'I'm not here for the basketball part.'

If ever there was a place to hear about basketball, Kobe Bryant's memorial service was it. And if there was someone who could speak on it, it was Geno Auriema, the greatest women's basketball coach of all-time. The 11-time championship winner. The John Wooden of women's basketball.

"A lot of people are going to talk about basketball today," said Auriemma. "But I'm not here for the basketball part. I tried to write a long flowing speech about basketball and I can't do it."

Isn't it strange that the greatest women's basketball coach of all-time didn't want to talk about basketball? The more I thought about it, the more I realized it's not. That's because for Auriemma, like Wooden before him, it was never about basketball. For the greatest coaches, sport is a mechanism of growth, transformation and character development for their players. Sure the love for the game is undeniable, and comes naturally with the relentless drive required to succeed.

But on a terrible day of mourning, Auriemma opted to skip the basketball and get straight to the heart of the matter. His speech was short. The emotion and tone were stronger than the words. He wrapped up bluntly.

“Lastly, No. 24, No. 8 and No. 2, those are basketball numbers. Those are numbers in the past. Those are numbers that we’re not going to get back."

"But in this room there’s a family. And there’s still a team back home. And they still have a great coach. And I’m going to be rooting for that team."