Check out this TN fan's blog on Geno . . .

http://hoopism.blogspot.com/

Wow, who was writing with a bias? There were games where she would rush, or she would take shots without having a good shot, yet Candace Parker is a victim. Please.
Swin did not play in the Australia game. So much for being a homer for UCONN. Also Angel scored and then made a scream during the France game. That is probably why she was pulled. That was unsportsmanlike.

I totally agree, and Geno clearly explained why he pulled CP.

..
Who really gives a tish what some effing blogger wrote? This duncette shows absolutely no evidence she knows anything about Auriemma's starter/bench strategies over the last 20 years.

Haters are going to hate. It amazes me how so many people try to turn a positive into a negative.

This blogger doesn't get that Geno is a perfectionist. He didn't like the way the team played with Candace and Tamika both starting. He wanted to play to both of their strengths, they just happen to play the same position. Geno decided one would come off the bench and for a starter (my guess) he went with the player in her third Olympics. Those who don't know Geno don't get that in his system, it isn't always the five best players that start - for a reason. He loves bringing in a player that is often better than the one who started. Psychologically, it can be devastating to the other team to have to play even harder when he makes that first substitution.

CP and Angel were very important parts of the game plan. Some players may not agree with his methods, but it works. He got the most out of each player and brought home the gold. That was his assignment. Mission accomplished.

If you don't like a coach for whatever reason you can conjure up anything to criticize. Had Geno started CP and subbed for her this person would have found a way to make that wrong. In a couple of earlier games CP was not playing good defense at all got caught
several times on back cuts,I think she has it all but does she put out 100% all the time ?

From the blogger's own About Me: "I fell in love with the sport and became a rabid fan - particularly of this young coach named Pat Summitt - around the 1984 Olympics. I still follow the Lady Vols like a cult member...". Uh-huh. A cult member, by self-admittance. We can tell. Even the page background is orange. Nuff said about that... Now back to things that matter.

Lol good observation, I peeped it also.

The orange fans went bonkers when Geno pulled Candace as a starter for Maya. But here's my observation.

Parker was not playing the way the TEAM needed her to play. She fancies herself a 3, which is fine for the WNBA or any other pro team she's on, but the coaches were pretty clear, especially with Fowles injured early on, that it was ESSENTIAL for Parker to play in the post. She didn't want to, and additionally, her defense was like swiss cheese. Not only poor effort, but lack of intensity.

Regardless of what team you are a fan of, this was TEAM USA. Not team UCONN or team Tennessee or team LSU. It was the coaches job to bring home the gold medal. And they did exactly that. Orange fans are probably still crying about Parker's role. they will point to her 21 point performance in the finals as proof. Well, she played nothing like what Team USA wanted in the finals. She insisted on bringing the ball up the court, played a bunch of 1 on 1, even tho she belonged in the post, and even took some deep outside shots. I know Geno was impressed with her skills, but she forgot to play team ball. She scored 21 points because the game became all about Candace Parker for her, not Team USA.

But as several posters said, haters will hate, orange fans will scream and yell that Geno was a lousy coach and treated Parker like crap, but the bottom line is she was not doing what was asked/needed of her. Anyone who sees it differently is simply a hater and has orange blinders on. I would have said the same thing if Geno had put in Augustus or McCaughtry in place of Parker.

And BTW, it's pretty much universally acknowledged by everyone who doesn't wear orange blinders that DT is the best in the world. She was the "heart and soul" of Team USA. DT is, as Tina Turner said, Simply The Best...

This particular blogger was discussed previously on this board: http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads/the-jersey-says-usa-not-uconn.20936/page-9#post-284094

As for her most recent effort, I couldn't get past this line:

I have no doubt that Auriemma wasn't being consciously biased towards his former players. But there's no doubt he was being subconsciously biased.

Okay then.

I wish I can like this 1,000 times, but you get the idea

This is just pure crap. Any idiot can write a blog.

The writer should make an effort to understand Geno. He values 6th men. He also values the team over the individual. He wants his team and players to play a certain way. He said that Candace needs to use her skills ALL the time. This is the point many of us have made--she needs to play her strengths.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion, which is fine, but I can't say I agree with her blog entry. Parker was definitely up and down during the tournament. I do agree that I thought McCoughtry had moments where she was the best player on the team. Given the talent on the roster, in any scenario, there was going to be potential for a case made that player X got screwed. It wasn't the Candace Parker show, the Angel show or the UConn show. It was about USA basketball winning gold, which is what happened.

I also find it mildly amusing that we get defensive when someone uninformed writes a critical blog about Geno, because so many posts here are critical of various coaches that none of us really know. Pretty funny.

I know Parker is the easier target, but I think Geno's explanation is accurate in that his decision to move Parker to the bench was about Tamika Catchings as much as anyone. Neither one was on the same page with Geno and the other 3 starters. A team can handle 1 player being out of sync, but 2 really meshes up Geno's type of offense. So 1 of them had to go to the bench, and Geno wasn't going to bench Tamika given her veteran status so it had to be Parker. How much Tamika struggled with the offense was a little surprising considering she had played on the World Championship team where Parker did not have that benefit. So he had to play Maya out of position to get both Tamika and Candace separated and into more comfortable positions.

Here's the line that told me the author is not very knowledgeable and has certainly never coached:

"No rhythm and flow in blowouts?"

That's right. You can win against a bad team while executing poorly. A good coach will be looking to see how his/her team is playing, not the score. They use those games to see whether the team is prepared and executing well enough to win against better competition later in the tournament. That concept sailed right over her head.

Another great observation

I didn't say it yesterday because the game was won and it served no purpose but given this thread I will say that I thought that CP3 played selfish yesterday. She is a great athlete with awesome skills but but does not play well within a team concept. I thought that when she was at TN and still saw that characteristic in her game in London. Her full court rushes full court demonstrate both her gifts and her liabilities. Sure she was impressive doing it but a passed ball is much quicker and usually more effective. Against Australia she left it to others to do the tough defensive work without even making an effort. It is one thing to get beat by a bigger and stronger player, but it is another thing to not make any effort.

Funny you said that. I tweeted the exact thing on yesterday and took a Twitter beating from the Vol Fans....and ppl who weren't Vol fans but hated Geno

Just for a hoot I dropped in on the orange asylum after the game. I don't subscribe but I could read the thread titles. They cracked me up. I wonder how many of them orange blooded folks were cheering for the frogs? I remember when Auriemma was selected that a lot of them said they could not bring themselves to root for a team that he was coaching.

On the other hand we have the "all class" Tamika Catchings. During the post game interview the reporter asked her if there was a bit of UTenn/UConn rivalry on Team USA and she replied "No, we all grew up."