It has been the everlasting privilege of fans and media alike to follow Geno Auriemma's musings over the last 37 years. And we are happy to report that, based on Thursday night's performance, the best coach of them all hasn't lost one speck off his fastball.

The perils of a pandemic left Gampel Pavilion without fans Thursday night, thus allowing SNY's cameras and microphones, amid the otherwise eerie silence, to air Auriemma's appraisals. He coached his ascot off, frequently in a defensive stance, unloading a number of fussbudgety, PG-rated darts at his players, who nonetheless held Creighton to 12 points in the first half.

He told Paige Bueckers to "shoot the (gosh darn) ball," used an accompanying soliloquy to yank Anna Makurat from the game, shook his head a lot and then gave the most entertaining halftime interview in the history of college basketball.

"Thirty-seven years, I just can't believe some of the stuff I see. Honest to Christ," Auriemma said. Then after SNY analyst Meg Culmo asked another question, he said, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I don't know. This is worst shooting team in America. I've got to tell you that."

This is the Geno that's been gone too long. Not that he's hasn't been prone to a Vesuvius moment or two in the recent past, but the old days — streams of consciousness toward his players and officiating, perhaps forcing Chris Dailey on the occasional safety blitz to protect him — had taken a leave of absence.

We've seen sport coat on and arms folded a lot, sort of like a bird on a telephone wire surveying the scene. Even Auriemma admitted a few years ago, "I think, over the years, I've acquiesced to the players we have in this day and age. I thought that the way I used to be probably isn't something they're accustomed to. There's already enough pressure to play here at Connecticut and I don't want to be that guy."

When Dr. Naismith becomes Dr. Phil.

Then there was Thursday.

"I'm having an existential crisis here," Auriemma said after the game via Zoom. "I'm trying to become a more modern man and be different than I was — like when people said all I did was yell and scream. I tried to be different. And you know what? It doesn't work.

"I have to be the way I was today to get this team in the frame of mind they need to be in. Kids today are too laid back. Somebody's gotta be that person. I was only probably angry once or twice, but I was animated a lot. One when Evina (Westbrook) threw the ball to the guy walking down the hall. Then I don't understand when you're wide open (Bueckers was at the end of the first quarter and passed up a shot) why you wouldn't shoot the ball. Let me shoot like that and I'd still be playing in one of those beer leagues."

That Auriemma was a fusspot suggested he knows this team's lofty capabilities. You see the final score and see the typical UConn women's annihilation. But the Huskies did so against a team that is not easy to guard.

Creighton is a wink and a nod to Harry Perretta's old teams at Villanova or perhaps the late Cathy Inglese's old teams at BC. Not overly athletic, but very smart and dangerous because of cutting, screening and three-point accuracy. Let the record show that Creighton dropped 78 points on Nebraska the other night.

That the Huskies, with new pieces who haven't been together all that long, could as a team pick up the nuances necessary to negotiate Creighton's cleverness is the most positive sign of the season to date.

"They're really good at running their stuff," Auriemma said. "Tempo and timing. Once you disrupt that, even the shots they normally get, if they still get them, they're a little rushed."

Then Auriemma said, "Kids today have a passing interest in defense. An ongoing issue with basketball is the amount of communication necessary to play against a team that plays the way (Creighton) plays. It's good to play a team like that who forces you to communicate and forces you to guard different types of actions."

Auriemma had no trouble communicating with his players Thursday night. Maybe that's because the old Geno returned and might be here to stay.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro