A Special Freshman & A Special Junior

[bags27]

I remain as much Meg’s fan-boy as I was during the pre-season exhibilition, when I watched her glide effortlessly and thought that this is a natural. Sure, she’s had a bumpy freshman year. And there are a lot of folks uncomfortable with Geno benching her last game (again).

But remember how D absolutely hated her freshman year (and please let’s do forget her last half of ball that year!)? And yet, Geno couldn’t have been prouder of anyone the next three years. And remember how Geno benched Stewie her freshman year; and yet ditto, sung her praises subsequently?

Remember how tough Geno was on Lou? She was the high school NPOY from California who didn’t want to play defense. And that absolutely horrible half-time harangue that got filmed and played on a UConn show (to this day, I can’t--and don’t--believe Geno knew it was going to go public). Lou was in tears more than once that year, but Stewie took her aside and told her that’s what she had signed up for. Fast-forward two years, and Geno can’t say enough great things about Lou either.

I suspect that now the upperclass players--especially Lou--are telling the freshmen—especially Meg—that all will be well for them, too…eventually. Like it or not, this is the way it works at UConn. There is a standard, and it doesn’t bend for the best; on the contrary, for them Geno raises the bar. Meg will be just fine.

 

[eebmg]

I hope she also see's how much her opportunities will open up in her sophomore year when Gabby and Kia graduate. I do not see the freshman dominating as they learn the ropes so Meg should be a central part of the team and hopefully she will have alot of "I will show him " fueling her in the summer although it would be nice if she shows it earlier.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

My issue with this whole 'why isn't Megan getting playing time' thing is what might be some hypocrisy on Geno's part and I do stress might be. I understand that practice habits might change from day-to-day, or week-to-week but if I'm going to battle I want to go there with my greatest assets. Take the Notre Dame game when both Gabby and Lou were both out, who did Geno play? Molly? Kyla? Arguably, there's no way he was going to win that game with either of those two kids on the floor, no disrespect intended. Not knowing what Megan's practice habits were back then compared to now or not knowing what transgression may have taken place to put her in the doghouse earlier this week, but presuming everything was as it is today - Geno went with the girls who gave him the best chance to win that game and with that I think this might have been a case of biting his nose to spite his face sort of thing. IMO.

 

[Centerstream]

How often does it need to be said that Geno doesn't care what you did last week or month but what you did last practice in preparation for the next game? I would guess that the practices are geared towards the next game\opponent and how you perform in preparation for that is the primary thing that matters come game day. So it doesn't matter what Meg did against UCLA or ND when it comes to the next game, but it does matter to Geno in that he does know her capabilities and probably would like to see them at every practice. But if she's in the dog house for a totally different non practice related reason, then that is totally on her.

 

[CocoHusky]

My issue with this whole 'why isn't Megan getting playing time' thing is what might be some hypocrisy on Geno's part and I do stress might be. I understand that practice habits might change from day-to-day, or week-to-week but if I'm going to battle I want to go there with my greatest assets. Take the Notre Dame game when both Gabby and Lou were both out, who did Geno play? Molly? Kyla? Arguably, there's no way he was going to win that game with either of those two kids on the floor, no disrespect intended. Not knowing what Megan's practice habits were back then compared to now or not knowing what transgression may have taken place to put her in the doghouse earlier this week, but presuming everything was as it is today - Geno went with the girls who gave him the best chance to win that game and with that I think this might have been a case of biting his nose to spite his face sort of thing. IMO.

Perhaps if you applied the words "consistent effort" (which is what Geno is demanding of not only Megan but all the players) to this situation you would understand better. If Megan demonstrated the same consistent effort in practice leading up to the Tulane game as she did leading up to UCLA and ND she would have played in the Tulane game. BTW Mikayla also did NOT appear in that Tulane game.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Perhaps if you applied the words "consistent effort" (which is what Geno is demanding of not only Megan but all the players) to this situation you would understand better. If Megan demonstrated the same consistent effort in practice leading up to the Tulane game as she did leading up to UCLA and ND she would have played in the Tulane game. BTW Mikayla also did NOT appear in that Tulane game.

Perhaps.... All I'm saying is that I don't give two hoots about how she practiced last week. If that ND game was this past week and he found himself in the ditch they were in against ND back in December, she would have played. Again, my opinion. Also, this is an opinion and/or an assertion on my part which may or may not hold water so I don't need or ask for the 'you'd understand better' lessons. We have no idea about her practice habits back in December, do we? I think there's a presumption that she practiced the 'Geno way' back then, thus the playing time?

