[81alum]

N

Ha! In the ESPN recap after Stanford defeated UConn, the very first interview they show is the LOSING coach. As ever, the story is more what happened to UConn than what any other team did.

Yeah, it's funny how winning eleven national championships will get a team that kind of attention...

To be fair, at that juncture, Geno only had five national championships; moreover, his team hadn’t made the Final Four since the end of their three peat in 2003-2004. Certainly the dark ages for the mighty Huskies if there ever was one. 

I wonder if the standard at the time was to give airtime to the losing coach first as a courtesy or whether there’s tangible evidence that UConn was favored then.

I remember thinking that when I watched the broadcast live.  On the other hand, UConn was a 1 seed and we were a 2 seed, so they were favored. 

There is another factor which I think becomes clear after you watch enough Tara interviews.  Coaches like Geno are natural extroverts and good interviews.  Tara is by nature an introvert and seldom gives away more than the minimum the reporter asks for.  She can be a little more forthcoming at longer press conferences.  But if I were a reporter I would know who would give the more lively interview.

[81alum]

N

Ha! In the ESPN recap after Stanford defeated UConn, the very first interview they show is the LOSING coach. As ever, the story is more what happened to UConn than what any other team did.

Yeah, it's funny how winning eleven national championships will get a team that kind of attention...

To be fair, at that juncture, Geno only had five national championships; moreover, his team hadn’t made the Final Four since the end of their three peat in 2003-2004. Certainly the dark ages for the mighty Huskies if there ever was one. 

I wonder if the standard at the time was to give airtime to the losing coach first as a courtesy or whether there’s tangible evidence that UConn was favored then.

I remember thinking that when I watched the broadcast live.  On the other hand, UConn was a 1 seed and we were a 2 seed, so they were favored. 

There is another factor which I think becomes clear after you watch enough Tara interviews.  Coaches like Geno are natural extroverts and good interviews.  Tara is by nature an introvert and seldom gives away more than the minimum the reporter asks for.  She can be a little more forthcoming at longer press conferences.  But if I were a reporter I would know who would give the more lively interview.