UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma is no stranger to high-stakes women's basketball games, and he weighed in on the upcoming Game 7 of the WNBA Finals. Following a dominant victory by the Atlanta Dream on Thursday, the Valkyrie and the Dream are facing off in a winner-take-all Game 7 that is the first in WNBA history.
Auriemma said the winner-take-all matchup should be memorable, particularly because it guarantees a first-time champion.
“It’s gonna be pretty amazing, I think. Either way, whoever wins, it’s great when you have a first-time winner, right?”
Asked about Kiah Stokes being a frontrunner for Finals MVP, he said she’d put the title ahead of the individual award.
“I think she would rather win tonight than be MVP. I’m sure she’d rather do both. She’ll be ready.”
He then warned that points will be hard to come by, since both teams are strong defensively, and that the game could turn on an unexpected scorer.
“It’s not gonna be easy. Both teams have such a hard time scoring because both defenses are so good. So I think whoever gets on a little bit of a roll offensively, somebody makes a bunch of shots, somebody steps out, then you go, ‘Where’d they come from?’”
To illustrate the point, Auriemma recalled a game with Tiffany Hayes against Louisville, then a freshman on at UConn, had a breakout night.
Article Continues Below“I remember when Tiffany was on the team and she was a freshman and we played Louisville, and Walsh didn’t guard her, and she had 28. He said, ‘Well, we gotta pick somebody.’ And she came out of nowhere.”
He also spoke about the key to game 7 that he believes no one will see coming.
“So I’m sure in tonight’s game, they have the scouting report, they have the plan, they’ve got everything wired, but somebody’s gonna come out of nowhere and have everybody go, ‘That’s why we won.’ We just don’t know who that is. And if you don’t have that person, you’re probably gonna lose.”