A key to UCONN nat'l title? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

A key to UCONN nat'l title?

Status
Not open for further replies.
doggydaddy said:
That ranking is very deceiving. Through the first six or seven games, they were terrible. Mainly because of the Purdue and Colgate games, back to back. 20-39.
Expand ...

Eliminating the Colgate/Purdue stats puts UConn around 36th in 3 pt defense. I was surprised that those two games had that much impact so in that respect you are right.
 
Our three point, also, took a hit because of our game plan against certain teams when we CHOSE to leave the three point line unguarded because teams shot terrible from the line and then immediately executed CD first law.
 
vtcwbuff said:
The teams 3 pt defense wasn't terrible through the first 6 games. It was only the 2 games you cited. The 4 previous games the 3 pt defense was 27%. Incidentally, the last 6 games the 3 pt defense was 27% close to their ranking average. Of course that is deceptive because of the 1-12 performance by ND.

My point - the ranking isn't deceiving at all. It is what it is.
Expand ...

Geeze, nitpick, why don't you. Just pointing out they are a better 3 point defensive team than the numbers showed after 6 games. I also mentioned those 2 games.

They are much more likely to hold a team to under 25% than over 27%.
 
doggydaddy said:
Geeze, nitpick, why don't you. Just pointing out they are a better 3 point defensive team than the numbers showed after 6 games. I also mentioned those 2 games.

They are much more likely to hold a team to under 25% than over 27%.
Expand ...

Geez, keep up with the thread. I admitted that you were right about the impact those two games had on the ranking. That's all you're gonna' get.
 
ericsandiego said:
Actually you are incorrect. Several times Moriah would make a mistake and she'd get yanked. I've never heard Geno make a single comment the entire year that Moriah didn't bring it to practice ever day.
Expand ...
There are turnovers and then there are turnovers. Meg Culmo has commented on good vs bad turnovers. If a player is being aggressive but just loses her handle or passes the ball with too much zip, Geno will grimace but not complain. But standing there with no idea what to do next, or throwing the ball into a crowd of defenders - or to the coach on the sideline with absolutely no defensive pressure - will earn a player a seat on the bench.

Geno has actually commented on Moriah's turnovers. He said in Jan-Feb (don't remember exactly) that she could be too passive and indecisive with the ball. For a program that depends so much on its point guard for direction, emotion and energy (think Jen, Rita, Sue, Renee...) having a kid that's unsure of herself at key points in the game is not going to help the team. Nor would throwing her to the wolves help the player's confidence. I know people wanted Geno to "season" Moriah by having her play more but it might have been counterproductive in the long run. If Moriah played 20 really bad minutes against an opponent, she would only learn that she's not ready to play at this level and it might affect her confidence going forward.

One of Geno's greatest gifts as a coach is his knowing his players as people. He knows who can take the sarcasm and verbal jabs and who needs a more paternal approach. If he thinks Moriah's confidence would suffer if she played at a certain point in the season or against a certain opponent, then he wouldn't play her. And it's not like he sits her and she doesn't know why. Shea, CD or Geno himself will tell her why and what she needs to do to avoid the benching. It's not a punishment - it's a learning experience.

Here's a link to an article where Kelly talks about Moriah's earlier-in-the-season tendency to hesitate.
 
Good TOs are, generally, deadball TOs and not TOs leaving the ball in the hands of the opponent for a breakaway.
 
.-.
Ice - There are no good turnovers. Some just suck less than others.

While I agree that Auriemma knows best how to bring along players, I think there were enough meaningless cupcake games where Jefferson could have gotten a little more trial by fire experience.

What I suspect is that this is another example of the impact of Banks' injury. Why push Jefferson too hard when Banks was going to be the "next off the bench" guard?
 
Clearly the preference is to not have a TO, HOWEVER, if you do have a TO a deadball TO is what you want and not one leading to a quick cheap basket. It is all relative.
 
HuskyNan said:
One of Geno's greatest gifts as a coach is his knowing his players as people. He knows who can take the sarcasm and verbal jabs and who needs a more paternal approach. If he thinks Moriah's confidence would suffer if she played at a certain point in the season or against a certain opponent, then he wouldn't play her. And it's not like he sits her and she doesn't know why. Shea, CD or Geno himself will tell her why and what she needs to do to avoid the benching. It's not a punishment - it's a learning experience.
Expand ...

This.
 
Icebear said:
Clearly the preference is to not have a TO, HOWEVER, if you do have a TO a deadball TO is what you want and not one leading to a quick cheap basket. It is all relative.
Expand ...

I should have added a wise ass thingy at the end of the sentence. I really think the mods could do posters a favor by designating a wise ass smily. One that even the humor impaired would recognize.
 
HuskyNan said:
...But standing there with no idea what to do next, or throwing the ball into a crowd of defenders - or to the coach on the sideline with absolutely no defensive pressure - will earn a player a seat on the bench.

Geno has actually commented on Moriah's turnovers. He said in Jan-Feb (don't remember exactly) that she could be too passive and indecisive with the ball. For a program that depends so much on its point guard for direction, emotion and energy (think Jen, Rita, Sue, Renee...) having a kid that's unsure of herself at key points in the game is not going to help the team. Nor would throwing her to the wolves help the player's confidence. I know people wanted Geno to "season" Moriah by having her play more but it might have been counterproductive in the long run. If Moriah played 20 really bad minutes against an opponent, she would only learn that she's not ready to play at this level and it might affect her confidence going forward.

One of Geno's greatest gifts as a coach is his knowing his players as people. He knows who can take the sarcasm and verbal jabs and who needs a more paternal approach. If he thinks Moriah's confidence would suffer if she played at a certain point in the season or against a certain opponent, then he wouldn't play her. And it's not like he sits her and she doesn't know why. Shea, CD or Geno himself will tell her why and what she needs to do to avoid the benching. It's not a punishment - it's a learning experience.
Expand ...

thank you Nan, for this. If only we could copy/paste it into every thread where Geno's choice of playing time and benching is questioned or criticized.
 
.-.
vtcwbuff said:
Geez, keep up with the thread. I admitted that you were right about the impact those two games had on the ranking. That's all you're gonna' get.
Expand ...

I missed your secoond post to me. I posted that weeks ago when this came up before. They are an excellent 3 point defensive team.
 
HuskyNan said:
There are turnovers and then there are turnovers. Meg Culmo has commented on good vs bad turnovers. If a player is being aggressive but just loses her handle or passes the ball with too much zip, Geno will grimace but not complain. But standing there with no idea what to do next, or throwing the ball into a crowd of defenders - or to the coach on the sideline with absolutely no defensive pressure - will earn a player a seat on the bench.

Geno has actually commented on Moriah's turnovers. He said in Jan-Feb (don't remember exactly) that she could be too passive and indecisive with the ball. For a program that depends so much on its point guard for direction, emotion and energy (think Jen, Rita, Sue, Renee...) having a kid that's unsure of herself at key points in the game is not going to help the team. Nor would throwing her to the wolves help the player's confidence. I know people wanted Geno to "season" Moriah by having her play more but it might have been counterproductive in the long run. If Moriah played 20 really bad minutes against an opponent, she would only learn that she's not ready to play at this level and it might affect her confidence going forward.

One of Geno's greatest gifts as a coach is his knowing his players as people. He knows who can take the sarcasm and verbal jabs and who needs a more paternal approach. If he thinks Moriah's confidence would suffer if she played at a certain point in the season or against a certain opponent, then he wouldn't play her. And it's not like he sits her and she doesn't know why. Shea, CD or Geno himself will tell her why and what she needs to do to avoid the benching. It's not a punishment - it's a learning experience.

Here's a link to an article where Kelly talks about Moriah's earlier-in-the-season tendency to hesitate.
Expand ...

He still has not figured out what it takes to get Stokes stoked.
 
Forty_four said:
He still has not figured out what it takes to get Stokes stoked.
Expand ...
Kinda odd to post this after 14 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and other defensive plays in the prior game.
 
Forty_four said:
He still has not figured out what it takes to get Stokes stoked.
Expand ...



One of Geno's greatest gifts as a coach is his knowing his players as people. He knows who can take the sarcasm and verbal jabs and who needs a more paternal approach.





Stokes was pretty active the other afternoon and was looking for her shot...maybe not the best moment to make that argument.

But, I still sense (with little or no quantitative evidence to support this buzz) that despite Geno's past record of wizardry at pushing the appropriate buttons to get the desired result, that this has not been an especially banner year in this regard and he's all but admitted it.

I had a long post in preparation to buttress my theories on this subject as concern the freshmen, but I am not a sophisticated researcher in this field and more data than I can easily assemble is necessary to prove my points; perhaps I'll engage a research assistant.

On the basis of Saturday, there is also the possibility that this issue is in the past and the underclass' performance in the latest scrimmage masquerading as a legitimate NCAA event makes any discussions such as this, past its use-by date.
We'll know more after the Vanderbilt game, a truer test (slightly).

On another subject, I'm interested in reaction to my debunking the practice/play theory which has for too long dominated certain discussions on the board.
 
msf22b said:
, I'm interested in reaction to my debunking the practice/play theory which has for too long dominated certain discussions on the board.
Expand ...


Attempted debunking.

It was never said that Geno only used the practice/play for determining play. Just most of the time especially for inconstant young players.

I don't believe there is any way you can quantify how Geno's button pushing has impacted the players. Or if he hasn't done well with that this year. How can we say as fact that any of the players I should be playing any differently than they are?
 
.-.
doggydaddy said:
Attempted debunking.

It was never said that Geno only used the practice/play for determining play. Just most of the time especially for inconstant young players.

I don't believe there is any way you can quantify how Geno's button pushing has impacted the players. Or if he hasn't done well with that this year. How can we say as fact that any of the players I should be playing any differently than they are?
Expand ...
One other thing this season is that the injuries and various sicknesses must have wreaked havoc on the team and on Geno's ability to have players go 100% in practice to help them get the most out of their talents. I'm not saying Geno didn't make some tactical errors hindsight might help him see, but only Kelly Faris has played every single game this season, and she had the flu bug several days back. Hard to go 100% when you lose a key guard (Banks) 21 games into the season, it takes about 30 games for your AA guard to really get her mojo back, and a hugely physically talented post player looks like Brit Griner one day and Brit Spears the next...
 
doggydaddy said:
Kinda odd to post this after 14 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and other defensive plays in the prior game.
Expand ...

it was against Idaho, a glorified practice game. Lets see her follow it up against Vandy.
 
Forty_four said:
it was against Idaho, a glorified practice game. Lets see her follow it up against Vandy.
Expand ...

No, criticizing her after that excellent performance was dumb timing. She played great. I don't care who it was against. She has had poor performances against teams like this before.
 
doggydaddy said:
No, criticizing her after that excellent performance was dumb timing. She played great. I don't care who it was against. She has had poor performances against teams like this before.
Expand ...

My original post was about Geno's fustration with his attempt to get Kiah to his desired level for her, no where did I critize her performance other than to say it was against a top 300 team. Kiah needs to stack good performances together specially against the higher rated teams, like a Vanderbilt.
 
Forty_four said:
My original post was about Geno's fustration with his attempt to get Kiah to his desired level for her, no where did I critize her performance other than to say it was against a top 300 team. Kiah needs to stack good performances together specially against the higher rated teams, like a Vanderbilt.
Expand ...

No,you didn't criticize it until you mentioned it was against a glorified practice team. And now you belittle them by using 300 as the rating. They have an RPI of 131.

No, they were not a tough opponent. But Stokes played better than she has all year.
 
doggydaddy said:
No,you didn't criticize it until you mentioned it was against a glorified practice team. And now you belittle them by using 300 as the rating. They have an RPI of 131.

No, they were not a tough opponent. But Stokes played better than she has all year.
Expand ...

There is no doubt that this was Stokes' best game this year. What I got from watching was that for the first time that I can remember when she got the ball her first thought seemed to be shoot not pass. I thought that was more important than the opponent.

Then again, Sagarin has them ranked 176th in D1 with a schedule strength of 195. They are the lowest ranked team in the dance except Prairie View. ;)
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,387
Messages
4,570,023
Members
10,474
Latest member
Tunwin22


Top Bottom