Unpopular WBB Opinions That You Hold

[magic]

Magic, you clearly do not understand Geno and how he treats his players and has built credibility with them over the last 25+ years. Loyalty, trustworthiness and faithfulness are high on his list of integrity. Just like KML starting the season coming off the bench and learning by watching experienced players so will Breanna. She will get plenty of minutes but will not automatically jump into the starting line up following a path of numerous AAs before her. It is not sentimentality it is about building character.

Of course I understand how Geno coaches. I've been watching and going to games for a long time. It's hard to argue with his success. I guess I just don't look at it as if it were the boy scouts of america. All I'm saying is the best players should play. If you don't think players know who is better, then you haven't played any sports. There is nothing wrong with lineups evolving as seasons evolve. I do not believe KML has earned the right to start. She has been very inconsistent. "If "Breanna is as talented as we've been told, what does the team gain by her, or any other great player sitting on the bench? and I'm sorry, but there is a lot of sentimentality on the board whether anyone admits it or not. This is all just fiture speculation anyway.

 

[Icebear]

What the team gains is what I suggested; a sense of trust, integrity, and credibility that as they develop into leadership roles the things they bring to the table will be respected and valued. It is not sentimentalism, it is about character and team before self.

 

[Brad Palmer]

Women's college BB better than men's?

Try going to a Yale-Harvard men's game vs. the same opponents in a women's game.

Or Villanova at Pitt in men's vs. women's.

Or Ohio State at Purdue. You get the idea.

Many people may like the team-oriented style and lack of selfish attitudes in the women's game better, but because of the small crowds and lack of parity, I can't see how you'd enjoy being at (or watching on TV) any of the women's games above as opposed to their male counterparts.

Maybe if you compare a UConn-ND women's game to say, a UMBC-Stony Brook men's game then I would definitely agree that UConn-ND would be better live or on TV.

 

[rocky rococo]

Of course I understand how Geno coaches. I've been watching and going to games for a long time. It's hard to argue with his success. I guess I just don't look at it as if it were the boy scouts of america. All I'm saying is the best players should play. If you don't think players know who is better, then you haven't played any sports. There is nothing wrong with lineups evolving as seasons evolve. I do not believe KML has earned the right to start. She has been very inconsistent. "If "Breanna is as talented as we've been told, what does the team gain by her, or any other great player sitting on the bench? and I'm sorry, but there is a lot of sentimentality on the board whether anyone admits it or not. This is all just fiture speculation anyway.

It's not quite all that simple. One player may be overall more talented than another player, but the less talented player may be better fit for certain circumstances. This applies even to starting. I remember in 2003 and 2004, that when she was available and not held down by her plantar fasciitis, Geno would start Morgan Valley over Ashley Battle. One would be unlikely to say Morgan was more talented than AB. However, Morgan's presence on the floor helped the team get stabilized early, find its flow, its rhythm. Once the team was in rhythm, Geno would pull Morgan and up the energy level by putting in AB. Morgan wasn't a better player than AB, but for that particular lineup, she made a better starter.

 

[sarals24]

I think this applies to this year's team as well. I don't think you can argue that CD at this point in her career is more talented than KML, but it makes sense for her to start because she calms the team down, gets the offense going, etc. KML can watch the flow of the game for a few minutes before coming in and bringing energy.

 

[Bestiarius]

In today's game, where there are often bench players who are as skilled in many areas as the "starters", starting is a status symbol, a reward or a bestowed honor, or perhaps just tradition. Not starting is often a punishment for someone who normally starts.

Until players start playing every minute of a game, there is little benefit to the team in starting. As mentioned above, there are strategic benefits for starting certain individuals, but to start the same lineup every game can't be right. Let's assume a starter has a bad cold. Usually that player will start anyway and quickly replaced. I believe coaches start the same lineups because that is what is expected of them, and it isn't worth the fan speculation starting someone else creates.

 

[MarieM]

If EDD was at uconn maya wouldn't be who she is today ?! If EDD was at uconn the streak would have still be going !?

 

[UcMiami]

I believe coaches start the same lineups because that is what is expected of them, and it isn't worth the fan speculation starting someone else creates.

I think it is more because the team likes continuity - the more regularized the starting line-up and the substitution patterns can be made, the more comfirtable and cohesive the team becomes. Things change over the year as players develop, and in a few instances because of specific opponents, but the less a coach needs to change the patterns, the better the team usually plays. Sort of like a jump shot - the less variation in a players mechanics time after time, the more accurate the shot becomes.

 

[MarieM]

if candace parker would've stayed for her 5th year it would have been Uconn and Tennessee for the title.. Uconn winning it IMO

 

[triaddukefan]

18 months later... and some very interesting opinions in retrospect

 

[reno tony]

I've been reading these posts and never checked any dates. I felt like I went through some time warp. Now that I am up to speed. Let's have some fun.
= Kelly Faris will get cut by the Sun and come back to UCONN as a coach.
= The Pope will order N. D. join the Big East.

 

[bschwartz]

I'll have a go...(and a prediction does not equal a desire)

WNBA out of business before Geno's current contract runs out
Combination of Title 9 and EA Lawsuit fundamentally overhaul NCAA resulting in substantial Div 1 WBB contraction (meaning many Div 1 teams move to Div 2 or 3)
Next Husky Head Coach: DT3
Congresswoman Maya Moore
This is Tina Charles' last season as a member of the Sun
Brittany Griner is to Greg Oden as EDD is to Kevin Durant (sad)

 

[Geno-ista]

Kiah will start ahead of Stef next year and be part of the most dominent and atheletic front line since Cash, Williams, Jones.

You really must be dreaming. Unless she has taken her lack of an offensive game to a level she has never shown she's had the capability to go to. She's athletic and can defend- but that assertion is a "wow"! And I like Kiah and hope she can compete enough to start!

 

[Geno-ista]

Stealing thread ideas (and titles) from other boards is lame. However, my history paper on whether or not the populist political rhetoric of the 1930's actually reflected itself in the policies of the New Deal is going no-where, and I can't stare at a blank screen anymore. I procrastinated last night by reading the RealGM NBA forum, and this is a good topic to fill the hours between now and Saturday.

This thread is not to discuss the unpopularity of women's basketball. Its purpose is to list the controversial beliefs you hold about WCBB and the WNBA that run counter to the "received wisdom" of Internet wags. Mine are the following:

• 
  [ ]The popularity of women's basketball will not grow when Pat and Geno retire. Increased parity and the rise of new powers may help attendance in pockets of the country. But the absence of dynamic personalities that transcend the sport will led to falling/stagnant TV ratings and declining interest among casual sports fans.
  [ ]Of the super sophs, both Hartley and Gray will be considered "better" PGs than Sims at the end of four years, and one of them will be drafted before Sims.
  [ ]Brian Agler is wrong: Sue Bird is seriously considering going to Phoenix as a FA and making a run at a title.
  [ ]DT was not the only player in WCBB in 2003 and 2004 who could have won national titles with the supporting cast at UConn.

Discuss. Argue. Scoff. Have at it.

DT is the only player that could have carried that supporting cast to 2 National Championships those years. Nobody else had the talent, ability to handle the ball, score & had the mental toughness and cockiness/confidence to pull that off. I don' think you can win a NC again with one star only!!!
And IMO Odyssey Sims is the best point guard in basketball- and I think maybe better than Diggins too. Gray is a natural great P Gd. Bria is not a natural Pt Guard, but I think she will be a great pro. Odyssey is a force on both ends of the floor.

 

[Geno-ista]

That's not even in question. It's a fact.

Second that!

 

[Geno-ista]

Here's one specific to UConn: Kiah will take Stef's position by next season or her junior year. She is so much more athletic.

No way- she will play a lot. But she kills offensive flow- Steph facilitates and creates it!

 

[svetbird]

No way- she will play a lot. But she kills offensive flow- Steph facilitates and creates it!

