Napheesa Collier Isn't Thrilled About Geno Auriemma's Breanna Stewart Favoritism
The UConn Huskies' legendary women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma has helped develop more world-class basketball players than just about anybody in history.
Many of the WNBA's past and current greats played under Auriemma at UConn; many of whom helped contribute to the 11 NCAA National Championships Auriemma has won in his 39 seasons of coaching there.
Two of these superstars are Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, who were teammates at UConn and went on to become co-founders of the new Unrivaled Women's Basketball League.
While Stewart and Collier have been past teammates and are current business partners, they're also enemies on the court right now, as Stewart's New York Liberty and Collier's Minnesota Lynx are competing in perhaps the most thrilling WNBA Finals in the league's history.
Auriemma spoke with the media before Game 4 of the WNBA Finals on Friday. When asked about Stewart's performance, he said, "I hope she gets 50 tonight,” per Avery Becker.
Geno on Breanna Stewart playing in the WNBA Finals tonight: “I hope she gets 50 tonight.”
— Avery Becker (@averyybecker) October 18, 2024
Collier was asked about this during the Lynx's postgame press conference, with a reporter saying, "It was reported that Geno said he hoped Breanna got 50 tonight. I was just wondering if, between the two of you, having his players in the series... who's he rooting for?"
"Well it sounds like he's rooting for them," Collier responded. "He didn't text that to me."
"Some Husky drama. Go Irish," Collier's teammate Kayla McBride responded.
Phee was asked about this 💀 https://t.co/EV97rPYsh6 pic.twitter.com/UT6c2AO13B
— Vanshay Murdock 🎥🎥 (@VanshayM) October 19, 2024
To reiterate, Auriemma didn't text his message to Stewart; he said it to the media when asked about her performance during the WNBA Finals.
But perhaps Lynx fans shouldn't tell that to Collier so she can use her former coach's words as motivation in Game 5.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.