 

[trb123]

Megan Walker is the top recruit in 2017-18. I cannot blame fans who had high expectations and have been disappointed. You have to go way back to Kristen Phillips ( who played 2 games for the Huskies and whose name is no longer on the Husky roster in the archives) to find a top recruit associated with inconsistent practice and lack of effort. I hope it does not take a miracle for Walker's bad habits to disappear.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Going from your world fawning on you to Geno's world falling on you is tough stuff. I hope all of our freshmen are tough enough.

 

[Carnac]

One could say that joining the UConn Women's Basketball Team is like pledging for a sorority. During your pledge (freshman year) period, that is by far the worst time you will ever experience (carrying upperclassmen's bags to and fro, doing other team related duties that ALL freshmen are assigned/expected to do). After that period is over, you're home free, you're in. Next year, the focus will be on the new pledges.

 

[CocoHusky]

Perhaps.... All I'm saying is that I don't give two hoots about how she practiced last week. If that ND game was this past week and he found himself in the ditch they were in against ND back in December, she would have played. Again, my opinion. Also, this is an opinion and/or an assertion on my part which may or may not hold water so I don't need or ask for the 'you'd understand better' lessons. We have no idea about her practice habits back in December, do we? I think there's a presumption that she practiced the 'Geno way' back then, thus the playing time?

I adisagree with your opinion and accept your presumption.

 

[donalddoowop]

This is my concern. If UCONN wins the NC this season all will be well. However, seeing how they did not win it last season and miss again this season, the top recruits may start thinking why go to UCONN and put up with all the freshmen put up with when they are no longer winning NC. Many recruits choose UCONN because they believe it's the surest way of playing on a NC team. When UCONN is no longer seen as the program to go to to win NC, getting elite recruits may become harder to accomplish. The social media rules, dress code and other things that set them apart from many other programs could turn recruits. In today's world of "what have you done lately" attitude, winning 11 NC will be just ancient history. But, if they win this season, elite recruits will keep committing. That is just my opinion. As long as Geno's way does not keep today's elite recruits from wanting to attend UCONN, then all is well. I believe he would and probably should retire before he changes his standards.

 

[Centerstream]

This is my concern. If UCONN wins the NC this season all will be well. However, seeing how they did not win it last season and miss again this season, the top recruits may start thinking why go to UCONN and put up with all the freshmen put up with when they are no longer winning NC. Many recruits choose UCONN because they believe it's the surest way of playing on a NC team. When UCONN is no longer seen as the program to go to to win NC, getting elite recruits may become harder to accomplish. The social media rules, dress code and other things that set them apart from many other programs could turn recruits. In today's world of "what have you done lately" attitude, winning 11 NC will be just ancient history. But, if they win this season, elite recruits will keep committing. That is just my opinion. As long as Geno's way does not keep today's elite recruits from wanting to attend UCONN, then all is well. I believe he would and probably should retire before he changes his standards.

Then I guess that I can rest assured that if #12 is captured next season, then a bunch of entitled top recruits on other teams will transfer to UConn, especially if they don't have to sit out a year due to the possibility of new transfer rules being in effect???

 

[bags27]

I think we all understand your concerns, donalddoowop.

But somewhere on You Tube is a video of Rebecca Lobo recounting how absolutely terrible Geno was to her in her freshman year. She says that she went in to talk to him about how she was playing and the very next practice he told the team about the conversation--a conversation Rebecca had assumed was confidential.

Okay, they go on to win the championship in 1995. But it's 5 years between that championship and the next one. Geno was a proven martinet with his players and they went 5 years without making it over the top. Did that stop his recruiting what was very possibly the greatest team in WCBB history? Did the years following D prevent him from recruiting Maya? Did 2010-2012 prevent him from recruiting Stewie, Tuck, and MoJeff?

Every coach at a highly successful sports franchise lives in the public eye. They all make decisions how they are going to conduct themselves. Geno has his unbending principles and that decision has seemed to work pretty well so far.

 

[donalddoowop]

Then I guess that I can rest assured that if #12 is captured next season, then a bunch of entitled top recruits on other teams will transfer to UConn, especially if they don't have to sit out a year due to the possibility of new transfer rules being in effect???