I thought these predictions where for next year at first and was about to start a new Steph is underrated thread.

My own unpopular belief is that women's basketball and many other sports (see Olympic Ice Hockey) are better than their male counterparts. The difference is that men play a more physical game . This often leads to less skill being shown, as skilled players can not make the pretty play for fear of being drilled by a legal hit, bump etc, that can put them out for the rest of the year. These things are not allowed in the women's game and it is better for it.

 

[Icebear]

Men's Olympic hockey is better than the NHL, too.

 

[iri10]

My own entry into the thread:

Two-way loathing and/or contempt is the foundation for a good college sports rivalry, and the lack of it is why WCBB rivalries don't have the same "oomph" as MBB/football rivalries. In the greatest college rivalries, the fans don't merely celebrate their team's victory, but also their opponent's defeat.

UConn / Tennessee did have this, and it's why, even today, it's the most prominent thing that comes to mind when people think of WCBB rivalries.

For the record, I am not saying that every UConn fan loathed Tennessee or vice versa. Perhaps not even a majority of the respective fans did. Rather that there was a critical mass of people who did feel that way - enough for the rivalry to resonate more than all others in the sport.

Nothing since (for UConn anyway) has had that intensity going for it, because UConn is fairly cordial with most of its most dangerous opponents. UConn / ND was getting there, but the current conference separation is probably going to diffuse the tension before it can really dig its hooks in deep.

 

[Geno-ista]

Men's Olympic hockey is better than the NHL, too.

IB- you are right on again. Professional sports continues to lose it's appeal to me - especially because of what many of the professionals become personally when they become "professionals"! It's funny- I like college and olympic hockey better than NHL hockey also. But I have to say, for the most part, Professional hockey players are the professional I like and admire in general more than the other sports. they seam to respect their game, and maybe it's because they don't make the kind of $$$ in the other sports. I am not sure what it is. I don't like rooting for teams that have alot of players that I really don't like, just because they play for my teams- just an aside!

 

[Geno-ista]

I thought these predictions where for next year at first and was about to start a new Steph is underrated thread.

My own unpopular belief is that women's basketball and many other sports (see Olympic Ice Hockey) are better than their male counterparts. The difference is that men play a more physical game . This often leads to less skill being shown, as skilled players can not make the pretty play for fear of being drilled by a legal hit, bump etc, that can put them out for the rest of the year. These things are not allowed in the women's game and it is better for it.

I could be wrong about the thread or year too! Funny you talk about the physicality of the womens game vs the men's game. Every time I see the head of the officiating or ncaa big shots at the big east tmt and/or other seminars that they give- I always tell them that if they let the womens game become the mens game like that- they will lose a fan like me, that wants to watch real basketball. I love good defense, but not hand to hand combat, and guys pulling down opponents pants in the post sometimes. Although???? I have to think about that one again. No seriously- they will ruin what we love about the game- I totally agree. And we can see how physical the game is already- it is not for the faint hearted!

 

[Huskyforlife]

i made a thread awhile back saying a no call on a foul on faris was the correct call, i still stand by that.

the people here who say womens basketball is better then mens have probably never watched mens basketball

and dunking makes the game better and its better for the sport, especially womens basketball. look at the exposure griner got just for doing simple dunks, it was great for womens BB. and like 7 said, its the highest % shot you can take.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Men's and Women's BB are both similar and different...watch what you want there is no "better".

 

[wire chief]

I've been reading these posts and never checked any dates. I felt like I went through some time warp. Now that I am up to speed. Let's have some fun.
= Kelly Faris will get cut by the Sun and come back to UCONN as a coach.


= The Pope will order N. D. join the Big East.

But first he'' replace Muffit with Rene Portland.

 

[Phil]

2) Certain schools who missed out on golden opportunities for a title will never get another shot to win that title. UVA, Rutgers, WKU, Missouri State (SW Mo State), and LSU come to mind.

Auburn as the poster child for missed opportunities. although with Terri Williams-Flournoy, I wouldn't say they'll never get another shot.