Mohegan

It was happenstance. Complete happenstance. But because of it, I considered giving the Lou Gehrig Speech sometime Sunday afternoon. What a couple of days.

This past Thursday, UConn-Duke at the Izod Center: media seat directly behind Kevin Ollie (and next to Jim Calhoun).

Sunday afternoon, Mohegan Sun Arena: media seat directly behind Geno Auriemma. Never have my ears been so entertained.

It's a rarity. Yes, our seats are generally terrific (and could be sold for thousands of dollars). But teams and organizations prefer we sit far, far away from team benches. We sit across the floor, mostly because we tend to eavesdrop. Nature of the business. We're nosey.

But if you've ever been interested the rhythms of the UConn basketball benches, come along for the ride. I was your eyes and ears this weekend.

Observation No. 1: Ollie won the award for most references to George Carlin's seven words you can't say on television. Overall, though, he was very positive with his players. Plenty of encouragement, colorful at times. But much more "here's how you do it," instead of "what are you doing?"

He used the words "tough" and "fight" many times. He may see that as an issue with his team: He'd like his players tougher. To fight. Not fight as in throw a punch, but fight for rebounds and through screens with more regularity.

Ollie talks to associate head coach Glen Miller a lot, sometimes bouncing ideas off him, other times looking to bend an ear. Best line from the other night: "What the bleep are we doing, Glen? What are we doing?"

He didn't spend much time barking at the officials, in spite of Duke's free throw advantage. It was a very frustrating night, but Ollie's tremors were brief. On to the next play. I can see why players enjoy playing for him.

Auriemma, meanwhile, won his game 86-50 over UCLA, which would indicate he could have sat there sipping a coffee and his legs crossed. But this is Geno. A sampling:

Morgan Tuck began the game with an airball. Auriemma turned to assistant coaches Shea Ralph and Marisa Moseley, palms up and said, "why do we have to start games like that? Why?"

During the first media timeout, he told his players, "One pass and jack up a three? And our best 3-point shooter (pointing to Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis) hasn't touched it? This is what we do now?" Later, proving he is equal opportunity, he removed Mosqueda-Lewis from the game after she passed up an open three and said, "Why won't you shoot the ball?"

UCLA trailed 24-18 with six minutes left in the first half when Breanna Stewart committed a turnover. Uh oh. We kept waiting for Vesuvius. Instead, he issued a dismissive wave to the court and said to nobody in particular: We're horrible. Do they have any idea? I have no idea what that was."

His best, however, was saved for the officials. Late in the first half, official Kevin Farlow called Stewart for a travel. Primer on Farlow: He looks like Opie, only younger.

On the trip back up the floor, Auriemma unloaded on official Joe Vaszily:

"Where'd you find that bleeping guy, Joe?"

Vaszily, to his credit, stayed stone faced (although I certainly didn't).

Auriemma was more vanilla in the second half.

Makes you wonder, though, if you're somebody like Kia Nurse, a freshman suddenly given huge responsibilities, if you're ready for Geno Unplugged.

"You know he's serious," Nurse said, "but he says things the way he does and you have to be serious, too. Sometimes, you just have to hold it in."

It's like Ralph's first few days of practice during what became a brilliant career. She called her mother, Marsha Lake, and said, "You wouldn't believe how he cusses. He didn't do that on our (recruiting) visit."

Nurse, who appears to have the requisite sense of humor for the program, said, "There's usually some time in practice we start laughing. You can't help it. But you know whatever he's saying is right. He's a genius. It's pretty crazy.

"He's brutally honest and that's something I love about him. You understand it's not personal. He'd never say anything like you're a bad person. All the analogies he has, he's just trying to make you better player."

Nurse, happily for her, hasn't been subjected to Auriemma's go-to line, calling someone the "worst player in America." Nobody escapes that one. So far, so good for Nurse, who hails from Hamilton, Ontario.

"I'm waiting for 'the worst player in Canada,'" she said.

They are funny ones here.

Not exactly breaking new ground here. But how fortunate we are here to have Ollie and Auriemma as our basketball maestros. Men of passion. And championships. Got to hear it up close this weekend.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius