It might be a good thing that Connecticut doesn't face Manhattanville. Head coach Geno Auriemma might not like it.

According to a report in The Hartford Courant, Auriemma said he wouldn't allow a player on his team to turn away from the American flag during the national anthem.

The statement came in response to Manhattanville senior forward Toni Smith, the Division III player who has refused to face the flag during the anthem this season in protest.

Auriemma told the newspaper that his response to Smith's action would be to kick her off the team.

"We've given people the right to disrespect what this country stands for," Auriemma told The Courant after UConn's victory over Notre Dame on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion.

"The flag is a symbol of what we stand for," he added. "Anybody who does (what Smith has done), they have the right to do it, but to me it's disrespectful and, as a coach, I would have that right not to have that person on the team. Then they can sue me and say, `You're denying me my rights.' "

Auriemma also told the newspaper that he would allow Smith to protest a possible war with Iraq or inequalities in the American system.

Others have protested the Division III player's protest.

A Vietnam veteran came onto the court Sunday and held an American flag in front of Smith after she again refused to face the flag during the national anthem.

"She disgraced herself and she disgraced the flag,'' said Jerry Kiley, 56, of Rockland County, N.Y., who was ejected from the arena after he walked onto the court during the first break in play.

Kiley approached Smith as she lined up while another player prepared to shoot free throws. He was escorted out of the gym by school security and local police. There were no further protests in Smith's final home game of the regular season, a 63-53 victory over Stevens Tech.

As she has done all season, Smith turned 90 degrees away from the flag as the anthem was played prior to tipoff. Six of her teammates stood at attention with their hands on their chests, while three other teammates stood with their heads bowed and their arms at their sides.

Smith declined to be interviewed after the game.

The sociology major previously released a 250-word statement outlining the reasons for her protest, citing "the inequalities that are embedded into the American system'' and "the war America will soon be entering.''

"She wasn't political until she came to Manhattanville, but she's always had a sense of justice, and she's always been concerned with people who are discriminated against, and with the injustices in this country and in the world,'' said Smith's mother Naomi, a school administrator in Manhattan, where her daughter was raised along with two older siblings.

"Basketball has always been her passion, but she also reads the newspapers, and her professors have encouraged people to think for themselves,'' Smith's mother said.

Smith's protests have drawn national attention to the small liberal arts school in the suburbs north of New York, a school of 1,400 students less than a mile away from the public university where the New York Knicks formerly practiced.

School president Richard Berman has been supportive of Smith's right to express her opinion, regardless of whether he or anyone else agrees or disagrees with her views.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.