Number twelve will come this season. Next season would be thirteen.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Question is will Megan or MC see the floor

Hope so

 

[donalddoowop]

I think we all understand your concerns, donalddoowop.

But somewhere on You Tube is a video of Rebecca Lobo recounting how absolutely terrible Geno was to her in her freshman year. She says that she went to him in to talk about how she was playing and the very next practice he told the team about the conversation--a conversation Rebecca had assumed was confidential.

Okay, they go on to win the championship in 1995. But it's 5 years between that championship and the next one. Geno was a proven martinet with his players and they went 5 years without making it over the top. Did that stop his recruiting what was very possibly the greatest team in WCBB history? Did the years following D prevent him from recruiting Maya? Did 2010-2012 prevent him from recruiting Stewie, Tuck, and MoJeff?

Every coach at a highly successful sports franchise lives in the public eye. They all make decisions how they are going to conduct themselves. Geno has his unbending principles and that decision has seemed to work pretty well so far.

Come on bags. That was 1995. Even Geno talks about how today's players are different. There was some time in between DT's team and Maya's teams winning NC. Then a while between the Maya and Stewie era. Recruiting was not hampered. Also, Geno was younger then. Does he want to put up with the attitudes of many of today's players? Today's players are so different attitude wise. It's getting harder for UCONN to find the kind of players the coaches like to recruit. I don't want Geno to change but I'm not the one being recruited, so I don't know what the recruits are thinking. I saw it happen here on a smaller scale. The top coach in the state had players wanting to play for him at a Catholic girls high school where recruiting seemed to be allowed. They won a number of state championships. Once the team started losing, players started complaining, the program went down and the coach was fired. It has never recovered.

 

[Centerstream]

Number twelve will come this season. Next season would be thirteen.

I was only addressing the premise that you had stated in your post, "if" #12 doesn't happen this season.

 

[Coach]

Perhaps.... All I'm saying is that I don't give two hoots about how she practiced last week. If that ND game was this past week and he found himself in the ditch they were in against ND back in December, she would have played. Again, my opinion. Also, this is an opinion and/or an assertion on my part which may or may not hold water so I don't need or ask for the 'you'd understand better' lessons. We have no idea about her practice habits back in December, do we? I think there's a presumption that she practiced the 'Geno way' back then, thus the playing time?

You are assuming Megan would be playing against ND. Based on what Geno has said in the past about consistency in practice and playing time, I don't see it happening.

 

[bags27]

Come on bags. That was 1995. Even Geno talks about how today's players are different. There was some time in between DT's team and Maya's teams winning NC. Then a while between the Maya and Stewie era. Recruiting was not hampered. Also, Geno was younger then. Does he want to put up with the attitudes of many of today's players? Today's players are so different attitude wise. It's getting harder for UCONN to find the kind of players the coaches like to recruit. I don't want Geno to change but I'm not the one being recruited, so I don't know what the recruits are thinking. I saw it happen here on a smaller scale. The top coach in the state had players wanting to play for him at a Catholic girls high school where recruiting seemed to be allowed. They won a number of state championships. Once the team started losing, players started complaining, the program went down and the coach was fired. It has never recovered.

Sorry DDWP, but:
1. the gaps between D and Maya and between Maya and Stewie are exactly my point: he can have seasons when he is still impossibly tough on players, not win a NC, and still recruit the best
2. Well, Geno says players have changed. But what's the proof, really? We do know that Geno (like a lot of us) are getting older, and all old people believe that the younger generation is going straight to Hades. That's a theme as old as history itself. Meanwhile, Geno didn't win last year, was incredibly tough on Lou the year before and still managed to get 2 of the very, very best (the best?) two players coming in next year.
3. What you saw happening is in high school. Why kids come to UConn is because they have professional aspirations. EDD said it two summers ago before the Olympics: Geno's the best coach in the world. I don't think she even qualified that with college or basketball. That's why the best will come here. Not to win a championship; not to have the coaches go easy on them. But to be coached by the indisputably best coach in the world.

