STARKVILLE

If you’re not already tired of hearing about Geno Auriemma and the Connecticut women’s basketball team, get ready because they likely will be talked about plenty of times in the next two weeks.

In East Lansing, Michigan, or in Starkville, the outcome of today’s game between No. 4 seed Michigan State (25-8) and No. 5 seed Mississippi State (27-7) in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Humphrey Coliseum will have a lot to do with how many times UConn is mentioned in those communities.

For a refresher, UConn has won the last three national titles to give it a record 10. It is riding a 70-game winning streak and has 16 Final Four appearances, as well as a 100-percent graduation rate and 12 Olympians who have come through the program.

But USA Today’s Christine Brennan argues Friday in a column that UConn is underappreciated. She says the same is true for senior Breanna Stewart, the reigning player of the year, who has a chance to become the first player in the history of college basketball to win four consecutive national titles.

Brennan’s point is that many take UConn for granted and don’t see anyone in the women’s game that can compete with them. As a result, she feels people aren’t giving UConn enough credit for its accomplishments.

Brennan also uses her column to question why UConn continues to beat everyone when attention has increased on the women’s game. She believes it is “a wonder” that Auriemma’s teams remain so much better than everyone else at what should be the most competitive time in the history of the women’s game.

Brennan is right. It is a wonder that UConn has risen to this level of dominance. After all, it started in the Hugh S. Greer Field House, an antiquated building that had a leaky roof. But as Auriemma built a winner, the Field House because the Pavilion — Gampel Pavilion — and more and more great players started to flock to Storrs, Connecticut.

Other teams should be rushing to Storrs or any locale to be in the same gym as UConn. Whatever happened to the best teams wanting to challenge themselves against the best? Isn’t that the best way to measure your skill and your strength? Unfortunately, there still are too many in the women’s game that shy away from playing UConn because they’re afraid a loss will affect their players’ confidence or it will harm the perception of their program.

Instead of worrying about the final score, coaches should be focused on trying to follow Auriemma’s example because that is the underappreciated aspect in this conversation. Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer feels a lot of programs across the country have raised their levels and more schools have made a bigger commitments to the sport. He said the difference between UConn and the others is in how Auriemma and his staff coach their players. He said a lot of teams have All-Americans, but the Huskies get the most out of their players.

“The key to success is you have to recruit them, you have to retain them, and you have to develop them, and we have talked about that here. I think we have done that,” Schaefer said.

Schaefer said there might not be that big of a separation between UConn and the rest of the pack next season after the Huskies lose seniors Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, and Morgan Tuck. That kind of thinking sells Auriemma short because he built his program by developing players who weren’t McDonald’s All-American’s and honing their skills and solidifying team chemistry to help push his team to the Final Four.

“He is not letting them settle. He is making them the best they can be,” Schaefer said.

That’s a crucial concept. Think about it. How many times have you been to a sporting event and wondered: Is that as hard as he/she can play? It’s something Schaefer thinks about a lot because he is trying to build a national championship program in Starkville. He knows the formula from being a longtime assistant and associate head coach to Gary Blair at Arkansas and Texas A&M. He played a crucial role in leading the defense in the Aggies’ march to the 2011 national title.

Schaefer said there is a fine line between finding a way to motivate a player and pushing that individual too hard. He said he has changed since his first year in Starkville, when the Bulldogs went 13-17.

“Each team and kids are different,” Schaefer said. “Some you can probably get after more than others. Probably that first year I was trying to teach some kids and trying to get them to understand how intense and how hard you have to play this game. That is what we hang our hat on. That is why we have 6,200 coming to see us play every night, not because we’re standing around and passive.

“That first year or two, you’re trying to develop your program and give it an identity. Yes, I do that (folds his arms across his chest and tries to be more patient) and I have noticed it myself and I think sometimes, ‘Who is that guy?’ But, at the same time, sometimes your team needs that little bit of a calming effect. I thought (Friday against Chattanooga) we were tight. We finally settled in a little bit, but I just thought we played a little tight.

“You just have to realize what certain players want and certain players need at certain times. I don’t think I am like that for 40 minutes. But I do think at certain times that is what you have to do and try to be that calming effect. I don’t think I am a very good calming effect, but I am trying. I think early in our time we were trying to create an identity.”

Now that the identity has been created, Schaefer has taken time to do more work behind closed doors. When he needs to make a point in the media, he makes it, but, for the most part, he handles discipline and “team business” behind closed doors. If a player needs to be “reminded” how hard they need to play, a film session with coach Vic likely will be on the docket.

“The film doesn’t lie,” Schaefer said, “so if you ever want to show somebody that thinks they are doing something and you know they are not, you just sit down and shut the door and say, ‘Let’s look and see.’ A lot of times that is a real humbling and eye-opening experience. Hey look, here is what you think you are doing and look here and tell me if you still think you’re doing it that way.

“You can’t give in as a coach. You have to keep coaching and teaching.”

That’s what Schaefer is going to keep doing. He loves what he does and pours his heart into it. In year one in Starkville, you sometimes wondered if he was too emotional or two wrapped up in outcomes of games. Three years later, though, it’s easier to see why Schaefer acted like he did and how the success has followed. MSU still has a long way to go to reach UConn’s level, but you can rest assured Schaefer is following the right path, even if others aren’t. And while he might have mellowed or changed his habits in his time in Starkville, that doesn’t mean he is going to stop pushing and prodding and teaching players championship habits.

“At some point, there has to be a trust factor,” Schaefer said. “They have to know, ‘Hey, he is right or she is right and I have to do this better.’ What happens a lot of times with young people, they get to thinking that whatever their obstacle is, they think it is a monster, and they create this monster that is a whole lot worse than it really is, but they can’t get out of their own way because they think it is this unbelievable thing they can’t overcome, and it really is not.”

You could say the same thing about UConn. Last time I checked, they were just another basketball team, albeit one that is very good at what it does. Let’s not ignore excellence or the methods Auriemma uses to achieve it and to set the bar for others to dare to dream about championships.

Adam Minichino is sports editor at The Dispatch. You can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ctsportseditor.

Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.