The word "legend" gets thrown around far too frequently but in the case of John Wooden, it is absolutely fitting.

Wooden, who led the UCLA men's basketball program to 10 national titles including seven in a row, died on Friday at the age of 99.

Wooden's name surfaced in connection with the UConn women's basketball since the Huskies are closing in on the Division I college basketball record 88-game winning streak Wooden's Bruins posted. UConn coach Geno Auriemma wanted no part of the comparison believing it was like comparing apples and oranges.

At the request of my boss, I asked Auriemma to speak about Wooden last year. It is part of the business to be prepared when a legendary figure like Wooden passes on. I took the chance to ask Auriemma about Wooden when I was at an event put together by the college initiative offshoot of Geno's Cancer Team in October. Here's what he had to say:

"Growing up and being in high school during that time when they won most of those championships in the late 60’s, early 70s, where I lived there was basketball and then there was UCLA and when you thought of UCLA, you thought that they never lose, they are champions in every way," Auriemma said. "It took so long for him to establish himself as a great coach, people don’t realize that, they don’t realize he was there 20-25 years before they started winning championships. When you say to a person who thinks they know a lot about basketball ‘What do you think, you are John Wooden.’ It’s like Kleenex and Coca-Cola, whenever you say John Wooden, you know you are talking about coaching and the epitome of coaching.

"I have had the good fortune of meeting some of his former players and the way they talk about him, the way they revere him as more than a coach and the way they go out to visit him on a regular basis, it just transcends coaching, be built lives as much as he built the program at UCLA."