[2006alum]

Brutal, and true:

Asked if he sees some things that can be fixed by the time UConn faces UCLA on Saturday, Auriemma sounded bleak.

"I don't think it's gonna get fixed," he said. "I really don't. I've been doing this a long, long time. Coaches are supposed to be eternal optimists. I'm too old to be an optimist. I'm a realist. I truly believe what I see. I don't try to make up what I'm seeing and pretend it's something else. I know what I see.

"And what I see is a team that's somewhat disheveled. And that's on me. Somehow, some way I do not have the ability at this point in time to affect my players to make sure that we're in a better place mentally and physically, to play the kind of basketball we need to play.

"I've usually been pretty good over the years at making players better. We get really good players coming out of high school, but they get better and better and better every year. And right now, that's not happening."

I've been so surprised by the lack of growth from Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. They were the no. 1 and 5 players in their class. Westbrook, I suspect, will never be the same player she was pre-knee injuries, but she was still a top 5 recruit. Their starting lineup had 3 top 5 recruits, a Big Ten A-A, and an Olympian. There is really no excuse for a group that talented to put up 44 points. Something is clearly way wrong in Storrs.

[2006alum]

Brutal, and true:

Asked if he sees some things that can be fixed by the time UConn faces UCLA on Saturday, Auriemma sounded bleak.

"I don't think it's gonna get fixed," he said. "I really don't. I've been doing this a long, long time. Coaches are supposed to be eternal optimists. I'm too old to be an optimist. I'm a realist. I truly believe what I see. I don't try to make up what I'm seeing and pretend it's something else. I know what I see.

"And what I see is a team that's somewhat disheveled. And that's on me. Somehow, some way I do not have the ability at this point in time to affect my players to make sure that we're in a better place mentally and physically, to play the kind of basketball we need to play.

"I've usually been pretty good over the years at making players better. We get really good players coming out of high school, but they get better and better and better every year. And right now, that's not happening."

I've been so surprised by the lack of growth from Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. They were the no. 1 and 5 players in their class. Westbrook, I suspect, will never be the same player she was pre-knee injuries, but she was still a top 5 recruit. Their starting lineup had 3 top 5 recruits, a Big Ten A-A, and an Olympian. There is really no excuse for a group that talented to put up 44 points. Something is clearly way wrong in Storrs.