 

[JoePgh]

Come on bags. That was 1995. Even Geno talks about how today's players are different. There was some time in between DT's team and Maya's teams winning NC. Then a while between the Maya and Stewie era. Recruiting was not hampered. Also, Geno was younger then. Does he want to put up with the attitudes of many of today's players? Today's players are so different attitude wise. It's getting harder for UCONN to find the kind of players the coaches like to recruit. I don't want Geno to change but I'm not the one being recruited, so I don't know what the recruits are thinking. I saw it happen here on a smaller scale. The top coach in the state had players wanting to play for him at a Catholic girls high school where recruiting seemed to be allowed. They won a number of state championships. Once the team started losing, players started complaining, the program went down and the coach was fired. It has never recovered.

Geno has already said that a sure trigger for his retirement would be when the time arrives when he cannot recruit the kind of players with the team-oriented, development-oriented attitudes that he has always sought. He says that day hasn't arrived yet, even though fewer kids fit that description. We can readily observe that KLS, Napheesa, and Crystal fit that description to a tee. There is every reason to think that CW and ONO do as well. It's pretty obvious also in Azura and I think in Batouly. So he has been able to get some very talented players whose mentality fits the UConn mold, even in very recent times.

I will admit to increasing uncertainty as to whether this year's freshmen fit that model, but my bet is that Megan and Mikayla actually do fit the model, and are made of stronger stuff than to transfer or get themselves kicked off the program because of what should be passing difficulties. But if it turns out that is who they are, then I'm sure Geno will wave goodbye to them without major regrets (other than not being able to see the bad fit before he made an offer to them), and concentrate on the upcoming recruiting classes.

I see no evidence to suggest that recruits with right UConn attitude as so scarce that Geno will be unable to find them. And a recruit who does have the right attitude is not going to be lured to another school by the easy ride and the immediate playing time, because by definition her priorities will be to develop her skills (including her skills as a good teammate) and become the best basketball player that she can possibly be. In that sense, UConn is and will remain the Marine Corps of WBB, and will look for and consistently find "a few good women".

 

[ME Husky Fan]

You are assuming Megan would be playing against ND. Based on what Geno has said in the past about consistency in practice and playing time, I don't see it happening.

Was speaking to the game against ND in December not some future game.

 

[cbraarj]

Come on bags. That was 1995. Even Geno talks about how today's players are different. There was some time in between DT's team and Maya's teams winning NC. Then a while between the Maya and Stewie era. Recruiting was not hampered. Also, Geno was younger then. Does he want to put up with the attitudes of many of today's players? Today's players are so different attitude wise. It's getting harder for UCONN to find the kind of players the coaches like to recruit. I don't want Geno to change but I'm not the one being recruited, so I don't know what the recruits are thinking. I saw it happen here on a smaller scale. The top coach in the state had players wanting to play for him at a Catholic girls high school where recruiting seemed to be allowed. They won a number of state championships. Once the team started losing, players started complaining, the program went down and the coach was fired. It has never recovered.

If it is Connecticut recruiting is not allowed. But the Catholic, Magnet and Tech schools all do it. Some parents even will rent apartments for the kids and they own their own homes.

 

[cbraarj]

You are assuming Megan would be playing against ND. Based on what Geno has said in the past about consistency in practice and playing time, I don't see it happening.

Megan played against ND in December most of the 4th quarter!

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Dead horse. Stop beating it.

 

[Los24]

Come on bags. That was 1995. Even Geno talks about how today's players are different. There was some time in between DT's team and Maya's teams winning NC. Then a while between the Maya and Stewie era. Recruiting was not hampered. Also, Geno was younger then. Does he want to put up with the attitudes of many of today's players? Today's players are so different attitude wise. It's getting harder for UCONN to find the kind of players the coaches like to recruit. I don't want Geno to change but I'm not the one being recruited, so I don't know what the recruits are thinking. I saw it happen here on a smaller scale. The top coach in the state had players wanting to play for him at a Catholic girls high school where recruiting seemed to be allowed. They won a number of state championships. Once the team started losing, players started complaining, the program went down and the coach was fired. It has never recovered.

So outside winning a national championship there is no benefit to coming to UConn? How about (1) getting the most out of their potential, (2) becoming the most WNBA ready, (3) being in a great basketball environment (UConn still too 3 in attendance and great facilities) and (4) great teammates and team play, etc...

I am not discounting your point, only adding a broader perspective as to why players may come to UConn. Also while our (youths) culture continues to change there are still plenty of young folks that want to be pushed hard to maximize their abilities. There are other coaches and a softer side of Geno that creates a family and caring environment. Lastly, if guaranteed NC is the most important thing for all players no one would have picked any other school over UConn for the last X years.