School's girls basketball coach in 1995. "I'm looking around, trying to find anyone who will pay attention, so I can tell them that I'm talking to Geno Auriemma," Coale said about a call she received from the Connecticut coach, who was coming off an undefeated season and national championship. "I could hardly breathe, and there was no one in the office."

On March 28, 2006, FRANK A. AURIEMMA Sr., beloved husband of the late Peggy Auriemma, loving father of Frank Auriemma Jr., and Pauline Smith and her husband Warren, loving grandfather of Michelle, Kimberly, Katherine and Leslie, loving great-grandfather of James, Nicholas, Jessica and Regina. Relatives and friends are invited to call SCHIMUNEK FUNERAL HOME INC., 9705 Belair Road (Perry Hall) on Thursday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P. M where funeral services will be held Friday, due notice of time.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It doesn't take a lot to send Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma off into a tirade.Auriemma, coach of the defending national champion Huskies, dominated his team's portion of yesterday's pre-Final Four press briefing, holding court on a few topics.One of his favorites is his perception that the media focuses too much attention on the Southeastern Conference, long acknowledged as the best conference in the sport."No conference has more good teams in their league than the [SEC]

In 1972, Atlanta Falcons running back Dave Hampton went over the 1,000-yard mark in the season's final game, but lost 7 yards on a carry in the fourth quarter and then finished the year with 995 yards.After years of toil and training, American Brian Shimer and his four-man bobsled team missed an Olympic bronze medal by .02 of a second last week.The sports records book are loaded with heart-wrenching examples of athletes who play to the best of their abilities and fall just a little short of the mark.

NEW ORLEANS -- A reporter posed a hypothetical question to Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt yesterday to gauge the depth of feeling between her team and Connecticut heading into tonight's national championship game. If Summitt were driving down a dark road and saw Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma's car stranded, would she drive on past? Stop and help? Or drive on past and then call for help? "Well, I stop and ask if I can help him. Why wouldn't I? Reverse the role," she replied.

Let the good times roll, Connecticut. Both UConn basketball teams are national champions. The men did their part in San Antonio Monday night and the women did theirs last night, defeating Tennessee, 70-61, before 18,211 at New Orleans Arena. Diana Taurasi, who led the Huskies (31-4) with 17 points and was the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, punted the ball into the crowd after the game. Tim and Kim Conlon hugged after their daughter, Maria, hit the last two free throws. Meghan Pattyson, who played on UConn's first Final Four team in 1991 in New Orleans, tackled Geno Auriemma's wife, Kathy, in the stands.

ATLANTA - Despite overwhelming criticism of the format from coaches, the chair of the NCAA's women's basketball committee says the organization will stay with the plan to award first- and second-round sites to predetermined locations for next year's tournament. Cheryl Marra, a senior associate athletic director at Wisconsin, said that while the committee hopes to eventually stage the entire tournament on neutral courts, awarding the first and second rounds to 16 schools that bid for them is a good idea for now. "I don't believe we will stay still forever," said Marra, who's in her first year as chair.

DURHAM, N.C. - Hands on his hips, Geno Auriemma stood on the sideline and shook his head slowly, mocking the Cameron Crazies as they regaled him with their chants of "Sit ... Sit ... Sit ..." With Auriemma's Connecticut team leading Duke by 21 points in the second half, his brash display of disdain for the Blue Devils' fans was hardly a surprise in light of the inflammatory remarks he had made in the days leading up to the game between the top two women's basketball teams in the nation.

STORRS, Conn. - The best place in America to watch the city game is on a campus surrounded by farmland, seven miles off the interstate, and past a pumpkin patch, a half dozen other signs of commerce and a handful of traffic signals. One other thing. "It's cold," said Rudy Gay. The freshman from Baltimore is the latest big-name recruit lured by the indoor heat generated by the University of Connecticut, which needed less than two decades to grow from obscurity into the nation's best basketball college.

