With 40 years of coaching experience with the Huskies, including 12 national championships and 11 undefeated regular seasons, Geno Auriemma remains largely unaffected by rankings and NCAA Tournament seeding. So it’s hard to predict how he’ll react to the new statistic.

For the first time since Week 9, UConn is not the unanimous No. 1 in the AP poll. No. 2 UCLA picks up 3 first-place votes, although they picked up wins over No. 7 Iowa, No. 9 Michigan, No. 11 Ohio State, No. 13 Louisville, and No. 22 Notre Dame.

While many thought that UConn would actually get a unanimous spot, being the only undefeated team in the tournament so far, voters saw something different. For Geno Auriemma, the experience might be totally new. At this stage of the conference, where UConn has nothing more to prove, fans choosing to side with UCLA raises eyebrows.

In UCLA’s defense, they did have their losses to contend with, but they have been dominant through the Big Ten Tournament. They achieved victories over Washington and Ohio State en route to the Big Ten title game. But they weren’t done yet. They achieved another impressive victory by thrashing No. 7 Iowa 96-45.

Apart from a solitary loss against Texas, the Bruins looked solid in every possible way, but does it hold up to what UConn achieved? The Huskies are now the flagship bearers, hailing from the Big East, the only team to make it to AP’s top 25 this year, and that is exactly why Auriemma might see the discrepancy happening but not be worried about it.

Geno Auriemma Does Not Care About Undefeated Status

Whether up or down in the rankings, whatever the case may be, doesn’t seem to faze Auriemma anymore. Auriemma is solely focused on improving himself, regardless of the cost, and this is a decision he makes on his own.

“I don’t ride around with a bumper sticker saying we were undefeated. I don’t really put a lot of stock in that crap. I just try to make sure that we’re better every game and that we’re good enough when March comes to be ready for whatever comes,” comes a stern reply.

Preparedness is key for Auriemma, and even the possibility of losing out to the UCLA Bruins does not rattle him as much because the Huskies coach has a bigger fish to fry.

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The Huskies are the only team keeping the conference’s hopes alive, while the rest have failed. This was undoubtedly one of the worst seasons for the other Big East teams, as the conference has an average NET ranking of 103. Villanova managed to salvage some pride and has the potential to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

UConn’s road to the NCAA wasn’t easy by any means, and its schedule metric points that out. The Huskies hold wins over eight Quad 1 teams, including five currently ranked in the AP Top 25.

But then again, who you play against is not in your hands, as these are external factors. What’s more important is how you play those games. The Big East is clearly not like the SEC or the Big Ten, where every opponent is a bona fide killer, but to put that into the equation here would be discrediting the Huskies. Let’s be real: when you repeatedly become national champions, it means you also play against threats from other conferences and manage to outwork them. This is why Geno clearly gave his honest perspective on the matter.

“We heard the same stories over and over again, and those turned out pretty good. I don’t think it matters who you play. I think it matters how you play,” said Geno Auriemma, and that resonated with the mantra that UConn follows.