Analyst likens Geno Auriemma vs. Dawn Staley rivalry to Sinner-Alcaraz, calls for more regular-season matchups

UConn coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina coach Dawn Staley have built two of the top basketball programs in the nation, creating a compelling rivalry that fans hope to see every year. Their on-court history, along with other factors, makes UConn vs. South Carolina an unmissable event.

It's not quite easy to schedule games between teams from different conferences, but somehow they have made it happen every year for the last decade.

Sometimes, the programs meet more than once, like the previous season when they squared off in the regular season and again in the NCAA Tournament championship game. Geno Auriemma's UConn was victorious in both games, winning the national title.

Analysts Mark Zanetto and T. Baker discussed their growing rivalry on Monday's episode of "The Hoops Cap Pod." They compared it to rivalries from other sports.

"It sucks that they don’t play in the same conference," Zanetto said (Timestamp: 33:34). "It’s kind of becoming like UConn-Tennessee when I was growing up. If they don’t play each other, you’re left wondering — why not? You expect to see them in the tournament at some point, because that’s just how it goes.

"The other thing — I’m a tennis guy, still am. Watching the two best players in the world, (Jannik) Sinner and (Carlos) Alcaraz, face off in the French Open — that’s what these two programs are like."

Zanetto added that it would be unfair if South Carolina and UConn didn’t play each other during the regular season.

Geno Auriemma vs. Dawn Staley H2H record

Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley have coached against each other 15 times, dating back to 2008, when Staley took over as the head coach for the Gamecocks. Auriemma holds an impressive 10-5 advantage over Staley in those contests.

UConn won the first seven games in the series before South Carolina finally broke through in 2020. Since then, the Gamecocks have won four of the five games, indicating a power shift in the rivalry. Staley was 4-0 against Auriemma in the last four games before the last season, where UConn once again asserted its dominance in the series.