Geno explains what made Diana Taurasi great

"They all knew — and we all knew — that there's something different about this kid."

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Daniel Connolly
February 27, 2025

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Photo: Ian Bethune

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Geno explains what made Diana Taurasi great

In September, Geno Auriemma traveled to Phoenix to witness Diana Taurasi’s final regular season game at home in person. At the time, he didn’t have any inside knowledge as to whether she planned to retire following her 20th WNBA campaign. But the coach knew he needed to make the trip.

“I got a sense that would be the end of her career,” he explained on Wednesday.

The news became official on Tuesday when Taurasi announced her retirement in TIME. After two decades of dominance, she couldn’t get herself geared up for another season. “I just didn’t have it in me,” she told the outlet.

Auriemma received word over the weekend that Taurasi’s retirement announcement was imminent — though not directly.

“It wasn't even from her,” he smarted.

Still, few spent more time around Taurasi throughout her career than Auriemma. He brought her to UConn as a freshman in the fall of 2000 then had a rare chance to coach her for a second time when he served as the US National Team coach.

He still cherishes those times.

“For me personally, when she was here, it went by way too fast,” Auriemma said. “The best thing that ever happened to me in my coaching career was that I got an opportunity to do it again for those eight years between 2008 and 2016 (with USA Basketball). I mean, who gets a chance to do that?”

Taurasi departs as one of the most decorated women’s basketball players ever. Three national championships, a two-time national player of the year and All-American at UConn. Three WNBA titles, an MVP and the league’s all-time scoring mark. A record six Olympic gold medals.

So what made her great? Who better to explain than Auriemma himself through a handful of stories from over the years.

First impressions

“In high school, there was a tournament where they played three games in three days or something. She either tied the game or won the game on the last shot in every one of those games. So you already knew [if] there's a moment that the game has to be decided, she owns that moment.”

From day one

When Taurasi arrived in Storrs, UConn was coming off its second national championship in 2000. The core of that squad remained intact, too — Shea Ralph, Svetlana Abrosimova, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones, Tamika Williams all returned. Yet even with that veteran talent, the freshman stood out immediately.

“When she got here, we had a lot of really, really good players who won the national championship in 2000. She walked in the gym and first day of practice, second day of practice, third day of practice, they knew right away: This is the best player in the gym every day.

“Now… she didn't want to show that every minute of every day, every possession, because she was very deferential to those guys. She appreciated they won a national championship. ‘I have not won anything.’ But they all knew — and we all knew — that there's something different about this kid.”

“The real her was gonna come out”

In 2002, UConn had arguably its best season ever. The Huskies went a perfect 39-0, won all but one game by double-digits and never trailed in the second half of a contest. Afterwards, they lost the likes of Bird, Cash, Jones and Williams to graduation.

Taurasi was left with a roster that only featured role players. Over the next two seasons, she was not only UConn’s lone All-American — none of her teammates were even All-Big East First Team selections. A step back seemed inevitable. Taurasi had other ideas.

“I don't think anyone's ever been in that situation ever before or since that I can remember, given the inexperience of that team and the youth of that team. It wasn't like it just happened in the Final Four or anything like that. We as coaches, we saw it the second week of training camp that year because we had just lost such a great cast of players that the expectation, even on our staff, was, ‘Man, this is going to be hard.’

“After two weeks of practice, we looked at each other and we went, ‘Man, this is gonna be just like last year.’ I said, ‘No one's gonna believe this.’ You could just see it because now the real her was gonna come out. Before, it was, ‘I'm playing along with these guys out of respect. This is going to be the real me coming out.’”

Taurasi went on to lead the Huskies to back-to-back titles, losing just five games in the process. Those are the only teams in program history to win national titles with just a single All-American.

Embracing physicality

“Paige (Bueckers) is not the first guard on our team that we played at power forward,” Auriemma begins.

Though he didn’t recall the finer details, he remember a game where the Huskies went up against an ultra-physical squad, so they deployed her at power forward. She thrived in that role and racked up the free throws throughout the contest.

‘You could put her anywhere on the floor and and she would be the best player at that position in the country.”

Why?

“Dee embraced the physicality. We have a clip of a rebound that she got down at Tennessee. She's tangled up, somebody's got her arm behind her, she gets the ball with her left hand and she's fighting the kid off with her right hand — and there's this big smile on her face. ‘This is the greatest thing that's ever happened.’ The fight, the struggle — she didn't complain about it. She embraced it.”

What’s next

Taurasi is the definition of a basketball lifer. She played until the age of 42 and yet still considered coming back for another season before deciding she’d had enough. So what’s in her future?

“I don't think there's a coaching aspect to it that she would enjoy, but I do think there's some basketball off the court related things that she's probably going to find herself getting involved in — whatever that is.”

Auriemma once joked to Taurasi that she should become the US National Team coach since the position was based in Los Angeles, close to her hometown of Chino, California. Taurasi didn’t think it was the right fit.

“Her response was something, ‘Do I have to go to World Championships and go to practice and go all those tours? Can I stay in LA and wait for the team to get there?’”

So not coaching. What else?

“Something that's going to involve her having some decision making opportunities on how the game is going to go.”

It won’t be talent evaluation, though. Auriemma explained “she thinks the best of everybody” and told the story of a time with the national team where he let Taurasi and Bird pick teams to scrimmage. Bird’s team dominated.

“When the two teams were playing, all she did was bitch about who was coaching the team. Since she was the general manager, she picked the team. Somebody else was coaching it, her team was getting beat, and all she did was bitch about the coaching. Not the fact that she picked a bad team.”

Auriemma imagines she’ll eventually find her way into something that involves basketball. After all, her greatness transcends her exploits on the basketball court.

“I think being on TV and talking about what the game should look like, or owning a team and deciding ‘This is how the game is supposed to look — like a Pat Riley kind of thing. Because she's just that smart and she's that respected and that committed to winning.”

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