© 2026 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NCAA Women's Basketball: UConn Again A Top Seed. But Starting Without Its Famed Coach

Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma talks to his team during a game against Villanova in the Big East tournament on March 7, 2021. Auriemma has tested positive for the coronavirus.
Jessica Hill
/
AP
Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma talks to his team during a game against Villanova in the Big East tournament on March 7, 2021. Auriemma has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The head coach for the top-ranked team in women's college basketball has tested positive for the coronavirus. Geno Auriemma of the University of Connecticut confirmed the diagnosis just days before the NCAA championship tournament is set to begin. UConn is a number one seed.

Auriemma is isolating at home. "I feel great – I don't have any symptoms so it came as a complete shock to me and my medical staff. We've been testing every day," Auriemma told reporters Monday evening via teleconference.

Other key team personnel, including athletes, coaches and athletic trainers, have tested negative.

Auriemma was infected in the midst of being vaccinated against COVID-19. He got his second dose on March 10th and tested positive on the 14th. Health officials say full protection from the illness caused by the virus doesn't happen until two weeks after the second dose of the two-shot regimen.

In a statement, the 66-year-old coach, winner of eleven national titles at UConn (and several Olympic Gold medals) calls this a reminder that, "we're not on the other side of the pandemic yet."

Auriemma can re-join his team during the NCAA Tournament's second round. The women's tournament begins Sunday with 64 teams. All of the games are being played in and around San Antonio, Texas with reduced fans to limit travel and the spread of the coronavirus. The tournament's other top seeds are Stanford, North Carolina State and South Carolina.

Connecticut Public Radio's Frankie Graziano contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tom Goldman is NPR's sports correspondent. His reports can be heard throughout NPR's news programming, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and on NPR.org.
Trusted by over 30,000 local subscribers

Local News, Right Sized for Your Morning

Quick briefs when you are busy, deeper explainers when it matters, delivered early morning and curated by WGCU editors.

  • Environment
  • Local politics
  • Health
  • And more

Free and local. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

More from WGCU
  • Hazardous condition is being cited for closure of the boardwalk at the CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trail in Collier County. The trail parking lot on Shady Hollow Boulevard West is also closed.
  • The slender relatives of hawks and eagles have had a bad-news, good-news, bad-news existence since 1967, when the bird landed on the Endangered Species List after many decades of draining, ditching, and channel-digging in the Everglades
  • What’s in a name?If it’s the name of the Florida Red-bellied Cooter, there’s a lot! This freshwater (and occasionally brackish water) turtle is found in calm water through most of Florida and into southern Georgia. “Red-bellied” describes most young adults, but as they age, their belly changes color and can be brown or yellow.And that name “cooter” – where did it come from and what does it mean? The name “cooter” is centuries old and it seems likely that it was the name used by slaves from west Africa. In their language, the name for turtle – is today spelled “kuta” and pronounced like “cooter.