Geno Auriemma has turned UConn into the gold standard for college basketball. He has led the program to twelve national championships and has sent countless stars to the WNBA. Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Diana Taurasi, Renee Montgomery, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Gabby Williams, Napheesa Collier, and Paige Bueckers all played their college basketball under Geno Auriemma.
Auriemma doesn’t just develop great players, though. He has also moulded some great coaches. Tamika Williams-Jeter, for example, played for Auriemma between 1998 and 2002. Now, she is the head coach at Dayton. Carla Berube played for UConn just before Williams-Jeter. She has been the head coach at Princeton for six years now and has led her team to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
Shea Ralph is another one of his former players who is currently killing it as a coach. She has Vanderbilt firing on all cylinders. Her program is one of four still undefeated teams alongside UConn, Texas, and Texas Tech. Ralph made two stops at UConn. First, she played for Auriemma from 1996 to 2001. Then, she returned as an assistant coach in 2008. She stayed on Auriemma’s staff until 2021 when she took over as the head coach at Vanderbilt.
Shea Ralph and Vanderbilt are thriving
Vanderbilt was a regular in the NCAA Tournament in the 1990s and between 2000 and 2014. Then, the team endured a long drought of missing the tournament. It took Shea Ralph two seasons to get the team back to the big stage. The Commodores lost in the first round in 2024 and 2025. This season, they could finally advance past that.
Vanderbilt is still undefeated, winning 15 consecutive games. Their win over LSU, which was ranked fifth in the nation going into the game, was a real statement win to let everyone know that they could compete with some of the top programs in the country.
Now, Ralph and her players just have to back it up with another big win. They will have plenty of opportunities to do that with games against Michigan, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas, and Tennessee coming up between now and early March.
Ralph isn’t the only driving force behind Vanderbilt’s success. Mikayla Blakes is establishing herself as a big-time star. She is averaging 25.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 3.7 steals per game. She scored 32 points against LSU. Blakes isn’t the only player having a great season, though. Freshman point guard Aubrey Galvan is also a big reason for Vanderbilt’s success, and seniors Justine Pissot and Sacha Washington have been strong veteran presences.