STORRS, Conn. — One year ago, on the night after Super Bowl Sunday, Geno Auriemma sat alongside three stalwart seniors and momentarily imagined a coaching life without them.
“I start to blink because I look out there and start to think that these three are not going to be there next year,” Auriemma, coach of the Connecticut women’s basketball powerhouse, said after a solid road victory over then-unbeaten and second-ranked South Carolina.
He also appeared to be blinking away a tear or two at the thought of losing those three players: Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck.