In the midst of his nearly five-minute acceptance speech after being named the Big East Coach of the Year for the ninth time, UConn coach Geno Auriemma was determined to spread the credit to his staff.

Only thing is somewhere in the midst of his dissertation, he seemed to forget that Tonya Cardoza is now the head coach at Temple and Jamelle Elliott is the head coach at Cincinnati.

Auriemma didn't even realize that he mentioned the names "Tonya" and "Jamelle", his former long-time assistant coaches, instead of current assistants Shea Ralph and Marissa Moseley.

"I did. Did I really?" Auriemma said. "My mind doesn't work real well anymore. It's funny because I was thinking that our staff has changed and I was thinking about Jamelle and Tonya. I'm (messed) up, too much going on in my mind."

Auriemma was among a group of about 10 people waiting for Elliott after the fina press conference on Friday although he neglected to mention his slip of the tongue earlier in the day.

"I didn't know that," Elliott said. "I told him I was the swing vote, he owes me. He is just so used to saying our names and we've been together, Tonya 15-16 years, me 15-16 years (four as a player, 12 as an assistant coach), it is hard to get that out of your system."

Elliott led the Bearcats to a 63-51 win over South Florida although it was a costly win as starting guard Carla Jacobs hurt her knee and she is not expected to play when Cincinnati plays Rutgers on Saturday.


WALKER, CHAMINADE JULIENNE ADVANCE

UConn incoming freshman Samarie Walker had 16 points and 17 rebounds as Chaminade Julienne defeated Kenton Ridge 56-51 in double overtime to help the Eagles advance to Tuesday's regional semifinal against the winner of St. Francis DeSales/Hilliard Bradley game.