geno auriemma

Hey everybody, welcome to the Mark Parkham Podcast.

You can follow me on Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts, by just typing in Mark

Parkham Podcasts and I should pop up.

So I was looking at the whole thing with Geno Oriema of Yukon and it's been a big controversy

of how he's basically conducting himself after losing against South Carolina with the

Women's Basketball and, you know, I'm not surprised.

In the reason I'm saying I'm not surprised is, you know, somebody that's been winning

like that all the time, he does not or a lot of people don't know how to handle losing.

And you know, I'm not surprised because, you know, the thing with a lot of these coaches

and even athletes when things are going well, you know, they're all happy and excited

in there, trash talking and all this stuff.

But, you know, when things aren't, you know, then they sit up and don't know how to handle

things.

And so, you know, one thing I've learned in life is you stay humble when you win and you

stay humble when you lose.

And I think that's the best thing to do sometimes in life because, you know, if you're one of

these people where, you know, when things are on your side all of a sudden you're happy

but then when things aren't, you don't know how to handle stuff and it's not a good way

to be in life.

You know, you have to be a person where, yeah, you, you know, you're happy you won maybe

a championship or, you know, accomplished something but, you know, at the same time, next

year can be totally different.

And so, you don't become one of these people where, you know, you walk around and you're

all arrogant and you think, oh, well, you know, I'm always going to win because when

that happens, then that's sometimes when you don't win.

If you look at this Yukon team this year with the women, you know, I looked at this game

and I said, you know, what, it can either be a game where Yukon does very well or a game

that Yukon does, you know, it doesn't do so well.

And I would just say that, you know, Yukon really needs to do some soul searching after,

you know, Sarah Strong and AZFUD, I mean, AZFUD, I think she's a senior this year, she's

going to be out of the way, you know, she's going to go to the WNBA, you're going to

have Sarah Strong around and it's just like they're going to need to really build a team

around her because, you know, one thing people need to know about basketball, basketball

isn't just about sometimes having just one player.

Sometimes you need those role players that can also do things.

And having Sarah Strong have to do everything, I don't think is the best strategy.

Like I think they need people that she can pass the ball to and they can make a shot

because Sarah Strong, she's going to be, you know, like I said, she's a phenomenal

player.

She's very talented, but she needs people to be able to pass the ball to back and, you

know, make a basket or when she's sitting on the bench tired, she needs people that can

step up.

And, you know, Yukon does not build a team or get some people in there around Sarah Strong

than Yukon is going to be on the decline.

And also, if you notice about basketball right now, it's 2026, other teams are also getting

talented players and now people are catching up to Yukon.

It used to be Yukon was so dominant and they had win everything and now other coaches and

teams also have good players and talented stars and they're doing a great job with recruiting

different players and stuff like that.

And so the standard that Yukon said, I think now you're having a lot of people in teams

that can meet that standard now.

And so, I mean, you look at women's basketball with college, UCLA has some good people.

You have, was that Vanderbilt, you have so many different schools, Texas that are doing

a great job getting players that are very talented.

And so this whole thing where Yukon is going to dominate for the next 10 years or so,

I don't think that's going to happen again.

I mean, I might be wrong, but I think with the women's side, Yukon women, I don't think

are going to be as dominant as they used to be.

I think that, you know, now people have seen, you know, Yukon, they know their strategies,

they set a bar.

Like I said, you've got to give them credit.

They help set a bar with women's college basketball.

But I think now people are saying, you know what?

Okay, the bar is set.

Now let me do something that's above that bar.

And so there's talent everywhere.

Like this, the women's game, there's talent everywhere.

There's talent in South Carolina.

There's talent in California, Texas.

And so just, you know, that whole thing of everyone, all the talented players go to Yukon.

I think that's going to basically, we're going to see a Yukon women's basketball in decline.

I'm not saying that they're not going to win or be dominant, but it's not going to be

like, you know, years ago, 10 years ago, when we saw, you know, Brianna steward and players

like that.

You're going to have good players and they're going to win games and stuff like that.

But you're also going to have other teams and coaches that can compete.

And so it is what it is.

And I think that Gina Oryama, Oryama, I think he knows that.

I think, you know, he was frustrated because of the loss.

But then also, I think he's starting to realize that, you know, there's other schools and

there's other coaches that are also going to be, you know, making a name for themselves

too.

I think a lot of different thoughts were basically happening in his head all the

one time, like for him to lose the way they lost to South Carolina in 2026.

This year, I don't think he even expected that.

Like they got, I mean, it was surprising for a lot of people.

A lot of people thought that Yukon was going to do that to South Carolina.

And South Carolina reversed the roles.

And so, you know, it's going to be very interesting to see what's going to happen with, I think

it's South Carolina in UCLA next because UCLA has Lauren Betts.

She's very talented.

But, you know, if South Carolina wins this thing, it's going to be, you know, history making

because they beat a Yukon team with a very good record.

Like this wasn't a Yukon team that, you know, was losing a bunch of games.

This was a solid Yukon team that's been winning and dominating.

And South Carolina came in there and made them look ordinary.

So that's just my opinion.

And let me know how you feel about Geno or Yema.

I think now he's apologized or put a statement out on X on Twitter.

And so just let me know how you feel about that whole incident and also give this a like.

Thank you.