Let the good times roll, Connecticut. Both UConn basketball teams are national champions. The men did their part in San Antonio Monday night and the women did theirs last night, defeating Tennessee, 70-61, before 18,211 at New Orleans Arena. Diana Taurasi, who led the Huskies (31-4) with 17 points and was the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, punted the ball into the crowd after the game. Tim and Kim Conlon hugged after their daughter, Maria, hit the last two free throws. Meghan Pattyson, who played on UConn's first Final Four team in 1991 in New Orleans, tackled Geno Auriemma's wife, Kathy, in the stands.

NEW ORLEANS - Everywhere he turns, it seems, someone is throwing a rivalry at Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma. If it isn't his supposed feud with men's coach Jim Calhoun, it's his alleged dislike for Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. Auriemma got to stay even with Calhoun, who got a national title Monday night and get one step closer to Summitt as the Huskies won their third straight NCAA championship with a 70-61 victory over the Lady Vols last night at the New Orleans Arena.

NEW ORLEANS -- A reporter posed a hypothetical question to Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt yesterday to gauge the depth of feeling between her team and Connecticut heading into tonight's national championship game. If Summitt were driving down a dark road and saw Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma's car stranded, would she drive on past? Stop and help? Or drive on past and then call for help? "Well, I stop and ask if I can help him. Why wouldn't I? Reverse the role," she replied.

ATLANTA - Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma has succinctly described the difference between his team and the rest of the field as the Huskies have Diana Taurasi and no one else does. It seems simplistic, but it was so accurate in last night's national championship game, as the Huskies won their second straight title on the back of Taurasi with a 73-68 win over Tennessee. "To beat Tennessee and to win the national championship with this group is truly one of the most remarkable things that's ever happened," Auriemma said.

ATLANTA - Despite overwhelming criticism of the format from coaches, the chair of the NCAA's women's basketball committee says the organization will stay with the plan to award first- and second-round sites to predetermined locations for next year's tournament. Cheryl Marra, a senior associate athletic director at Wisconsin, said that while the committee hopes to eventually stage the entire tournament on neutral courts, awarding the first and second rounds to 16 schools that bid for them is a good idea for now. "I don't believe we will stay still forever," said Marra, who's in her first year as chair.

ST. LOUIS -It is clear Louisville believes in itself, its coach and the righteousness of its quest for the impossible dream - a national title. The Cardinals call themselves "The Bad News Bears" and revel in their self-image as the ragamuffins of women's basketball. They've even suggested they are happy to have another shot to prove it to No. 1 Connecticut, which crushed them twice this season, on the grandest stage of all Tuesday. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has made mental notes. "We're playing a team that has a lot going for it right now, a team that, from what I've heard, really wants to play us," Auriemma said.

STORRS, Conn. - The best place in America to watch the city game is on a campus surrounded by farmland, seven miles off the interstate, and past a pumpkin patch, a half dozen other signs of commerce and a handful of traffic signals. One other thing. "It's cold," said Rudy Gay. The freshman from Baltimore is the latest big-name recruit lured by the indoor heat generated by the University of Connecticut, which needed less than two decades to grow from obscurity into the nation's best basketball college.

ATLANTA - Don't count on seeing Texas point guard Jamie Carey throwing herself all over the Georgia Dome floor or taking charges in tonight's women's Final Four game against Connecticut, but not because she doesn't want to. Carey, a 5-foot-6 junior, is a concussion away from seeing her basketball career end, and if doctors at Stanford had their way, she wouldn't be playing at all. "It's not the very best thing for me [her passion for basketball],...

DURHAM, N.C. - Hands on his hips, Geno Auriemma stood on the sideline and shook his head slowly, mocking the Cameron Crazies as they regaled him with their chants of "Sit ... Sit ... Sit ..." With Auriemma's Connecticut team leading Duke by 21 points in the second half, his brash display of disdain for the Blue Devils' fans was hardly a surprise in light of the inflammatory remarks he had made in the days leading up to the game between the top two women's basketball teams in the nation.