ND Article - Interesting Read

[Teacherdeb]

What do you expect her to say? She answered a question with a statement that is pretty darn accurate excluding some games against Connecticut and few other losses in 5+ years. Her squad won something like 25 row where the game was separated by single digits. In every close game from 2011 until this season, Notre Dame executed better down the stretch and was the smarter team. Yes, her answer lacks modesty, but pales in comparison to many statements made by Geno over the years.

And when she answers a question to beef up her team without publicly acknowledge that her program has been second rate to UCONN, this isn't a jab at UCONN. It's her answering the question with confidence in her team. If she were to answer "we've been the smartest team since 2011 besides games against UCONN the last 4 years" it sends a horrible message to her team and completely deflects the intent of the answer. Not sure why people are getting worked up over this.

I completely agree- I respect Muffet most of the time, and admire her teams, while enjoy hating them for beating us- it's the schizophrenia of sports. I do want to like her more, but she pulls that stupid stereotypical "girl" stuff, like not applauding Breanna when she got her player of the year award, and saying there's no friendship with Geno- but I wouldn't let an off year color her overall performance as a coach. So she's having a challenging year, but I wouldn't bet against her, and I certainly wouldn't denigrate her as a coach. Don't tempt fate.
We lack perspective... a coach and person like Geno comes along so rarely, and I feel fortunate to have been a witness to his greatness. The good coaches in the women's game have had the bad timing of coaching against a legend, but that's life. It isn't necessary to put down other teams and coaches to build up UCONN- no Schadenfreude!

 

[UcMiami]

These days, almost everyone with high visibility at major universities is offered the opportunity of getting coaching in public communications. If someone were to do Muffet that favor, they would advise her to be ever so slightly circumspect. While it's admirable to say, "for years, I've thought that Notre Dame teams played as smart as anyone," instead saying that your team plays smartest (= smarter than anyone) is just bulletin board material for other schools.

The larger issue is that Muffet is a bit lacking in mental nuance and subtlety (how she blasted Geno before the 2014 NC was mind-boggling dumb). She's just not clever in the way that, for example, Kim Mulkey, who is certainly not subtle, is very, very clever.

The largest issue is this. Teaching is about conveying information. But anyone or any computer can do that. Effective teaching is about energizing the conveying of information so that it sticks and so that students find it compelling and useful to them in new ways. Geno reinvents himself every season, with new drills for the players and new narratives for the team. I've never seen a better teacher in the classroom or on the court. He can do that because (as an 8 year old impoverished immigrant who had to be the translator of Americana for his parents) for him life was all about constant change. He changes his script and each time makes it more compelling, more urgent for his team.

Muffet has shown that she can adjust to her talent, and that's why she's one of the very best coaches around. But she also has a stubborn streak as she goes for absolutes (best, smartest, etc), and when I see that in a student, I am concerned that they have a certain rigidity (I know because I have to work on that myself). To me, Muffet is getting stuck in defending her position as coach and her formula for winning. It especially happens when people hit their 60s. They begin to rely on the past as prologue.

Muffet has many good years of coaching ahead of her. She may even win a NC in a quirky year. But increasingly, there will be questions raised about her and her team, because she is becoming more set in her own ways, and, while she is getting more set, her team is ever-changing.

Great post - best analysis of MM's 'ways' I have seen, and it conforms with my thinking about the issues both at the FF and with some of these quotes that get analyzed here - it is an awkwardness in communication and absolutism in expression that comes off poorly. I had not considered a stultifying/rigidity of thought but it matches with the other issues.

 

[Orangutan]

I find it quite amazing that a group of people who love Geno Auriemma could be so consistently upset about the use of hyperbole.

 

[bags27]

I find it quite amazing that a group of people who love Geno Auriemma could be so consistently upset about the use of hyperbole.

It's not hyperbole when Geno says it: it's just reality.

 

[oldude]

I find it quite amazing that a group of people who love Geno Auriemma could be so consistently upset about the use of hyperbole.

Geno's hyperbole is more often then not directed at himself and his team in a negative way as motivation, as when he stated to Stewie last season after she admitted to making a mistake in practice that, "We made a mistake recruiting you."

When Geno's hyperbole is of a positive nature, it's usually so over the top that no one takes him seriously, as with, "Everyone knows we get all the top recruits so I don't even have to show up at practice."

With MM it's impossible to determine if she is intentional in her hyperbole or she really believes it to be true. Maybe UConn fans are just not giving MM enough credit for her incredibly subtle sense of hyperbole, kind of like a great author that you just don't get, like James Joyce (also Irish).

 

[wallman]

Hey, I agree with the her. Sure she comes off as a little stiff, but the fact is that the majority of players, generally speaking, are not as smart. They are also more selfish. I would argue that the majority of coaches would agree with her.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

With MM it's impossible to determine if she is intentional in her hyperbole or she really believes it to be true.

Checkmark in the true box.

 

[jsloanjr]

Its very hard to watch most WCBB teams other than UCONN.........Most of these teams lose games on National TV when they play a team who can play a little bit......Tenn is a bad team and has been since Pat's last NC game........They have the same problem all SEC teams have is poor shooting outside of 5 feet from the hoop........ND has been hiding from the top 10 teams all year except UCONN.......Lets see how they do the rest of the year.........

 

[ME Husky Fan]

A team in search of a leader. Not coming from Allen, as much as MM would like to run everything thru her. Turner doesn't have the chutzpah to pull it off, at least so far. Westbeld isn't talented enough. Ogunbawale has the nuts to do it but I don't think MM is ready to hand her the torch plus I think she's too offensive minded and doesn't play both ends. And then there's Mabry who to me is too much like her sister. Sit outside the arc and wait to get fed the rock. So, when all is said and done they're right where they belong in the seeding and won't make it past the elite eight. Too bad because the talent is there but it needs a coach to bring it together.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Might I add a (pessimistic? realistic?) yes, but....? I love UConn's team this year. They're amazing. BUT, they are also a player away from not being so. There's no wiggle room - which is what makes them so amazing.

SO, when folks make prognostications about who will or will not win National Championships, I get a little "wait a second." There are recent and not so recent examples of off nights and/or injuries derailing expected journey's. That's the nature of the game.

No doubt, Notre Dame is a flawed team. But there is still a season to be played.

 

[tonehill68]

She just doesn't quit....

We’ve been so smart, I’ve been so spoiled,” McGraw said. “It started with Skylar in 2011: We have just been the smartest team out there every single game. We would find a way to win because we just would do the right thing. We knew when to take a shot and when not to, what we had to do down the stretch. We didn’t need to take timeouts, we didn’t need to walk through it three or four times, we could just write it down in the huddle and they’d go out and they’d execute.

She just can't get away from the absolute statements, which by definition exclude all other teams.

Can someone please prove to move how, since 2011, ND has been playing smarter than UConn?

LOL, I think maybe she has to block out the obvious (losing streak against UCONN) and say that she has had "the smartest team since 2011". I don't know why but I'm just guessing here

 

[tonehill68]

I find it quite amazing that a group of people who love Geno Auriemma could be so consistently upset about the use of hyperbole.

MM's comment is too funny for me to be upset.

 

[CMC'72]

We’ve been so smart, I’ve been so spoiled,” McGraw said. “It started with Skylar in 2011: We have just been the smartest team out there every single game.

Past typical MM quote: "Geno wins because Geno gets the best players!"

Current Translation:

MM: " I can't win unless I get the best players!!"