PHOENIX – Last week in Texas, during the Regionals of the women’s NCAA Tournament, I asked Geno Auriemma and his UConn players about how they prepare for adversity, considering how little they had faced on the court this season.

“As far as adversity goes, I would say the adversity is me, right? Every day for five months they have to put up with me, so I try to be for them all the things that can happen at this time of the year that you need to be prepared for,” Auriemma said.

On Friday night in Phoenix, South Carolina gave UConn a season’s worth of adversity in one game and ended the Huskies’ quest for a 13th title with a 62-48 drubbing in the national semifinal. UConn’s previously perfect season was gone and so was the team’s 54-game winning streak. And while all of the Huskies struggled with the Gamecocks’ stifling defense and clutch shooting, the person who looked least prepared for adversity was Auriemma himself.

The coach gave a surprising in-game interview to ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the third quarter in which he complained about the officiating, criticized Gamecocks’ head coach Dawn Staley for the language she used with officials and accused the Gamecocks of ripping Sarah Strong’s jersey.

Then, while the game was wrapping up — but, notably, before the buzzer sounded — Auriemma approached Staley, presumably for a postgame handshake. He started yelling at her, had to get held back by his assistants and then, after the two sides were sent back to their benches so the clock could actually wind down to zero, he marched off to the tunnel without participating in the actual handshake line. 

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Jack Maloney

It was an embarrassing display of petulance from a legendary coach, and he somehow made it even worse in a meandering postgame press conference. That press conference began with him refusing to address what he said to Staley (“I just said what I had to say. Nothing. Nothing.”) and ended with him discussing a “double standard” and inferring that Staley, a Black woman, gets more leeway to berate officials than he does. 

In between, he whined about Staley not shaking hands with him before right before tip-off. This was seemingly the crux of Auriemma’s displeasure with Staley — even though she did shake Auriemma’s hand at a different point before the game.

Auriemma also wrongly stated multiple times that South Carolina players ripped UConn star Sarah Strong’s jersey when Strong herself sat on the podium next to Auriemma and admitted she ripped her own jersey. And Auriemma refused to apologize for his comments to Rowe.

It left everyone in the press conference looking around in disbelief wondering, “How in the world did we get here?” Losing is hard, and everyone, even legends, are entitled to a little grace in tough moments. But Auriemma crossed the line so many times with his tantrums that it’s worth wondering if there’s even a path back to the other side of it. 

It seems almost silly to give a breakdown of a grown man’s irrational breakdown, but I suppose that’s where we are. I’ll do my best.

Let’s start with the pre-game handshake-gate. Staley told ESPN after the game that it seemed like Auriemma was mad about a lack of a handshake close to tip-off. When asked about this specifically, Auriemma confirmed.

“I mean, for 41 years I’ve been coaching and, I don’t know, 25 Final Fours. The protocol is before the game you meet at halfcourt. Anybody see that before? Two coaches meet at halfcourt and they shake hands, correct? Ever see it? They announce it on the loudspeaker,” he said. “I waited there for like three minutes.”

When another reporter pointed out that there were multiple photos and videos of a pre-game handshake, Auriemma scoffed.

“No, I think you missed the point of what I’m talking about, so… I’d rather not go into it,” he said. “Anybody that’s been in the NCAA tournament, you know what I’m talking about.”

Next, we have jersey-gate, which is pretty cut and dry. Strong ripped her own jersey, and said as much while sitting next to Auriemma on the podium. Auriemma was told by a reporter that there was video of Strong ripping her jersey. Only then did he let that point go, though he continued to complain about officiating.

Then we have double-standard-gate. Auriemma told Rowe after the third quarter that Staley “rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referees some names you don’t want to hear.” A reporter asked him about a moment in the second quarter, where Staley was yelling at the officials and it looked like he was asking if she was allowed to talk to them like that.

“I just want to make sure there’s not a double standard,” he said. “I’m of the opinion that if I ever talk to an official like that, I would get tossed. So I just want to make sure there’s not a double standard, that some people are allowed to talk to officials like that and other people are not. That’s it.”

Finally, we have the postgame handshake-gate, which Auriemma didn’t address directly. But he certainly didn’t apologize for leaving the court without shaking hands with the South Carolina players, an absolutely disgraceful move for anyone, let alone a person of his stature, experience and significance to the game.

Often, diving into game film provides more nuance to the situation or shows you that your first impressions of the game was off base. In this case, it’s just the opposite. Auriemma’s actions on Friday were inexcusable and while they won’t come close to erasing his monstrous impact on the game and his three decades and counting of unprecedented success at UConn, they can and should provide a slight tarnish to his legacy.

This is a man who had his ego bruised during the game, who was personally outcoached during the game and who melted down in a stew of his own self-pity and victimhood because of it. His players played a poor game, there’s no getting around it. Staley might have snubbed him — unintentionally or not — before tip-off and the refs might have missed some calls during the game. But none of that comes close to excusing his behavior. After a season of blowout wins and Big East dominance, Auriemma collapsed at the slightest hint of hardship and challenge.

On this night, he was, indeed, the adversity.