Sometimes my journalistic instincts serve me well although the last thing I want to be doing is writing this blog about the passing of North Carolina State women's basketball coach Kay Yow, one of the class acts in the sport.

However, with the news that Yow lost her fight with cancer and passed away on Saturday at the age of 66, I feel as if it is appropriate to report on what UConn coach Geno Auriemma had to say about her.

We were at practice on Thursday and the interview sessions were winding down. So with all the normal UConn-related issues having been addressed I figured I would ask Auriemma if there was any sense of how Yow was doing since Auriemma and the Huskies were just down in the North Carolina for Monday's game against UNC. I wasn't sure when or if I would need these quotes but I had a hunch that Yow would not be with us by Final Four time. Unfortunately, my instincts were correct.

Here's what Geno had to say:

"I talked to some people down there. Obviously since she is not coaching, it must have taken a turn in the other direction. I have not heard first-hand from anybody who is in her circle what they are doing right now but just by reading between the lines, it did not sound very encouraging.

"Sylvia Hatchell and I were talking about it before the game. Sylvia is very close to Kay. It really gets you thinking about you and your own mortality. When you are young other people die and now you get to an age where people who grew up with or people who you were in the profession with for a long time that you knew, now all of a sudden it is starting to happen and you think it is hitting close to home. It's pretty humbling."

People react differently in times of grief but those who have been moved by Yow's legacy and her fight against cancer can always visit Auriemma's website www.genoscancerteam.com which was set up to help with his fundraising efforts in the fight against cancer and desire to aid with cancer research.


On a personal note, I can't say that I knew Kay Yow particularly well. I covered two NC State/UConn games and she was always commodating. Two years ago, the NC State team stayed at the same hotel as I did for the NCAA Regional in Fresno, Calif. I happened to stumble downstairs for breakfast one of the days (it may have been the morning after they were eliminated by UConn) and pretty much the entire NC State travel party was there. It was an amazing scene seeing how they acting towards one another. This was not for show, not for public viewing but a real glimpse of how much they truly cared for each other. I am sure they shared a few tears over the last few years but on this morning, they were exchaging infectious laughter between sips of coffee and bites of scrambled eggs. Although I never uttered a word to any of them except perhaps "excuse me" en route to getting more food, it was a breakfast experience I will never forget.