Geno Auriemma was not in the mood in responding to Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt's comments to a Tennessee radio broadcaster that her holier than thou rant on cheating in recruiting was not directed at Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl (sure Pat, we believe you, we really do) but on women's basketball and "probably" was directed at Auriemma and UConn.

Considering that since Summitt and Tennessee declined to continue the annual regular-season series after the 2006-07 season and the teams have combined to win the last three national titles, Auriemma's "from the time that series ended, we have done OK" was the best part of what he had to say. Obviously Auriemma has moved on and his silence on the matter allows Summitt to continue to portray herself in a negative light. Who would have thought that when it came to self restaint with the media, that Auriemma would be one step ahead of Summitt. If she really wants to exact her revenge on UConn, do it on the court but since she proudly boasted at SEC media day that she doesn't play them any longer in the regular season, she'd have to actually get her team to the Final Four - something she has been unable to do in each of the last two seasons.

Saw what you want about Auriemma, but he doesn't see fit to throw his coaching counterpart under the bus even though UConn men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun's program is being investigated by the NCAA as is Pearl's Tennessee squad. Obviously Summitt was catching some heat for what people in Tennessee viewed as her condemning Pearl's actions when she said "For me, I've never compromised at all, and I wouldn't. And if I did, they should fire me."

Considering that her efforts to nail Auriemma's hide by reporting a series of what she viewed as breaches of integrity after UConn went down to Georgia and plucked Maya Moore from underneath Summitt's nose resulted in UConn being hit with a secondary violation for facilitating Moore's visit to ESPN with Moore's mother. Tennessee also was guilty of a secondary violation as Summitt was photographed with recruit Meighann Simmons. I guess that violation didn't fall under her compromising the NCAA rules so she continued to keep her job.

As hard as it is to believe, there were other more pressing issues at practice. Freshman Samarie Walker has practiced without restriction for the last three days after being sidelined with hamstring issues in the preseason.

Despite what Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said, UConn has not signed a contract to play in the tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands but it sounds like it will happen. Auriemma said he'd be in favor of heading to Europe next fall which NCAA teams are allowed to do every four years but spurred by the Pac-10 and Big 10 Conferences, the NCAA is discussing whether to allow these trips or pull the plug on them.

Auriemma was very complimentary of point guards Lorin Dixon and Bria Hartley. Hartley had the best stretch of her brief UConn career during Sunday's practice and Dixon was displayed the confidence and consistency which hasn't always been there in her first three seasons.